[Pokémon] The Secret Academy
To view this story from Scarlett's view, search 'hannahluvz' in the author forum
Chapter 10: Tour 'round town!
The girl standing before me seemed excited to show us the ground and already pulled Scarletts arm trying to get her to stand up. Fieritis stood up after Scarlett and me. The brightly smiling girl turned around and gestured we should follow. She walked, or more hopped across the hall into a door between the counter where nurse Joy works, and a second corner with more red couches, however on the side tables next to them were lying a few pair of ad booklets. In my way while following the still hopping Astrid, I grabbed the one that was thrown on the top of the pile. The cover, filled up by the same logo that was printed on the banners outside, reflected the light indoors. The wrapper was made out of soft cardboard and there was a small scratch on the left lower corner. I had no more time to continue looking inside since Astrid now came really close to running and I would have to use quite an effort if I wanted to keep up with her. I stuffed it inside my new bag that replaced my fathers old one and hurried after Astrid and the others. The room right of the hall that we just reached was filled with more people than the hall who were all waiting for something certain. Most of them were laughing so it would be an on-going tournament or a specific activity. Almost every trainer was accompanied by exactly one Pokémon. I saw Totodile, Chikorita and Prinplup, starter Pokémon, so they must be the what they call 'signature Pokémon.' I didn't notice Astrid stopped just before the exit and almost bumped into Fieritis.
"Alright listen up, greenies!" Astrid exclaimed. "This is the event hall." Scarlett didn't seem to fully understand so after she looked confused the hyperactive girl had a quick giggle and tried focusing to explain. "In this hall will be hosted most of the events. These go from battling competitions based on typing to 6-Pokémon battles. Other events like Tauros training or Pokémon parkour. Current contests will announce itself with a flyer presented a week before the actual game that can be found inside your mail box." She held up her forefinger before Fieritis could interrupt her about what she meant with mail box. "I'll explain later. On that wall over there will also hang a notice and behind that green counter will be a sign-up list for whoever wants to compete. There'll be a person, just give him/her your name and he or she will add it to the list." Her forefinger moved from the position when she was stopping Fieritis slantwise to a wall right opposite of the door between the hall and the smaller event hall. My eyes naturally slipped towards the sign-up lists. I know I wouldn't be able to play in a contest when I'm just inside the school program. But it was just a reflex.
The room we now entered, was filled with tons of table. Each of the glass tables were covered in a red tablecloth. It was fun that each of the tablemats had a Pokéball on it. Exactly the size of your plate. On the left and right walls were the tables hidden by red parapets and had a window implemented inside the wall with a view over the courtyard. The doors slammed open, revealing the so called Wolf kid that had been battling previously outside. I could see him clearly now. He had jet bLack hair with piercing amber eyes. He wore a black hoodie and baggy denim jeans. A group of boys, several years younger than I, scurried over to him, crowding around him, questioning him. He strode into the centre of the canteen where he pulled out a shiny, new pokeball. I couldn't hear what he was saying, but there was surprisingly loud cheering coming from the boys followed by clapping. Astrid ran over to them, pushing through the crowd, towering over them all due to age difference.
"Do you think they know each other?" Scarlett turned to face me, glaring at me, curiously. I shrugged, showing her that I knew as little as she did. Soon enough, Astrid rejoined us, a smile upon her face.
"What was that about?" I asked.
"Oh, that's Wolf. He's like a brother to me. Don't really know how but he just is." she paused before adding, "He just won a battle against an ex gym leaders kid and-" I could just see Fieritis rolling his eyes.
"What's so good about that?" he interrupted.
"He's only in his first year at this academy! Most people our age have been here for several years..." she boasted. I chuckled.
"Quite the achievement then." I stated, following Astrid as she began to continue our tour.
Squinting, I walked out of the canteen into the bright sunlight beaming down on the yard we had just entered.
"This is the center of our school. The courtyard." I looked around, realizing just how big the place was, spotting small trees with ripe Oran berries and a beautiful, massive water fountain.
"It's beautiful!" Scarlett gasped, running towards a tiny Weedle that was quietly resting on the benches surrounding the fountain. Astrid grinned, proudly joining her.
"Have you ever seen anything like it?" I ask, smirking cheekily. Then I turn my head, expecting to see Fieritis standing there, replying to my question, but he was not there.
"Lucus, look at this!" I heard an intrigued voice coming from the other end of the yard belonging to my 'buddy'. I jogged over to him, almost tripping over a sticking up tile from the stone patio below my feet. Fieritis was gazing up at a tree, rubbing his forehead, tapping his foot on the floor, thoughtfully. There was a fascinating butterfly shaped Pokémon perched comfortably upon one of the branches. It had an almost pixelated pattern on its wings including the colors of pink, blue and yellow. It slowly looked down at me, only just noticing our presence.
"Astrid?" Fieritis turned on his heel, cupping his hands around his mouth calling to her.
"What's this Pokémon?!" he asked, rather loudly. At the time, I didn't know whether to warn him that he might scare the Pokémon off or not. Scarlett's hand shot up, jumping up and down.
"I know, I know!" she screeched, excitedly grabbing Astrid's wrist, pulling her over to us, giggling all the while.
"It's Vivillon!" she looked at us all. "Right?" Astrid nodded, reassuringly, once again grinning. "They originate from the Kalos region!" she trailed off. "Wait... How did it get here?" Astrid laughed, before explaining it all. "Here at the academy, we bring Pokémon from all regions over! Most of them are used by the research team to collect information they could pass onto apprentices. After they're done the Pokémon are set free to roam anywhere they want, you can see almost every one of them around the school grounds. You can play with them and even catch them if you want. It's a very easy system, really." She smiled nodding her head as we stared at her. She quickly turned around, facing the door close to a small group of people talking about different Pokéballs or something and she went ahead. She walked straight over the grass though there were path laid out. It was a small corridor with several different doors. Each of them had a particular symbol on it. We all looked at Astrid waiting for an explanation. "We have for every grade a different type. For example, the first years are inside the normal type section, and the second years in the water type one. Every half year there is a test that a student may take. When they complete that task, they'll join the next section. She walked towards the door with the normal type picture all the way at the start of the corridor, next to another room that was then again attached to the hall, and she threw it wide open. The room was white, three couch in were placed in U-form and a fireplace was burning heavily since it was so warm. There were two more doors. One had a Nidoranfemale and the other one of course the purple Nido. "The purple one is for the boys, blue for the girls." She didn't seem to give much more information than that. She went inside the blue door and even Fieritis and I followed her. To my surprise I noticed three more doors. I sighed, this school is a maze. I'm never gonna find where I have to be.
The first door had a Slakoth on it, the second and a Vigoroth and the last one a Slaking. "Every Pokémon stands for the stage. Slakoth is the room of the 8-10 year olds. Vigoroth is the one you'll be staying in and Slaking is for people who are 16 or older. She jumped up like she just remembered something very important. Quickly the brown-haired girl unzipped her pocket and took three keys out. One for Fieritis, Scarlett and of course me. My key had a little Gastly picture on it. "Now, I'll continue the tour tomorrow. You came a little later than we expected, so that's it for today." She winked, grabbed her own key out of her second pocket and opened the Vigoroth door. "Come on Scarlett, Cassie will be excited to meet you!" Scarlett, as shy as usual hurried after her into the room and closed the door. "Well Lucus, what a nice day." We both turned around, back into the normal type room, and Fieritis opened our own room.
-That's it for today! Huge thanks (and credit) to hannahluvz for writing the part of the canteen and courtyard. Peace out!