Author's Note:

Marie's Blackmail files updated.

So, I put all the under 15 year olds in the young class and the rest were supposed to be split by intelligence, but I got a bit confused because there were 20 year olds, and it felt weird to put 15 year olds above them, and then I kept getting more characters so it ended up being a bit random. Sorry about that.

Thanks for all the reviews as always! I was really busy this week so this chapter's a bit on the short side.


Chapter 6: It Doesn't Help my Manly Image


Excerpt from Dance of Fate, by Mira Lee

Liliana Icarus suffered more than most at the hands of Razan. She realized something was wrong with Nature's guardians after she had joined and was encouraged to investigate by Scarlet. Unfortunately, she was discovered and Razan used his psychic powers to brainwash her. Her mind was freed by Starlight, but the experience clearly marked her and Razan's abuse of power on people like Liliana has led to distrust towards Psychic Pokésouls. Being one myself, I know that most wouldn't be able to do what Razan did, the skill and power required to brainwash someone is immense. I understand why people are scared though, the idea that someone could control your mind, it's a scary one.


Silas woke to the sound of things clattering in the bathroom. He tried to ignore the sound, but it continued. "What are you doing?" He finally called out.

"Fixing my hair," Leo called back. Silas grumbled but sat up. Leo's Oshawott was staring at him, so Silas glared at him. The Oshawott stuck it's tongue out, so Silas threw a pillow at it. Oshawott made an insulted sound from beneath the pillow.

Leo poked his head out and quickly went to his Oshawott's aid. "Leave Oshawott alone," Leo growled at Silas.

"He was glaring at me," Silas replied. Leo threw the pillow at Silas, but Danerabeth caught it. The Blissey smiled and hugged the pillow, making a happy sound and distracting the two boys' from their fight.

"How did someone as abrasive as you get such a cute partner?" Leo wondered.

"It doesn't help my manly image," Silas grumbled. Not that he would ever replace Danerabeth - she was his other half. Sometimes though, he did wish she were a bit less...girly.

Leo went back into the bathroom and the clattering recommenced. What the boy was doing, Silas wasn't sure. His hair was already gelled and he looked perfectly ready to go outside. Leo eventually finished perfecting his look and Silas went to take a shower. By the time both boys were ready, it was already class time and they had to head straight for the classrooms.


Silas walked to the class labeled, intermediate class and went inside. There were a few people already in there and Silas took a seat at the back, well away from them. There were ten desks in the room, arranged into two rows. Silas sat in the second row in the desk all the way over by the window. For some reason, Leo decided to sit next to him. There were two girls sitting in front of them, Katie and Faye. More students filed in, Jean Luc coming to sit next to Leo and Lance sitting next to him. The row finished off with Roland. The front row filled up with Mari, Equinox and then James.

Nami was sitting at the front of the room and ticking things off on a paper as students came in. "It looks like everyone's here," she said. "Nice to meet all of you," she said. "I'm Nami Salem and I'll be your science teacher."

"Hi Nami!" Mari greeted.

"We're going to start by studying Pokémon," Nami said and started her lecture.


"Hello everyone," Pecha "This is history class and I am currently your supervisor."

"Supervisor?" James asked.

"Well, it sounds better than temporary substitute teacher," Pecha replied.

"That sounds very temporary," Equinox remarked.

"You couldn't get anyone else to come?" Mari wondered. "Uncle Volke wouldn't do it?"

"Well, I asked him and he glared at me," Pecha replied.

"That sounds like him," Mari laughed.

"Nami and I are working on convincing some of our other friends to come," Pecha assured.

"Who?" Leo wondered.

"Blake specifically," Pecha replied. "Everyone else I talk to I just sort of mention that I could use help."

"So what are we doing in this class?" Faye asked.

"I have some books for you to read," Pecha replied. "By the time you finish those hopefully someone else will deal with this class."

"We have to read?" Silas complained.

"They're pretty short," Pecha consoled. She began passing out the books. "So read those at some point. That's really all I have for you today."

"Class is over?" Leo wondered.

"Nami had a lot more for us to do," Faye commented.

"Yeah, she's better prepared than me," Pecha said. Pecha let them talk amongst themselves as she scribbled something in a notebook.

"We're the only three girls huh?" Faye asked, looking at Katie and Mari.

"Looks like it," Mari agreed. "Too bad we don't have names that go well together. Coming up with a team name will be harder than with Mariririe."

"I thought it was Triple M," Faye replied.

"I'm having trouble deciding," Mari explained.

Faye turned around to to see the people behind them. "Hi guys!" She said. "Leo, Silas, and Jean Luc, right?"

"That's right," Leo replied.

"Hello!" Mari said. Jean Luc seemed startled by her loud greeting and Alyssa was as well. This drew Mari's attention. "Wow! A Meloetta!"

"Um, yes. This is Alyssa," Jean Luc replied.

"She's beautiful," Katie said.

"Yeah," Faye agreed.

"Danerabeth is better," Silas grumbled.

"Sorry, what did you just say?" Faye asked. "Dan her a Beth?"

"Danerabeth," Silas corrected.

"What's a Danerabeth?" Mari wondered.

"She's Danerabeth," Silas replied, gesturing to the Blissey sitting at his side.

"Oh, interesting name," Leo said.

"My sisters talked me into it," Silas sighed. "They're names are Danielle, Erica and Elizabeth."

"So they combined their names and named her that?" Mari asked.

"Yeah," Silas replied. Danerabeth had been posing for the audience.

"She's so cute!" Faye exclaimed.

"She really is," Katie agreed.

Silas was clearly irritated at this and glared at everyone. "You don't like her being cute?" Leo wondered.

"Stop encouraging her," Silas grumbled as the Blissey happily waved at everyone.

"Hey, that naming scheme though, we can name ourselves using that!" Mari said.

"Do we need a name?" Katie wondered.

"Of course we do!" Mari replied. "We can be... Faymartie! Or Karitie. Makafaye?

"Those sound really weird," Faye said.

"I'll keep working on it," Mari assured.


"Sit down!" Wyvrn commanded as he walked into the room. Everyone was, of course, already seated.

"Uh, we are," James finally pointed out.

"She's not," Wyvrn said pointing at Pecha.

"I'm your boss," Pecha replied, her eyes narrowing at him.

"...Don't you have another class to be at?" Wyvrn asked.

"Unfortunately yes. I'll see all of you later. And Wyvrn, if I get too many complaints I'll have to report to Preston." Pecha walked off and Wyvrn glared after her.

"You had better not complain," Wyvrn grumbled to the class.

"We will if you suck at teaching," Mari replied. Wyvrn glared at her, but the girl was unaffected. "You're not nearly as scary as uncle Volke," Mari said cheerfully.

"Volke's your uncle?" Wyvrn asked, the glare dropping from his face. "He's an okay man. He understands the beauty of silence."

"That probably just means he has nothing to say to you," Mari replied.

The glare returned. "Enough about Volke," Wyvrn said. "This is English class."

"I already know English," James pointed out.

"So you know every word in the English language?" Wyvrn demanded.

"I don't," Roland offered.

"See!" Wyvrn said, even though James hadn't actually replied. "There are still many things for you to learn."

"And you're going to teach us?" Lance asked.

"You doubt me?" Wyvrn asked.

"Yep," Mari replied instantly.

"If you're all so great at English, write me an essay right now!" Wyvrn demanded.

"About what?" Equinox wondered.

"Do I have to do all your thinking for you?" Wyvrn countered.

"So... Whatever we want then?" Faye asked. The answer she received was a glare. Faye quieted and began writing on the paper that had appeared on her desk at some point.

The class passed in a whirl of frantic pencil scratching and Wyvrn took the papers at the end as all the students scurried off to lunch.

He almost immediately regretted not giving them a topic. Leo and Jean Luc had both written about music and Wyvrn was not at all familiar enough with the subject to entirely understand what either had written. Faye's essay was about the best places to shop in Lumiose while Silas wrote a paper about how unfair it was that he was mistaken for a girl so often. Equinox's essay was about fighting, Mari's about magic, Lance wrote about finding adventures and James's was about his favorite superhero. Roland's seemed to be a stream of thought essay with no particular topic that Wyvrn could discern. Katie had actually written a book report type essay about a book she'd just finished and was the least tedious to read. He made a note next to her name on the sheet, Not quite as annoying as everyone else.


"Hello class," River said.

"Give us the quiz already," Silas demanded.

"...what?" River asked with a confused expression.

"Everyone told us that you gave the a quiz," Faye replied.

"On, well I guess I don't have to explain then," River replied. She passed out the papers.

"I didn't talk to anyone from the other classes," James said.

"This is a general knowledge quiz," River explained. "You're not getting graded on it, it's just a way for me to see where you're at."

The room was then filled with the sound of pencils as people scribbled down answers. Mari seemed to take the whole thing as a race, and when she finished first she exclaimed "I won!" And was shushed by several people. Her grin didn't dim in the slightest.

The others finished at around the same time, some faster and some slower but they all seemed to have written something down, and not just fives, much to River's relief.


Faye grabbed Katie's arm and dragged her over to Cassie's group. "Hey Cassie! Let's group up!" Cassie glared, but Faye seemed to take this as agreement.

Cerise had appeared at some point and was hiding behind Cassie. Katie wasn't entirely sure if Cassie was aware of this or not.

"Are you two in our group?" Katie wondered, looking at Gabriel and Zair.

"I don't care," Zair said with a yawn.

"Can you read my mind?" Gabriel wondered, looking at Hermes, Katie's Gallade partner.

"Um, well I guess so, I don't do that sort of thing," Katie replied. After what had happened to Liliana, Katie had absolutely no interest in messing with people's minds. Even something as passive as reading them.

Gabriel actually looked disappointed, Katie had assumed his question came from fear, but it seemed it may have simply been interest. He confirmed it with his next question. "Could you try?"

Katie shook her head. "I'm not comfortable doing that," Katie said. "Besides, since Hermes is a dual type my psychic powers aren't as strong as if he were a full psychic type."

"Really?" Gabriel asked leaning forward in interest.

"I'll supervise your group," Nami said, which redirected Gabriel's interest much to Katie's relief. "Faye and Gabriel, you're not Pokésouls are you?"

"That's right," Faye replied.

"We'll have something for you to do tomorrow, for now would you mind up just observing?"

"I would love too," Gabriel said.

"Fine with me," Faye replied, sitting down beside Nami. The Pokésouls in the group began practicing and Gabriel took notes as he watched, enraptured.

"So, what's the deal with you and Pokésouls?" Faye finally asked.

"Aren't they fascinating?" Gabriel replied.

"Yeah, I guess, but I certainly don't want to study them."

"My parents were Pokésoul researchers," Gabriel finally said after a few moments.

Faye noted the past tense and decided to drop the topic.

Katie was making some rocks hover in front of her, making them spin slowly in circles. Cassie was creating a small flurry of snowflakes in front of her and Cerise held a small fire in her hands. It appeared to be using the fire part of Lampent rather than the ghost part. Zair was was lazily manipulating a small stream of water.


Cerise nervously walked into the magic classroom behind Cassie and sat next to the older girl. Darn and Hibi found her and sat next to her. "Hi Cerise," Darn greeted.

"H-hi," Cerise stuttered. Cassie ignored the conversation and continued reading her book.

Mari was the next in, announcing herself with a loud, "Hello!"

"Hi Mari," Hibi greeted. She grinned at him and took the seat in front of him.

"Hey there, you guys excited?"

"Y-yes?" Cerise replied.

"Was that an answer or a question?" Mari asked. Cerise just stared at her wide-eyed.

Darn apparently took pity on her, and spoke. "I don't think anyone's as excited as you," Darn said.

"I do love magic!" Mari agreed.

"I think anyone looking at you can tell," Hibi replied, looking pointedly at the hat and broom.

"What's with the broom anyway?" Darn asked.

"Witches have brooms," Mari replied.

"They do?" Hibi wondered.

The explanation was cut off by the arrival of the teacher. "Hello everyone, I'm Gina," she said. "I'll be teaching you magic."

Katie, James and Zair had entered at some point, Katie sitting next to Mari and James next to her. Zair was next to James.

"Nice to meet you!" Mari exclaimed.

"Nice to meet you too," Gina said with a smile. "I'm assuming you are all at different levels of magic, so I'm going to start with the basics. Even for those of you with some skill going over the basics is always a good refresher. If you find the class too boring you're welcome to look at the more advanced books I have here." She dropped a bag on the desk and began pulling out some books.

They were fairly new looking which led Mari to believe that they must be some of the duplicate versions from the Mage's Guild. The guild had been collecting books and mass producing them to spread knowledge of spells. Spell books not from the guild all seemed to be artifacts, ancient pages and old writing. Mari had a few herself.

Gina took the pile and placed them on bookshelf in the room. "These all have tracking spells on them, so if you steal them I'll be able to track them down," Gina warned.

"That's cool!" Mari said.

Gina then began to explain the basics of magic. She taught them the sigil for the light spell first, being an easy and harmless spell to learn.

Some of the students, Mari and Darn in particular, were already obviously skilled with magic. Cerise had some trouble because she kept stuttering the spell, but when Gina suggested she incant in her head she succeeded easily. James, Hibi and Katie all seemed to have some magic experience, but their spells were a bit less smooth than the other three. Cassie clearly knew nothing about magic, though she managed to get her spell working fairly quickly, even if it did end up looking less brilliant than everyone else's. With Zair it was impossible to tell if he actually was bad or if he simply couldn't be bothered to try. By the end he'd managed to create enough light to imitate a firefly and didn't seem bothered in the slightest.

Despite the simple start, Mari had a blast. She grabbed a few of the books to study in her spare time.


The elective classes were released and Katie walked back to the dorm with Mari, Cerise and Cassie. "That was a great class!" Mari enthused.

"It was interesting I suppose," Cassie replied.

They walked into the common room to find most of the other girls down there. Faith, Mayday and Shion were absent, but the others were there.

"Double M!" Mari exclaimed.

"Hi Mari!" Ri replied. "How was magic class?"

"Amazing!"

"You guys are all in the magic class?" Faye wondered.

"Yes," Katie replied.

"Are we going to have a video game party like the boys did?" Ash wondered.

"I'm not playing Mario Party," Marie said.

"Seconded," Faye agreed.

"It's almost time for dinner now anyway," Ri pointed out.

"Oh right, I'd forgotten," Mari said.

"Let's go eat," Faye suggested.


After dinner, Cassie returned to the dorm, not bothering to acknowledge the purple-haired girl following her. They returned to their room and Cassie pulled out some of the books she'd borrowed. "What are you reading?" Cerise wondered.

"I took the more interesting looking books from the room," Cassie replied absentmindedly.

Sometime later, Mari appeared in their doorway with a loud, "Hey!" and ducked the book that was flung at her head. There was a faint ow as someone behind her took the blow.

"What?" Cassie demanded.

"I grabbed all these magic books." Mari lifted her arms to show off the load she was carrying. "I'm going to try out some of the spells, want to join us?"

"Not interested," Cassie replied.

"How about you?" Mari asked Cerise. Cerise stared at Mari in shock and eventually Mari grabbed the girl's arm and dragged her out of the room, taking the silence as an affirmative.

"Ack!" Cerise exclaimed.

Mari dragged the girl down the stairs and into the common room. Most of the other girls were there, Mayday and Cassie being the only two absent. "This is going to be fun," Mari said with a grin as she opened a book.


Author's Note:

I wrote these three chapters to give an idea of what the normal days are supposed to be like, from now on I'll be writing about more interesting things that happen to everyone.