"Bookbag?"

"Check."

"Notebooks?"

"Check."

"Sword?"

"Do you really think I'd forget my weapon?" Red yelled.

"What about that time in-" A girl a few years older than Red began.

"Daisy!" Red had planned to go early out to the meeting place to get a head start. He even packed all of his items beforehand, but what he had forgotten to anticipate was Daisy Oak.

The woman looked no less despite being through grief. That was only on the outside though, which was why Red was letting her go through this little act. They both know that Red was perfectly ready, but it comforted them both to go through an act like this.

"I can't help but be excited. You're gong to that school in Sinnoh! I've heard a lot about it around the area. A few rookies graduated from that school and were amazing."

Red sighed . Of course Daisy knew what the school was. Since she was a contester, it would be expected that she heard the rumors about that place. "You know we graduated past that level years ago right?"

Daisy winked at him. "Oh I'm sure that you'll be surprised. They teach a few things here that even I've never seen!"

Red decided to just let that remark slide by. He could argue against it, but there was a reason he didn't and even why Daisy was here instead of her next contest in Hoenn. She had been like a mother to Green, taking care of the boy and fulfilling the role of embarrassing relative when Oak couldn't. Which was why she was just as hurt as the rest when news about him came in.

Red and Oak's family had always gotten on reasonably well, from his rivalry with Green, to their partnership together, so it was just both of their ways of coping.

Red took a moment to look in a mirror thoughtfully. His armor was gone, leaving only his jacket and a pair of jeans. Slung on his arm was a bag and his red hat was on him. He was the very picture of a high school or college student, if not for the sword that was at his side, a classic knight's sword...

"Are you going to keep staring at yourself like that the entire time?"

Red turned around to see Pika tapping his foot against the ground. Red began to turn around in attempt to ignore him but regretted it as Pika began to shock him. "Okay I get it!"

Speaking of Pokemon, on him was a full team. After Red had left, Oak had delivered the pokemon he'd taken to them. The entire affair as marred, though, as no one mentioned what to do with Green's. Red was pretty sure he saw Oak take them to his own place however.

Red's thoughts were stopped as Daisy put an arm on his shoulder. She smiled regretfully at the image of Red in the mirror. "You know, I still remember when you were a kid." She laughed. "One of the most annoying people I've seen. I'm pretty sure you're were more obsessed with asking girls out then in pokemon."

"And come to think of it, he never got asked out once in his life."

"Come on! You know double team is banned in ubers!" Red protested.

Daisy laughed but her somber expression returned. "You could ask grandpa not to go. Bring it up in court and mention leave."

"I can't do that." Red responded but not without worry. He'd actually considered that.

"I know." Daisy sighed. "You better get going! Wouldn't want to be late."

"Bye!" Red moved to leave, but turned back to face her. "Thank you. For everything." He hurriedly turned to leave, stopping only to let Pika jump pnt his shoulder behind him before he exited the place that he had done called home. Once, but not for many years...

"Yel! Yel! Where are you? OWWW"

Yellow bolted out of the stupor that she was in and nearly jumped out of her sleeping bag flailing her arms and hurting someone in the process. She nearly bolted then, if not for Blue grabbing her by the arm to stop her from doing just that. "What do you want- I'm cold." She complained.

"But Yel, were leaving today!" Blue exclaimed.

"Come back when I'm not sleepy…" Yellow drifted back to sleep and remained that way for precisely three seconds. That was followed by Blue marching outside the tent to grab a chunk of snow and the act of shoving it down Yellow's back.

"Ahhh!" Yellow jumped up at the sudden impact of a cold feeling. Sensing who did that she turned to Blue. "What was that for?"

Blue patted her on the head condescendingly, or at least that was what it felt like. "You know we leave for Sinnoh today!"

"But I thought that you didn't want to go!"

A sudden scowl appeared on Blue's face. What once was cheerful turned dark as the blackest night, so much so that it gave Yellow the shivers just looking at it. "If I am to suffer, then you and the other must suffer twice as me." Suddenly, her dark presence disappeared and she returned to the cheerful facade she wore. "Come on, the others are waiting again!"

Yellow sighed and regretfully let herself be dragged as Blue took her outside where once again the other were waiting impatiently. Blue dragged Yellow in front of them all, much to Yellow's shame "Alright! I've got Yellow! We can go now!"

"About time!" Gold complained. "I want to check out the school!" He grinned maliciously, "Specifically the girls hehehe- OWWW!"

Silver slowly withdrew his hand from where she had slapped Gold. "Shut up and listen to Blue." Gold reluctantly silence himself, if only to plot how he could get even with the redhead.

Blue, angry that their attentions were not devoted entirely to herself, grabbed both of the boys' ears. "Come on! The plane we got will leave in half an hour with or without us!" She let go of the ears only after spending a few extra seconds to rub the insult in.

"So which plane will we be going on?" Sapphire asked from the shadows.

Blue smiled deviously. "Well originally our plane was supposed to be that public one that's used for the masses-but…"She whipped out a small device from her back pocket. "Koga and I agreed a little trade hehehe…"

Yellow leaned in closer to the device, for it seemed indescript at first, but as she looked close she saw that it was a small radio. A specific radio.

"That's the radio towards that private plane the boss owns!" Sapphire exclaimed pumping her fist. The others were just as excited. The boss's private plane was leant to top officers and was complete with stereo, hot tubs, and surround sound speakers…

Even Yellow was looking forward to staying in that plane, and it looked like the only one who was as serious as ever was Silver, but that was only because he had a suspicion on his mind. Trades with his sister were never good…

And so excited they were, they didn't ask about that information on how Koga traded such a valuable luxury. Something that they'd probably value more than the plane ticket, but Blue couldn't let that out. After all, pictures of the squad in their most embarrassing moments, including Silver and Sapphire bearing in a dress were worth so much…

Red was probably going to kill the rest of his squad. That was if he didn't die before then though…

"Are we there yet?" Lyra called from behind Red. Red shoved away the impulse to acknowledge her. "Just ignore her- just ignore her." He muttered to himself.

"So then, I tried to convince Brock to help Misty get into a dress, but he wouldn't help me! I wonder why?" Ruby chattered on continuously, perhaps ignoring the fact that Red wasn't paying attention. Normally, Ruby wasn't like this, but Red was pretty sure that Green usually took care of when Ruby got into his moods…

Green. The word sobered Red and nearly brought on a fresh wave of grief. He didn't want to be going to the school, but unfortunately didn't have a choice in the matter Never mind the fact that he'd gone way past the level that a school could teach. Once eyes have strayed into the embrace of death, there wasn't much that could teach you in a school.

Trying to put the others aside, Red looked out the window to peer at the clouds beckoning below. In the plane he was in, he could stare deep below the earth to the skies that opened up beneath him. It was a pretty sight, but there was much too much on Red's mind to be swayed by it. The others weren't the thing that Red was afraid off. The object of his nerves was a certain Pikachu…

"Are you paying attention?" Red was brought out of his thoughts as Pika slapped him straight on the face. Red yelped and brought up his hand to cover the raw skin, but that didn't stop Pika from slapping him a few times.

"You're fazing out on me! You letting grief consume you again! Do you want me to get out Lax and have him sleep on you!"

Red flinched despite not knowing exactly what it was that Pika said. When he made that face and spoke in that tone, the results usually involved massive bodily harm.

Red hated public flights, even if he was conveniently ignoring the fact that they got a private cabin on that plane, it still was annoying to be in close proximity with everyone. The only one who wasn't annoying him was Crystal, but as Red looked to her, he could see that she had problems of her own.

Crystal was nicely trying to pay attention to anything at all, mathematical formulas, battling tip, or even her sisters ramblings, but it didn't help at all. She had her problem and already aware of it. And she hated every moment of it.

She was airsick.

It was hard to believe, but Crystal knew with shame that it was true. Who ever heard of an angel afraid of heights? That would be like saying a Magikarp is the greatest competitive pokemon- never mind the fact what others said about the secret to splash. It was unheard of. It was also aggravating.

Crystal noticed that Red was watching her out of the corner of his eyes, but she ignored it. She'd deal with it own her own. She was self sufficient. She would deal with it by herself and overcome this weakness of her alone like a responsible-

Oh who was she kidding. She was in deep. Crystal reached for a familiar pokeball, strapped to her side where it usually hung. A familiar friend. She released the button and out popped out the massive form of Meganium. Was it going to take up a lot of the cabin space? Probably, but she needed confront. And her starter was the one to do it. Six more hours until they reached Sinnoh. Six more hours...

And that was why Red hated taking public planes.

Whatever Blue was expecting, this wasn't it. She was fully expecting a closed dormitory with a main center house of reasonable quality and size with a few buildings surrounding it for clarity. What she wasn't expecting was a full blown bloody castle!

The castle itself was massive. The stone was high quality looking, and despite the technological advances including solar panels that Blue could see around, it looked firmly in the past. Behind the massive building was a path that seemed to go into a dense forest. Blue was reasonably confident there was all sorts of goodies packed into there. Nearby was a massive stadium where Blue could see specks that were people.

"Well" Saphire uttered looking out the plane's windows next to Blue. "Ya sure ya didn't take a wrong turn to some rich guy's dormitory?"

Blue scowled at Sapphire. "You know that I don't make mistakes. This is the place…" She trailed off as she moved in to land. A reasonably close distance away from the school was a town with an airfield, so Blue made sure to pilot the plane towards it. Besides, she didn't think that the school would like it if they landed on their lawns…

After a long boring procedure of checking with the authorities with the town and a lot of complaining from Gold, Blue was finally able to land the plane and make it in. She nonchalantly parked it into the cheapest lot she could find, knowing that by the time that the day was over, the plane would be gone. The boss would see to that, and with luck, Blue would be able to get reparations for the airport losing her plane. A good tidy profit that didn't have to go to the boss. Blue nearly salivated at the thought.

The others were glad to be able to be on land after such a long flight. Gold went to the point of kissing the ground in relief, thought Blue was sure that it was only to aggravate her. She knew perfectly well that Gold was doing this to annoy her, and it would be letting him win if she responded, but that didn't stop her from nudging Silver towards him.

Blue wasn't exactly going to say that she enjoyed it, but it was apparent from the joy in her face as she watched her brother beat Gold up. It was too easy to manipulate those around her. In fact, one of the benefits of this mission was that it allowed her more room to practice her craft against other targets.

As fun as it was though, they really had to get going. Later on that day, there was supposed to be some kind of orientation for the school and Blue wanted to case the place out before that. "Come on!" She yelled to gather their attention. "Let's get going!"

The group reluctantly filed off towards direction of the school. While it was all fun and games now, they still had to be aware of their second objective. There wasn't much information flowing, but their orders were to keep a close eye for Platania and devise a plan. Hopefully, they'd find the girl during the orientation.

Getting off the plane was the easy part. Finding the school was slightly more difficult, but it was hard for Red to miss the massive castle nearby. No, it was once in that they were facing their problem. They were horribly lost.

"Where are we? " Ruby asked looking around the expansive hallways filled with wooden beams across the arches align with round windows. Inside it was an intimidating place.

Lyra answered. "We're somewhere in Sinnoh!" SHe added earnestly.

"That's not helpful!" Ruby complained. Red was with him on this one. It was cold and the drafty castle, despite all the technological items including heating systems that he could see in it.

At the front gate, there had been a girl who had directed them to inside the castle, but the encounter was strange. She was one of the types that liked to plaster herself up with a lot of makeup, and she seemed completely hostile to both Crystal and Lyra. On the other hand, for some reason she was paying an awful amount of attention to Red himself. Had they met somewhere? That was the only reason that made sense. But the directions she gave to Crystal seemed off...

What was stranger was that school seemed empty. There was nobody in it, even though there was some kind of presentation going soon, but for all is life, Re could hardly tell that. There was nobody in there.

"Maybe we've supposed to go somewhere else?" Crystal volunteered after a few minutes of wandering around.

"But the girl said to go in here?" Lyra interrupted.

Crystal nodded. "Yes, but I'm pretty sure we would have seen someone if we continued wandering like this." She stopped and leaned against the wall to find her bearings. "Let's face it. We were conned."

"A freshmen prank perhaps?" Ruby asked fiddling with a pair of needles in his hands. He'd been sewing on the run for the past few minutes.

"But we're not freshmen." That was true. Based on what Oak told them, they had been specifically chosen to enter at different levels. The school had scouted them based on some of the things they've done, and during the job with Oak, they'd been forced to compete in a few works and contests.

Ruby, the youngest in the group, was at the second lowest level (lv. 2) because his excellent work of contests let him skip a level. Crystal was a moderately respected researcher, with a few works with Oak, who to the rest of the world was a high classed professor, and that made her a level three. Lyra, despite her childish demeanor, was an experienced battler. She had competed in multiple tournaments and was a really good battler, perhaps the third best in the squad, only surpassed by her seniors.

Which left Red himself, who was the highest level. Lv. 4 was the highest level a trainer would be expected to go though, only going through more if he was trying to be a gym leader. Based on his multiple battles and superb work in tournaments, many of which he'd won, he had been chosen to go to this level. Along with Green…

It still hurt. Red was pretty sure that the loss would still be with them for a long he couldn't let his grief submerge him. He had to be strong. He had to-

"You do realize you could have had me or Nana look for somebody half an hour earlier right?"

Red snapped to attention to his shoulder where Pika was fuming in his shoulder. Around him, the others stopped to look at the mouse. While they couldn't exactly understand him, the gist of it was communicated to them.

"You've got to be kidding me!" Rd broke the silence by cursing under his breath at the lack of strategy. That would have been the smart thing to do, and it definitely irked him that he didn't think of that.

"Yes this is your reaction. Honestly! What would you do without me!" Pika muttered to himself before scooting off in the opposite direction of where they had been going. The others all stood in their silence waiting for somebody to move to break it.

Finally, it was Crystal's doing. "You do realize we just trusted a mouse, keyword mouse, with no special scenting ability or even a nose better than some of the rest of our team to go to find somebody! How do we expect him to find someone!"

That question was immediately answered as a shockingly large noise was heard from behind them. The sound reminded Red of the many times Pika had discharged a package of volts at him. "He did not…" Red muttered.

"Get back here so I can take your skull and bash it against the wall!"

Like a spring from a pistol Pika went bounding out of the hallway and blew right past Red and the rest. Behind him a boy small enough to be mistaken for an elementary school kid to come around the corner at top speed. Too late, he noticed Red in the way and tried to stop by fiddling with something at his feet. Whatever he was doing, it wasn't fast enough to stop him from colliding with the group.

"OWWW!"

That seemed to be the general consensus as Red struggled to get up. The boy didn't help matters as he began flailing around wildly smacking everyone near him. Many times, Red was hit solidly by a blow or two. Finally, Crystal managed to separate herself from the pile.

"ALRIGHT! STAND AT ATTENTION NOW!"

Faster than a sweeper with choice specs, Lyra, Red and Ruby were up and at attention. You didn't mess with Crystal when she was in this room. When she was like this, she outranked Red in every way.

The only one still on the ground was the child, trying to fiddle with something on his shoes. Angrily, Crystal descended upon him like a dark wraith with a glare so intense, it would have frozen over the kid's heart. She stopped in front of the child and took him in, eventually, the child noticed the sudden visions of terror that came upon him.

"And please explain now!" The words brokered no defense, left no room for argument. There was only what Crystal wanted, a dark humor that she was in, borne of hours of flight and wandering around lost.

The boy clearly looked as if he could sense the mood Crystal was in, but he went along with whatever defense he had. "Look ma'am! That rodent tried to kill me!" He shifted his blond hair from his head. "I'm trying to catch that- Crystal?

Crystal choked at those words, and finally took in the child that had rammed them, too distracted in chewing him up. But now she saw who he was. "Emerald?"

"Crystal ma'am!"

And then to the confusion of all those who were present, Crystal and Emerald hugged there on the spot. They begin talking animatedly, the boy gesturing wildly.

"Alright what is going on here?"

Emerald took a look at the ones trying to figure things out and laughed. "You mean you don't remember? Oh- I get it. No one wants to remember poor Emerald."

Lyra snapped her fingers as recollection hit her. "Of course! The orphanage that Crystal volunteers at! You were that kid who stalked her!"

Emerald immediately began to bluster. "Stalk- that wasn't stalking! That was umm- work shadowing!" He fumbled lamely fiddling with the straps with his weird shoes.

Oh. Red remembered now. Emerald was that boy from all that while ago. Crystal usually volunteered at a nearby orphanage, and Red and the others had been there a few times. Emerald had been annoying, but he had an excuse for his behavior, being bullied for being vertically challenged. If he remembered correctly, Crystal had fixed him up with some high tech shoes.

Red took another look at Emerald's shoes. They were metal contraptions that extended height for Emerald. While it did help him, it usually did look pretty creepy. Not to mention Emerald's personality didn't' help things…

"But what are you doing here?" Crystal asked to Emerald interrupting Red' inner monologue. 'You told me that you got accepted to some high ranking…" She trailed off as realization hit her. "school,"

Emerald smiled. "Yep! Thanks to our help I was able to impress them with my process in battling! I'm a lv. 2, which means that I am surpassing you!" He smiled looking at Crystal looking for approval and admiration for his process.

Lyra broke his illusions though. "Lv. 2? That means you're Crystal and my juniors! Yes!"

"WHAT!"

Crystal laughed. "Yep! I'm a lv. 3, but if your two, then you should be with Ruby!"

"Oh joy." Red sighed. Ruby and Emerald hadn't really gotten along, with one being a control freak, and the other one a bit of a disgusting slob. Things imploded a bit when they were together.

"But what are you doing here? The orientation starts in a few minutes!" Emerald asked.

"What orientation? The girl at the gate told us to go in and look around!" Red said. Emerald looked at him funnily.

"Why would she- wait- girl at the gate… OH COME ON!" Emerald shouted. "Of all the jerks you could have run into, you had to run into Mary? I ought to show her a piece of my mind."

Emerald scowled and nearly strode off, but Crystal grabbed him by the hand. "Orientation?" She whispered harshly to Emerald.

Emerald gulped. "Start of school orientation that begins in five minutes and attendance is mandatory!"

Red cursed. "Where is it and how far are we from it?" He demanded harshly.

"Outside at the stadium! It's a ten minute walk, but I know a shortcut!" Emerald shouted and started off.

And that was why Red was running at top speed again through a massive complex with a time limit. At least they weren't getting shot anymore though…

"If you really want to help me, you big strong men, you'll GET OUT OF MY WAY!"

Yellow wished the stadium they were in wasn't so crowded. It was beginning to make her claustrophobic, looking at all the people there. There still was no chaperones or any adults at all visible, which meant of course, that the population of teenagers were doing what they did best. Being annoying.

Beyond all others, Blue had attracted the most stares out of the group. Gold was too busy concentrating on his plot to get vengeance on Silver to pursue his favorite pastime, Sapphire had fangs that she braced against the poor souls who approached her, and Yellow? Well, at least they weren't trying to make an effort to go near her.

Even when they were out of sight, barely able to see the other side of the field, others noticed the girl if not the others. Even the death glares from Silver didn't stop them from staring and wolf whistling, but it was a group of what looked like jocks that provided the big problem of getting in Blue's way. The fatal problem for them.

"But gal! I'm sure you wouldn't mind ditching these posers and joining hands with a real man!" A muscular senior with a jock shirt with the name Brutus on the back said.

"Excuse me! Not a real man! I'm twice the man you are" Gold snapped from his lotting at those lines. His small frame didn't exactly lead himself to their opinions.

"Really shrimp?" Another jock with the name Nick leaned in and glared straight in Gold's eye. Gold gave no ground and stood still. "Now gal you could stay with us or stay with these losers." He pointed them in turn. "The shrimp, uppity girl trying too hard to be strong, the kindergartner, and the dumb redhead- oh wait, the redhead's a guy!"

The group of idiots had just insulted Yellow, but all she felt for them was pity. Too bad she couldn't get angry at them, but clearly they were already dead.

Darker than the new moon grew SIlver's expression seemed to gaze into the very soul. Yellow shivered as a silence hushed upon the group as Silver descended upon the jocks like some sort of dark wraith. "Nobody hits on Blue," He growled before smashing Brutus's face into the stairs of the arena. The other jocks were about to hurl themselves into the fight, but Silver wasn't done.

"Do you want to fight me?" Silver growled while his eyes seemed to light up in the dark. Yellow shivered. She'd been through a lot, but it was always Silver that got to her. She hoped the others didn't know, but she knew they probably were just as wary around him.

Perhaps the jocks would have hurled themselves at Silver. Perhaps in the act of trying to keep his cover, Silver wouldn't murder them and blame a serial killer. Perhaps they would have been beaten to near death and jeopardize the mission because of Silver's temper. But that wasn't to be.

"Of course they're not going to attack that boy, right Dia?"

Yellow whipped her head around. Behind them, a girl approached. She was young, but she looked fierce and there was a look in her eyes that brokered no argument. She carried herself well and kept her head high as she marched straight to the jocks and Brutus. Flanking her was two boys who were desperately trying to stop her from picking a fight.

Yellow took a closer look. The boy on her right was blond and wore a flannel shirt with the collar ruffed up. His eyes drew her attention, which were darting wildly all around. At his belt was a few pokeballs, marking him as a trainer, and he was constantly twitching his finger at his side rapidly, as if he had a lot of energy but no way to remove it.

The boy on the right was the opposite. While the blond one seemed hasty, the second one seemed anything but. He had black hair with a red hat, a popular style after a few anime characters. He seemed to take things slow and his eyes were full of worry and constantly trained on the girl.

Brutus, who had taken a beating, stood up. "Look girlie. Get outta my way. I'm a higher year and that makes you have to listen to me. Don't you know who I am?" He scowled nastily and looked to his lackeys for encouragement. He began to talk roughly further on, but nothing of any importance.

The girl just digested this statement, not taking her eyes off the targets of her irritation. She let nothing cross her features . It was so interesting, this clash of wills, that even Silver put off murder to watch.

"You asked me If I knew who you were." The girl said staring straight into Brutus's eyes.

Brutus laughed. "Finally, some recognition for the star of the football team-"

"You asked me who you are and I'll tell you Brutus Cloverleaf son of Donnell Cloverleaf and heir to the hotel franchise. At least you'd be if not for that murder suspicion right?"

Brutus' laughter died off suddenly and his wide eyes darted to her. The girl continued. "It's said three years ago that you murdered that man who was protesting your father's company policies, but that isn't your only transgression is it? I recall shoplifting, sexual assault, and attempted murder are all on your charge. All cleared based on your father's influence.

"But how-"

"Perhaps You'd like me to talk of your lackies next? Maybe their charges of shoplifting on your urges. Or perhaps how Nick took the blame for your assault and attempted murder a few years ago? The only reason you here after all is because your families are rich."

Their faces held utmost expressions of terror. Yellow was doubly impressed and she even saw Blue nod in acknowledgement. Brutus scowled "Who the hell are you to insult me and my father!"

"Silence commoner! I don't care who your father because I don't care! No matter who you are or how much influence your father is, I will tell you that is nothing to who I am or what I give a care or you. You commoners may call me lady, for I will descend on you like some wrathful god if you so much as come near me or trouble me like this again! Now get out of my way so I can sit down and enjoy my presentation!"

They scattered in an instant. The girl spared them no glance, not one for the stares of awe that she'd attracted for her rant. The two boys beside her collapsed in relief, but the girl spared them nothing as she marched off to the top spot of the auditorium, with a special sign stating reserved. She sat down cross legged and grabbed a book and ignored the rest of the stares she got for the rest of the presentation.

Meanwhile, Yellow stared at her in open awe. The others were no better. Sure, everyone, (but poor Yellow), could probably decimate them in an instant, but that was impressive.

"Dear Giratina she's as scary as Silver!" Gold muttered earning him a blow from SIlver, though he still looked openly impressed.

"And you'd think Lady would at least try to keep a low profile!"Yellow jumped up in fright as she noticed the blond boy behind her staring at Lady.

She instantly blushed in embarrassment for jumping and kept her eyes to the ground in shame as Blue approached the boy. "Low profile? So she is as important as her little rant said she was?" Her tone was curious but there was an edge of eagerness in it.

The boy took no notice of it and answered. "As much as we can figure. We're sorta her bodyguards, but it's not like she needs any because everyone's too scared to try to get near her. I think her father uses us so Lady has someone he rage to talk to and warm up too. She's sorta a vision of terror to everyone else…"

Gold interupted. "Yeah! It's like we found a female Silver! Not that his masculinity was all that prominent to begin with. Hehehe…" Gold chuckled, but Yellow didn't feel sorry for him as Silver began to beat him., through it was something to say of the chaos of the stage that no one cared.

"Ignore the idiot named Gold." Blue said. "His head was dropped on a rock as a child, ands he's had his face ground into a rock since. The name is Blue." She extended her hand in a virtue of friendliness, but Yellow could see hidden motive behind it.

"Pearl, and the one still lying on the ground is Diamond." Pearl talked fast constantly, pointing for alliterative appeal. He pointed to the boy who was still lying on the ground. "He'll need a few minutes to recover. They didn't let us bring any food in with us…"

Blue nodded and continued the conversation. While skillfully done, Yellow could still tell that she was pressing him for information. "And Brutus was it? Are those charges for real?" her eyes revealed the eagerness behind it.

"Oh yes. It was quite a scandal apparently, but nothing was proven because his father's influence. The whole thing was hushed up."

Pearl stretched his arms out and cracked his neck. "Oh well! As difficult as that entire debacle was, hopefully Lady won't get herself into more situations like this. hopefully. By the way where are you sitting?"

Blue looked at him with a look clearly chosen to indicate confusion. "Nearby why?"

Pearl stood up straighter and he seemed to stand taller. "Then why don't you don't come sit with us? Lady wanted to invite you, she saw how you were dealing with these jerks by yourself, the only reason she can't is because of the status quo she has to maintain."

Blue nodded her eyes glittering. "Why not? But won't that hurt Lady's status quo by us staying by her?"

Pearl smiled. 'Normally it would, but you guys aren't as much as nobodies as you would think. You're Blue, the winner from that circuit one year in Johto right? Next year, someone who looked a lot like Gold won. You're all respectable tournament goers and would probably bolster each other's credibility and upstanding-" Pearl blinked. "Now I know I've spent too much time around Lady…" He muttered.

Well that was interesting. Yellow thought as she followed Blue and the others up the steps. As they passed Lady, she said nothing, but she nodded to them and continued reading her book.

"The presentation should start soon. I'm getting so tired of waiting!" Pearl loudly complained. Quietly, Yellow agreed with him.

Which of course meant that something would happen, in this case a cloud of smoke bursting from the battleground in the center of the auditorium.

"What's happening?" Yellow asked as talking rose to a greater height at the smoke. Diamond pointed to the field and spoke for the first time Yellow had heard. "I'm pretty sure the presentation is starting. Look there's a figure on the stage."

Indeed there was. From the smoke a figure rose from the smoke and stopped in the middle of the stage. Everything paused, the chartering and busybodying that had been going on as the smoke cleared, revealing that it was not one but three figures. On the left a tall man with a blue outfit and piercing eyes. The right was a small diminutive man of no remark.

But it was the figure in the middle that gained the most attention. For one, there was the wolf whistling of the idiots that didn't know any better. Dark clothes adorned the woman with bright gold hair, as bright as Yellow's own. She stood tall and unyielding and with a keen eye that seemed to sparkle in wisdom, even as far away that she was.

The diminutive man stepped forward. He seemed pompous and honestly Yellow could come up with nothing to deny that statement. "May I introduce!" He called with a voice that was heightened by some kind of speaker so that it could hit the entirety of the field. The co-headmaster and headmistress!"

"Co-headmasters?" Yellow asked in confusion. Among a few of the others, she saw others shaking their heads in confusion, but only people who seemed to be Lv.1. "Didn't the docum- I mean pamphlets say that it was a singular champion?" She corrected trying to cover for her also giving away information of their illegal wrongdoings.

Lady closed her book thoughtfully. "I believe that the man on the right takes over whenever the champion is called away She is asked that a lot."

Yellow nodded, because now she recognized who it was. She was a legend, for defeating as many leagues that there were, even the Kalos one. She was a world renowned scholar and women who was proving that you could solve runes and kick butt.

Who could forget the face of the woman who was a heroine in a world of the dregs, Cynthia, Champion and scion of Sinnoh?