Chapter 1
"Welcome to the Pokémon Academy"
A young boy gazes at the towering building in front of him and swallows his spit. He felt intimated being on campus with other Pokémon trainers who were all attending the Pokémon Academy for the same reason: To build a better relationship with them. The Pokémon Academy was a school in the Unova Region's Castelia City, known for sharpening the skills of people interested in becoming better Pokémon Trainers. It hosted the world's top talent in Pokémon training: from dragon masters, including Kanto's Champion Lance, to the legendary Red himself, and so on. But the school wasn't only for Pokémon Trainers. It was a school for people who absolutely love Pokémon.
The campus was blooming with life. Rather, it's Pokémon, both owned or wild, and people of all ages. Tall buildings stacked together, people conversing with one another, Pokémon battles, trainers training their Pokémon, teaching them new moves, working on their battle strategies, trees swaying in the wind, and Flying-type Pokémon flapping their wings in the sky. It was all just so beautiful.
The boy was ready for his life to change as he held a confident smile on his face. But there was only one problem…
A famished Patrat searches for food and comes across the young boy. Presuming that the boy was a kind trainer, he approaches the boy by giving him "Baby-Doll-Eyes". But that didn't work on this trainer. The boy freaked out by screaming like a little girl, and he hides behind his long ponytail braided friend.
"Are you still afraid of Pokémon?" She asks.
He swallows his spit yet again as he felt the end of the world was upon him, merely interacting with a Pokémon, making him shiver in fear and clenching onto his best friend's jacket.
The young man and his best friend were on their way to their classroom. The boy was scared. Being surrounded by so many Pokémon terrified him into oblivion and made him be on high alert. He tried to play it off. If anyone knew that he had a fear of Pokémon, his reputation would go down the drain. Plus, he didn't want to be bombarded with the questions like, "Why are you at a school for Pokémon trainers if you're afraid of them?"
The young man had fluffy raven black hair, reminiscent of a bush, and styled in an afro. He has golden brown skin and gorgeous opalescent colored pupils. His friend has a more unique style, as she has lengthy coal-colored hair with blue-frosted tips and emerald, green eyes.
The first day of school was intense for any young person. With how crowded the hallways were, the school was practically a zoo. The best friends walk down the hallway, as the girl counts chuckling at her best friend's misfortune. They pass by other students and their Pokémon as Davey clenches the strap of his backpack, trying to feel safe. He takes in a deep breath, as a way of not letting his anxiety get to him.
Davey got uneasy seeing so many Pokémon wandering around the bustling hallways. Simultaneously, he felt jealous that he didn't have a Pokémon of his own to share a bond with.
"I still can't believe you're afraid of Pokémon!" She teases and giggles. Her best friend didn't find it hilarious. He blushes and tries to hide his face, by tilting his head to the side, while still looking at his friend. She sees how he feels and is terrible for picking at him. "It just doesn't make sense. When we went to the Preparations Camp when we were kids, you loved Pokémon! What happened? Davey?" She asks.
The boy sighs. He wasn't ready to tell her what happened as a quick flashback of the event that caused his fear to play in the back of his head. He shakes it off and changes the conversation to something else. "So, Ashley, who from the Prep Camp do you think is going to be in our class?"
"I hope it's not Grace Johnson. She was such a bitc-"
As soon as Ashley was about to finish what she was going to say, a tall muscular bald guy sporting a pokéball themed letterman jacket shoves Davey up against the locker with an intense glare. "Give me your lunch money, Davey…"
"Oh, Spyro Bandicoot… It's been a while. Long time, no see."
"Shut up, you little bitch, and give me your money."
"Look, Spyro… We're adults now… you know, going to the Pokémon Academy and everything. Isn't this whole bully thing, soooo 2005." Please don't kill me!
"Isn't your face better with my fist in it!"
Davey fakes a chuckle. "Good, one! Have you been reading Chia Chia Boom Boom?" I hear it's great with teaching people the alphabet." Davey smirks, but Spyro wasn't too happy about Davey's trivial insult. Spyro growls and punches Davey in the face, causing him to bleed. Davey holds his nose. His hands weren't doing enough to cover up the blood dripping from his nose. It hurt too. Davey almost starts crying, but doesn't.
Witnessing her friend in pain causes Ashley to become upset. "Why would you do that, you jerk!"
Spyro and his two friends: one with a buzzcut and the other bald, laugh at Davey. Both were tall and strong, just like Spyro, but of different races, one black and the other white. Spyro goes in for another punch, but Davey dodges it and runs away, pissing Spyro off. "Get back here Jones!" He and his goons chase after him.
"Wait for me!" Ashley moves too, trying to catch up with them.
In an empty classroom, a young black-haired Asian girl and an older gruff, grizzly Caucasian guy, alone in a room, pant heavily with sweat dripping from their faces. They put on their clothes while giving each other looks that told two completely different stories. Once the older man finishes getting all dressed up, he hugs the girl and kisses her on the forehead. "No one can know about this Harper." Professor Cotton, who was her teacher, says.
"Yeah… Professor Cotton."
"No, I'm serious Harper. If anyone finds out about this, I can lose my job." He worries and paces back and forth in the room.
"I know. I won't tell anyone, jeez." She replies.
He gets extremely serious and gives her a stern look, which makes her scared. He walks up to her and grabs her by the hair. "You better not. Because if you tell anyone, I will ruin your chances of ever becoming a Pokémon Professor." He promises. He kisses her on the cheek as his Darmanitan steps into the room.
Darmanitan grunts and nods her head. Cotton understands and smiles at his Pokémon. "Thank you so much, Darmanitan, for keeping a watchful eye." Darmanitan nods again, and the Professor returns the Pokémon, back into his pokéball. He places Darmanitan's pokéball back onto his belt, as the bell rings.
The girl begins moving. "See you later, Professor Cotton."
"Wait, Harper….!" He walks up to her and puts his right arm on her shoulder. "Tomorrow, my wife is going to be out of town, and I was thinking that… maybe you can come over, and we can drink some wine and watch one of Brycen's old movies."
She didn't know how to respond to him, as this entire situation was confusing to her, not knowing where she wanted it to go. "Um… I'll think about it." She replies and rushes out of the room. She grabs her pokéball and lets her Abra out. Abra was not pleased with her trainer.
"Look, I know what you're going to say, Abra." Harper explains. She was an intelligent student, and usually at the top of her classes. She and her Abra both had a similar dressing style. The duo both wore long white glasses and a pink bowtie, but Abra wasn't wearing a vest nor a skirt, like her trainer was.
Abra judges her trainer immensely, and Harper rolls her eyes. "Okay, I know sleeping with Professor Cotton is a mistake, but I need to! If I want to become a Pokémon professor, I need a good grade. Professor Cotton is the toughest teacher here at the school! I had to do what I had to do!"
Abra responds by producing meaningless grunt sounds. But it was easy to understand what she was saying. She was letting her trainer know that there were other ways she could've got ahead, like studying and whatnot.
"But I always do that!" I'm tired of doing that, Abra... I'm tired of everyone putting me on this pedestal of being a good girl. It's annoying!"
Abra shakes her head in disappointment. She walks ahead of her trainer. "Come on Abra, don't be like that." She responds. Harper follows Abra, but she gives her the silent treatment. "Come on Abra, are you gonna do me like that?" She asks, and Abra doesn't respond. Harper sighs.
Davey dashes down the hallway, dodging student after student. Davey looks back and sees that Spyro and his goons were still chasing after him. "Get back up Jones!" Spyro shouts. Davey kept going on as he was scared for his life...
"La, la, la," Abra urges her trainer about the dangers of a student sleeping with their teacher, but Harper just keeps on coming up with excuse after excuse, justifying her unpleasant decision.
"Look Abra, I know what I'm doing!" She starts saying; however, she was interrupted as she recognized a loud running coming towards her and Abra. The duo turns around to see what it was, but identifies Davey running from Spyro.
"What in the-"
"Watch out!"
Harper leaps into action and commands an attack. "Abra, use Psychic."
Abra orders the commands given to her and concentrates. Her eyes turn blue, and the outline of her body begins glowing blue too. Abra uses her powers to control Spyro and Davey as she lifts them in the air, both of their bodies glowing in a beautiful blue light.
Hearing all the noise from the hall inside of his classroom, Professor Cotton steps into action. "What in the world is causing all that ruckus." He was shocked to be witnessing two students floating in the air. His reputation was true, and he leered at the two students, which caused things to get heated. "You two… Principal's office now!"
After hearing that, Abra drops the two boys on the ground, and all of them stop glowing. The fall was painful for the two boys. An immense crowd surrounded them, with some students recording the commotion. Davey knew that visiting the principal was serious business, but it wasn't as simple as that.
It took several minutes, but a nervous Davey was waiting in the lounge room of the Starr Center. Spyro finishes talking with the Principal and slams the door. "He steps out of the room angry, but makes sure to mess with Davey again, by flinching at him, which startles the boy. Davey knew he was up next and advances into the Principal's office.
A man looking like him approaches him. He was older, a little bit taller and bald. But like most principles, he was wearing a button-up shirt and a tie. "Spyro… how could you do this… My own son!" Damon was pacing back and forth with his son watching him.
Davey felt instant regret for what he had done. He was, however, more scared of his father. Davey and Damon had a rocky typical rocky father and son relationship. Davey never believed he could meet his father's high expectations, which always put more pressure on him. "I'm sorry dad." He apologies out of fear.
Damon sits down in his chair. His trusty partner, Delcatty, jumps on Damon's lap, and he pets her. She starts purring and meowing like a cat, enjoying the sensation of Damon's massage. Damon was more focused on setting the record straight with his son. He even stares at him. That stare alone set shivers down the spine of Spyro.
"Why can't you be more like your sister?" He expresses. Damon looks at a picture of his family. It included Damon and Davey's sister Sarah. But what the picture excludes was his son. "She was the top student at the Academy's Preparation Camp, worked with champions from other regions, and even managed to discover the existence of a mythical Pokémon at precisely six years old!"
Davey slouches down. "I'll try my best…" He froze at that exact moment, thinking back to all the things that he accomplished. But there wasn't as much as his sisters.
Damon sighs. "It's not about trying your best Demetrius! It's about being a mature and responsible adult." Things got emotional. You could cut the tension with a knife as Damon was getting upset. "If your mother was here-" He caught himself. Davey turns his head to the side and swallows his spot.
Davey shook like a leaf on a tree as his father walks up to him. He sighs again. "Look... "He was struggling to find the correct words. "I'm sorry for how intense things got back there, but look at this way Davey, coming to the Pokémon Academy can be a fresh start for you. Maybe you can be more normal. Heck, you can even start working on trying to get rid of that "quirk" you have and become a superb trainer, like I was in my prime."
Bearing defeat, Davey gives in. "Yes sir, I'll try my best."
"Good." He replies. "Now look, you won't be getting into trouble, however, if you pull another stunt like this Demetrius, I'm going to have to send you to detention or worse SUSPEND you."
Davey shakes his head. "No, no, I don't want that."
Damon nods. "Good, now get back to class! You don't wanna be known as a troublemaker, like that friend of yours." What is wrong with this boy? I partly blame myself. I didn't try hard enough to separate him from his mother. She coddled him too much. Man, if she were here right now, I bet she'd baby him even more. He needs to grow up!
Davey nods back at his father and puts on a fake smile. "Yes sir!" He forcefully replies. He gets out of his seat and bows. He nervously walks out of the office, and his father watches him, worrying about his son. What am I doing? He's going to think I'm not cut out for the Academy. Get yourself together, Davey!
"What a weirdo." His father commented.
Davey dashes down the hallway, closing his eyes, so he doesn't have to get a glimpse of any Pokémon that may be nearby. Luckily, Davey had an excellent sense of remembering surroundings, thanks in part to his photogenic memory. He uses the palms of his two hands, so he can slap himself, bringing him back to reality.
Ashley sees her friend. She had been waiting for him. "How did things go with the dictator?"
"Terrible as usual." He responds. His attitude changed completely and was angrier. "Ever since mom went missing, he's become such a hardass." He looks down. The mention of his mother brought back so many memories, a wave of nostalgia blowing through him and making him sadder. "I miss her Ash."
"Have the police found any leads?"
"Not at all."
"You don't think she's..." Ashley didn't want to say what she knew what Davey was thinking.
"NO! She's not dead!" Davey shouts.
"Okay, okay." She replies. "No need to shout." Ashley tries to cheer up her sad friend. She wraps her arm around and smiles. She hates seeing her friend down. Mostly because making fun of Davey wasn't as fun. "Let's look at the positives, and head to class. It's supposed to start in like five minutes anyway." Davey smiles and the two head off to class.
After catching up a bit with some meaningless chatter, Davey and Ashley enter Classroom 201. They were shocked when students were already sitting in desks. Just like Davey and Ashley, they all wore their school uniforms. It was a general school uniform you would appreciate from your average anime. A tall Caucasian man led the class with blue eyes wearing a lab coat. This was the teacher of the classroom, and his name was Professor Moss.
Moss turns his head. He sees the two of them and recognized who they were. "Ah, you must be Ashley Baxter and Demetrius Jones."
"Actually, my name is Ebony Dark'ness Dementia Raven Way. But you can call me Ebony for short." Ashley skirts. Davey nudges Ashley with his right elbow. "Ouch!"
"Huh?" Her joke puzzles Moss, but it upsets Davey and causes him to roll his eyes as she continues laughing.
"She's joking sir. Yes, we're Davey and Ashley."
"Delightful to meet the both of you. Why don't you two have a seat. Anywhere you want!" He replies. He gives the two of them a headshake, and they head off.
The teen boy sits down in an empty seat in the back of the classroom, next to a window. He gazes out the window and was taken in awe of how beautiful it was outside. He wishes he could enjoy the spring winds brushing up against his skin, but he was stuck inside, feeling like a prisoner at war. He sighs.
Meanwhile, the teen girl sits in the seat next to him. The teacher stands in the middle of the classroom, ready to get started for the day. "Now that everyone is here, we can finally begin…"
"Welcome to the Pokémon Academy."
After speaking, the students began paying full attention. A few of the students in the class were familiar faces, like Spyro and Davey's sister Sarah. An alert Davey takes out his notebook, so he can start taking notes on everything that the Moss was about ready to say. He wasted no time and started writing anyway, even though the Professor hardly talked, which enacts Ashley to facepalm.
"For the next year, you will all be learning about the basics of Pokémon. From Pokémon Breeding to Pokémon battles."
Davey raises his hand eagerly. "Professor Moss!"
"Yes, Davey."
"Will we be learning about Mega Evolution, Dynamaxing or Z-Moves?"
Everyone laughs at Davey, including his twin sister. She looks exactly like him. But instead of a bushy afro, she has long black hair with a fringe bang covering the right side of her face, and square glasses, covering her eyes. "Will you ever stop being a loser?" She asks, which causes the class to laugh even more. Davey sinks in his seat. He wanted so badly to hide his face.
"Such a loser!" Spyro crumbles up a piece of paper and throws it at Davey. Luckily, Ashley catches it and throws it back at Spyro.
"Class, class, settle down. No need to laugh, this isn't what being a Pokémon trainer is about." He calms the classroom down. "In this classroom, we will not be tolerating bullying of any kind. This class will only be about teamwork. Teamwork is what separates the best Pokémon Trainers from the worst ones." He clears his throat. "Now speaking of teamwork, I've been informed two members of our class don't have Partner Pokémon of their own. Davey, Ashley, please come up to the front of the class."
Afraid of where this was going to go, Davey swallows his spit as Ashley got curious. They get up and head to the center of the classroom. Professor Moss reaches into one of his pockets and grabs three Poké Balls.
"When youngsters with aspirations to become Pokémon Trainers usually turn ten, they can choose their first Pokémon. Here in the Unova Region, they can choose from Tepig… Oshawott… and Snivy." He tosses them up into the air. As he was speaking, Tepig, Oshawott and Snivy came out of the Poké Balls. Davey and Ashley were both impressed with three choices for starter Pokémon.
Tepig wiggles his body and as he sneezes. From the byproduct of the sneeze, he accidently releases tiny specks of flames. Oshawott: proud and cocky, grabs her scalchop and flexes. As Snivy shrugs her shoulders with a sharp confident look in her eyes. The three choices of Pokémon were distinct. The choices were cliche, but familiar.
"So, who will it be?"
With confidence installed in her, Ashley makes up her mind immediately. "I made my choice. The classroom, Moss and Davey stare with anticipation, waiting for Ashley to make her choice. "I choose… none of them!"
"Huh?!" Moss askes as everyone else is surprised.
Ashley smiles. She stands on an empty desk with her head helped high. 'I've decided my first Pokémon will be a SHINY Pokémon! That's right! I, Ashley Baxter, will catch every SHINY variant of Each Pokémon, and I will become a SHINY Pokémon MASTER!"
Staring at the Pokémon alarms, Davey, and he hides behind his desk. He starts shaking, trembling in fear with thoughts of the Pokémon maybe coming to attack him. "Please get them away from me!" He replies. He holds his hands up against his head.
His confused class wonders what was going on with him, his teacher too. "Davey, is everything alright?" Moss questions.
Davey doesn't respond, but his sister sure does. "Davey's afraid of Pokémon." She says in a condescending way.
His class starts to mock him once again, pointing and laughing. Davey looks down, feeling paralyzed and shrinking away as he curls up into a ball and starts rocking from side to side. All he could hear in his head was the voices of his classmates taunting him repeatedly. She's right, I'm weak, worthless.
"Bro, why are you even at the Pokémon Academy if you're scared of Pokémon?" Spyro asks.
Ashley tenses up and lashes out at the bully. "Why don't you shut up! It's not his fault he's scared of Pokémon!" That shut him up, and she turns her attention back to her friend, wanting to encourage him, but also not pressure him. "You can do this Davey, and even if you can't do this, it's okay! This is your phobia, no one else, you are the one in control!"
Davey hated all the attention he was getting. But the words of encouragement from his friend made him smile. He didn't have to care what others thought, as this was HIS problem, no one else. Davey shakes off all the hate and stands up tall and proud. "LISTEN!" He catches the attention of everyone as all eyes are glued on him.
"Look. I may be afraid of Pokémon and I might not know what I want to do with my life. But that's why I'm here! That's why we're all here at the Pokémon Academy! To learn about the world of Pokémon! That is what I wanna do, figure out what I wanna do with my life. That's why I'm here, and I want all of you to join with me, and we can all learn together about the world of Pokémon!"
Several members of the class cheer Davey on, motivated by his speech. Sarah sensed it too, but smiles, which causes Davey to smile too. Spyro, alternatively, rolls his eyes and makes comments about the situation. Ashley was proud of her friend and the two embrace, as Professor Moss cries. "That was so beautiful! This is going to be the best year ever!' Moss cries even more as the class celebrates the first day.
The adventure was truly only just beginning...
Authors Note: I would like to thank everyone who submitted an OC for this story, I truly appreciate it! This is the start of something new and although I planned on posting this chapter two weeks from now, I decided to upload it a little early because I was just that excited to share this with the world.
Not only is the story different from a writing standpoint, but also my change at doing new and unique things I ever never done before in all my time of writing Pokémon FanFiction.
This isn't just a Pokémon Academy Reboot! This is a reboot of every Pokémon story that I've ever created! You'll see character after character, submitted oc after submitted oc, one after another. It will all come together.
Speaking of OCs there was no submitted OC in this chapter. For good reason, I don't want the story to become stuffed with one million characters in every chapter, forcing characters into chapters just because. It was one of the mistakes I made with the previous Pokémon Academy franchise and I don't want to repeat that mistake. He has plans for everyone one of the submitted ocs and they'll arrive in the story soon. But they won't be forced in just because.
That's the same for everything in this story. I spent a lot of time crafting and building things for the story such as the world, mechanics, storyline etc. and doing all that worldbuilding and planning for this story made me realize I wanna take my time with this story and not rush it. It's why Chapters in this story won't automatically be published just because their done Chapters are now written in advance which has been a fun experience!
Now everyone, go and catch Pokémon, as I'll see you in mid-June when Chapter 2 will be published (I just posted Chapter 1 as more of a sneak peak). Go out and catch Pokémon, thank you all for reading, stay safe and goodbye!
Question of the chapter: Which element from the Pokémon franchise would you like to see in this story?