Here comes Chapter 10. We're now into the double digits, people!
I've started school again, so I might have a little less time to write. Or I might not. We'll see.
How did I know that?, Lance wondered. Somehow, his brain was still confused as to why his aura had been able to sense that.
He tried telling himself that the way he knew it didn't matter. What did matter was that he now had an answer, an answer, moreover, that he'd be able to use to perhaps find other answers.
Are there others?, he wondered. Other people who have also turned into Lucario, or Zoroarks, or other types of Pokemon? What should I do with this information?
Lance decided that the best course of action would be to simply wait and see what happened. After all, it wasn't as though he really needed those answers. All he cared about was getting through these next few exercises. Then, all he'd have to do would be to get through more days, and, before he knew it, he'd be seeing combat.
"Okay" Mr. Buido announced. "The first thing we're going to do is thirty minutes of treading water. I'm sure that everybody here already knows how to do that, but you also need stamina. When you're out in the jungle, you're going to hurt in places that you never even knew existed. So, thirty minutes is probably about enough to start feeling it. Get in in the deep end".
The deep end of the pool was very deep indeed, twenty feet according to the side of the pool. There were three diving platforms; one that was a meter tall, one that was three meters tall, and one that was ten meters tall.
Lance was a strong swimmer, but there was something about the fact that this pool was so large that intimidated him. Then again, he had to remind himself that he'd been on his father's boat before. He'd been swimming in the open ocean, although he'd been wearing a life jacket then.
The key point was, he could swim. There was no reason to feel intimidated, he reminded himself.
As soon as Mr. Buido said to hop in, he did. And then he started treading water.
It wasn't very difficult; indeed, it was even easier as a Lucario, since Fighting types had great stamina. If he had wanted to, he could even have held a conversation with the others, although there wouldn't have been much to say. Besides, he was pretty sure that Mr. Buido, and military instructors in general, didn't particularly appreciate side conversations.
Lance simply treaded water for the first ten minutes without any problem. After that, his muscles started getting a little tired, but it wasn't too bad. Looking over at the others, they were still focused on keeping their heads above water, just like Lance was. They all seemed to agree with the Lucario boy on that count.
After thirty minutes of treading water, Lance's muscles felt like they were on fire. He was very relieved indeed when Mr. Buido announced that they could stop.
The recruits all swam back to the wall of the pool, where the Buizel had another announcement to make.
"Now that that's over, it's time to practice holding your breath underwater. This isn't an easy task, but it is very necessary on many occasions. You are being trained to be marines in addition to foot soldiers, so I hope that you are able and willing to do so. If not, you won't last too long".
The warning given by Mr. Buido was very chilling indeed, but Lance tried not to think about it. He was already determined that he would learn whatever was taught here as quickly as possible, no matter how stressful and terrifying it might be. That was the only way he was going to survive on the field of combat, so he might as well.
"Fifteen feet below you are buoys tied underwater. Each recruit has a different-colored buoy that they must grab. Most Pokemon have excellent underwater vision, so we don't need masks or any of that jazz".
We're not Pokemon, or even beings, Lance thought to himself. In Mr. Buido's eyes, we're just recruits for the Hoenn Army.
That pissed him off to no small degree. He didn't like being thought of as anything other than a person. Pokemon were considered equal to humans in this world; Lucario, for instance, could do anything a human could do, minus avoiding boiling alive during the summer months.
The Buizel rattled off the names of the cadets and which color buoy they would be attempting to release. Lance dunked his eyes underwater, but made sure that his ears stayed above water, so that he would know what color he was supposed to get.
There was one buoy each of orange, purple, green, black, blue, yellow, red, magenta, gold, white, and gray.
"Finally, Lance, you will be aiming for the blue buoy. You got that?"
Realizing that Mr. Buido had been talking to him, Lance nodded to show that he'd understood. After that, the Buizel instructor said, "Ready...set...go!"
Lance dove underwater, and, almost immediately, it was as though he was in completely another world. Going underwater was like entering a portal into a universe in which you could fly, but you couldn't breathe.
The buoys were all tied in a circle, five feet from the bottom of the pool, much like a clock with one number missing. You couldn't miss your particular buoy.
This didn't make the recruits immune from confusion, however. For one, they had to find their buoy with tangles of arms, legs, and bodies all around them. This wasn't an easy task.
At one point, Lance was kicked in the aura-sensing organ on accident. (At least, he hoped it was on accident). The culprit was the Zoroark who wasn't Claire. At first, Lance had thought it was Claire, and had thought, She's ruthless, isn't she?
However, that had turned out not to be the case. Lance managed to untie his buoy, although, at this point, everything felt waterlogged. He wanted to give up, but then he remembered that the only way he'd be able to breathe again would be to get back to the surface.
Pushing himself down to the bottom, he was able to kick off, reaching the surface of the water just five seconds later.
He started taking deep breaths as soon as his head broke the surface. He didn't think he'd taken on any water, though, so that was quite fortunate.
He clutched his buoy in his arms, not believing that he'd been able to get it, almost. It had taken quite an effort in order to bring it back to the surface, but he'd done it anyway.
As he tried to catch his breath, he reminded himself that there was still quite a bit left to go before they were going to leave Aquatics. He wasn't out of the woods yet, not at all.
They did a few more exercises in the water, such as practicing dives, something that Lance was far from perfect at. When he'd taken swimming lessons as a child, he'd always had a difficult time with them, and had performed more than a few belly flops in his day.
That said, at least it didn't involve being submerged beneath the surface for an extended period of time. For him, that was immensely valuable and beautiful.
Once Aquatics was over, Lance was instructed to take another short shower. He didn't need to go through the rest of the day smelling like chlorine, he was told. And, honestly, he agreed with that. It certainly wouldn't help endear him to Claire.
Oh, get over it, he told himself. You're not with her. You have never been with her. You will never be with her. So put a sock in it.
It was easier said than done, however. Lance couldn't get over the feeling that there was something completely different about Claire, something that, if he got to know her, he would grow to absolutely adore.
You've got bigger fish to fry, for Arceus's sake, he told himself. You're going to be seeing combat fairly soon, and don't you forget it! Thoughts like those are only going to be liabilities.
Looking at the orange tattoo on his arm, he saw that lunch was next. He honestly didn't know what to expect. The food was probably going to be pretty lame, though; he didn't expect anything else from this place. He supposed that they were probably trying to prepare them for the time that they would spend in the jungle, where food would be very hard to come by.
Man, I hope I can find ways to find food more easily, Lance thought. Otherwise...I don't how long I'm going to make it.
At lunch, the recruits were all served the same thing. It was a ham-and-cheese sandwich, except that it didn't look fresh at all. It appeared to have been mass-produced, almost, like a copying machine had accepted one sandwich and made five hundred copies of it.
It didn't taste too bad, but it was nothing to write home about.
Home.
Lance tried not to let any emotion show, but it was hard. He'd gone off to sleepaway camp before when he was a little younger, but this was different, somehow.
There, his life had not been at risk. If he was going to climb a rock wall at camp, for instance, he was wearing a climbing harness, and, if he fell, he wouldn't fall far.
It wasn't just that, though. There wasn't the same sense of security as there would have been at a summer camp. He didn't feel at home, or safe, here at all, and it was only a matter of time before he broke down, and would be unable to handle it any longer.
Lance tried to distract himself from these thoughts by looking around the hall with his aura. He was focusing very hard, trying to see if there was any sign of anything out of the ordinary.
This time, he wasn't sitting anywhere near Claire. As he looked around the Hub, trying to find her, he noticed that he was surrounded by people who were talking around him.
Jerks, he thought. How would THEY feel if I just started having a conversation with the people on the other sides of me? Huh?
He wasn't going to let them get to him, though. Whatever it took, he was going to stay strong through all of this, no matter if it took absolutely everything he had.
Which, you know, it very well might, he thought. I've never done anything like this before. The military is no joke.
Lance focused until he became dizzy from the effort, but he couldn't sense anything out of the ordinary. Whether this was because of the sheer amount of people in the hall, or simply because there was nobody with an unusual aura, he wasn't sure.
Finally, he stopped, so that he didn't end up fainting. He then went back to his ham and cheese sandwich, hoping desperately that nobody else noticed how focused he had been.
Once his sandwich was finished, Lance saw no reason to stick around. He found social interactions physically exhausting, and that wasn't a hyperbole. He literally felt like, if he talked to too many people without resting, he could fall asleep on his feet. Thankfully, you weren't mandated to stay in the Hub during the entire lunch break.
Edible plants, huh?, he thought, as he looked at the tattoo. I wish I knew where that was...I guess I could ask Troy again, but I don't think that he particularly wants to talk to me at this point. I could ask someone else...but I don't want to draw attention to the fact that I'm leaving the dining hall early.
In a way, it kind of was a lose-lose situation. Either way, he was going to be embarrassing himself. Either way, things would be far from ideal.
Instead, he decided that he'd just stay in the Hub for a few more minutes. Edible Plants was at 11:30...perhaps he'd stay until 11:26 or so, and then he'd see when people were leaving. Thankfully, there was a clock on the wall, so he could see when that time had been reached.
When that time did come, he followed the tide of people and Pokemon who were leaving the room and heading somewhere only they knew.
In all honesty, he had no idea where Edible Plants was. He wasn't going to ask Troy for this one, since he had no idea where his roommate was in this massive dining hall. Instead, he went over to the closest Pokemon who was not in the middle of a conversation, a Machamp.
"Excuse me?" Lance asked Machamp.
The Machamp turned around and caught Lance's eye. "Aye, you're Lance Grant. Aren't you the new guy?"
The Lucario boy was slightly taken aback, but he wasn't surprised that the Machamp could recognize him. After all, he was able to recognize that Claire had once been a human, so it wasn't that big of a shock that someone else could see the same in him.
"Yeah" he said. "I'm Lance, the new guy".
"What do you want?" the Machamp asked. "My name's Matt, by the way".
"Thanks, Matt. I'm looking for Edible Plants".
Matt smiled. "It's just down a few halls from here. Right, left, then right. It'll start feeling warm eventually; that'll be a sign that you're close to the greenhouses".
Lance started memorizing that information in his head. He had once taken an IQ test with a professional, who had told him that he was in the top thousandth in terms of working memory. He remembered being extremely proud of this, and now he was able to put it to use.
"Thanks, Matt" Lance said again. "I'll see you around".
"No worries, man" the Machamp replied. "In fact, I'm heading there right now. I'll show you the way".
Thanks, Arceus, Lance thought. He doubted that it was a sign from the big man upstairs, but there was always a possibility. If Arceus deserved credit, he was going to get it from the Lucario boy; he was just so glad that he could now find his way to the appointed place.
Lance followed Matt down the corridors, which were all pretty narrow after a certain point. It was nothing like the high school he'd attended back in Sinnoh; here, they were more like the hallways of his house.
As a result, they were forced to walk in single file. However, this wasn't as bad as one might have thought. Indeed, the upshot of it was that Lance couldn't lose Matt. The Machamp kept glancing behind himself, making sure that the Lucario boy knew where he was going.
Maybe I've just made myself a new friend here, Lance thought to himself. Wouldn't that be nice?
Eventually, they entered what must have been the fourth or fifth corridor off from the Hub, and it became clear that Matt hadn't been lying about the heat.
The air began to grow very warm and muggy, as if they were inside a large bathhouse. Every breath Lance took felt steamy, in a way.
"Here we go" Matt said. "Here's the door".
Lance didn't know how, but he didn't see anyone else entering the door. Perhaps they'd left earlier, knowing that it was a decent distance from the dining hall. The Lucario boy was sure that it had to have taken more than three or four minutes to get here.
Oh, joy, I'm late again, he realized. I hope this isn't becoming a pattern.
Matt opened the door, and they found themselves in a dirt tunnel that sloped sharply upwards. So sharply, in fact, that there was a rope on the ground.
"You might need to use that to climb up" Matt explained. "If you don't, it's like a slide; you'd go straight to the bottom again".
"Well, I certainly don't want that" Lance replied, grabbing the rope from the Machamp's hand and stepping onto the wall.
Climbing the wall, as it turned out, was easier said than done. Every so often, Lance would side down a little bit. Holding himself up with the rope was a significant strain on his back.
If this is the worst that training contains, Lance told himself, I think I can handle it.
Of course, if he had actually thought that was the case, he was delusional. Training was going to get far, far more painful for him, especially since Lance hadn't been known to use any exercise equipment other than the treadmill in his basement back at home.
Finally, he reached the top, and found that he was in one of the most gorgeous greenhouses that he'd ever set foot in.
From floor to ceiling, there were pots of flowers, as well as various other planets. Grapevines hung from the ceiling, brilliant reddish purple fruits shining in the midday sunlight.
Sunlight. Lance hadn't seen that in a while, and it surprised him that there even was sunlight. The last time he'd been above ground, the sun had been almost completely blocked out by all of the jungle foliage.
The smell was absolutely delicious, if a smell could be described as such. Even though some of the plants were no doubt poisonous, Lance felt the urge to taste some of them.
This is a trick, he thought. It has to be.
He decided not to care for the moment, and saw that there was a lecture going on. A Gardevoir was talking to group of young men and women. All but one of them were human; the sole exception was…
Claire?
There was no mistaking the blue ponytail. The Zoroark was standing there, listening to the instructor giving her presentation. She looked much like a very determined student, hanging on to her teacher's every word so that she could get an A on the test.
I can't believe this, Lance thought. There must be forty groups or something. And I just so happen to be in two of hers in a row. Is that a coincidence?
Maybe you're just so much in love with her, the romantic voice inside his head said.
No, shut up, said the rational voice. Don't concern yourself with those things.
"Ah, Lance, we were waiting for you" the Gardevoir instructor said. "In any case, students, let's see...today we will be working on how to identify if a plant is poisonous. All of you have been judged to be at roughly the same skill level in this subject, so this class will not be difficult to teach".
Wait a minute, Lance wondered. If we've all been here for different amounts of time, how could we all be at the same skill level? It makes no sense.
He supposed that not everything needed to make sense, but life could be so confusing sometimes that he wanted more answers than it would ever give him. Quite frankly, confusion stressed the Lucario boy out.
And then he remembered something else.
Claire...was once a human. I really need to ask her about that when I have the chance.
Now, he was in a room with her. The instructor was going over the lesson. Now seemed to be as good a time as any to broach the subject.
The lesson went on and on, and Lance soon realized that it just wasn't going to happen. Bringing it up simply wasn't feasible right now.
I'll have to wait for the perfect moment, Lance thought. Strike when the iron is hot.