Reed and Callie are reunited in the pokemon center! I'm sure that Callie will be filled with nothing but gratitude for Reed gifting her that Jangmo-o. It's obvious.

KedharS: Relatively being the operative word.

Just a Bad Writer for Fun: Who knows? Reed is certainly skilled at making friends, so it's not like it's out of the question.

JoshGamerV: The pattern of the flutes was that Ryoko gave them to the people who would get them, that's it. I gave her a sneak-peak at the outline.

Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings

Chapter 797

"What is she doing here?!" Callie snarled. She had just enough composure to not burst into a violent fit and start swinging, coming to a stop in front of the tall woman and balling her hands into fists as she glared up at her.

"Hello there! You're… sorry, I forgot your name. Callie?" Reed asked. "Nice to meet you again!" She extended her hand to Callie. "I'm Reed. Reed Blackthorn."

Callie swatted away her hand, and resisted the impulse to strangle the fucking girl. Luckily for everyone there, Nick was able to catch up to her by that point, and a hand on her shoulder was enough of a comfort to calm her down.

With a few deep breaths, she regained her composure, and reached into her pocket for her phone. "Okay, I'm calling campo."

"Wait, wait, wait!" Darla stepped in the middle, playing mediator. It wasn't a role she liked to play, especially now, when there were people around and she couldn't afford to break her character all willy-nilly. "There's no need for that."

"She's an intruder!" Callie protested. "She attacked us last night!"

Nick chose not to bring up that Callie had attacked first.

"It was just a little test," Reed said, shrugging her shoulders. "And you did an excellent job! How are you liking the Jangmo-o?"

Darla whipped her head around. "Reed, did you… actually give her that test?"

Reed shrugged again.

Darla had to resist the urge to scream.

The test she suspected that Reed had given Callie was a special test administered when a Draconic child came of age. The child would answer five questions, and the way they answered the questions would determine the dragon pokemon they would be given, along with other things they'd displayed.

But it wasn't a test meant to be administered to strangers. She'd been afraid of Reed getting on her case for revealing their secrets to outsiders, and she was going around testing random students and giving them pokemon?!

"Look, Darla, this girl is an intruder, so I don't know what you're doing with her or what you think is going on, but I'm calling campus security," Callie snapped.

"She's not an intruder," Darla explained. "She's… my guest. Temporarily. Just for the day. She has a visitor's pass and everything, don't you, Reed?"

Reed blinked, tilting her head to the side in confusion.

Oh. Right. Reed didn't have a wallet, so Darla had been holding onto her card. She reached into her purse and pulled out the ID card, handing it over to Callie.

Callie couldn't believe what she was seeing. But it was true, she saw Reed's name emblazoned brightly on the card. And it was legit.

She cursed under her breath, "you've gotta be shitting me…"

"I was looking for my sweet cousin last night!" Reed laughed, draping her arm over Darla's shoulder and pulling her into a side hug. "Sorry I couldn't tell you that, it was a whole complicated family drama thing, you know?"

Callie just growled. "Fine. Whatever." Muttering, "you could have just said that in the first place, saved a whole bunch of trouble."

"Now, that Jangmo-o, how are you two getting on?" Reed asked, smiling brightly. "I knew you would be a perfect match!"

Callie baulked. "W-Well, I mean… so you really did leave him for me?"

"Yep! Because you answered the questions!" Reed explained. "I felt that he would be a great pokemon for you to try training! I love Dragon types, they're wonderful, aren't they? So sharing a love of dragons with a stranger, I just…"

"Reed," Darla said, clearing her throat. She nodded back to the counter. They still had their pokemon to check up on.

"Oh! Right!" Reed laughed, lightly slapping her forehead. "I completely forgot! Sorry about that guys, I just get so caught-up when the topic of dragons comes up, you know? I'll be there in a sec!" Reed turned and headed to the counter with the other girls, and then paused.

She glanced back at Callie and Nick. The two were looking cautiously back at her.

With a contemplative smile, Reed strolled back over to the couple, her eyes on Nick this time.

"You look familiar, too," Reed said. "You were there, last night, weren't you?"

Nick blinked, a little taken aback. "Uh… yeah," he said. "Yeah, I was."

Nick was a nice guy, so even if he was a little shy, he didn't really have a problem with Reed even after what had happened.

Callie, on the other hand, saw a girl she already didn't like very much starting to put the moves on her boyfriend, and was about to snap. It was only the knowledge that Nick didn't like her getting jealous that kept her under control.

"He's my boyfriend, so of course he was there with me last night," she said instead, puffing her chest up proudly. Reed had a good foot and a half on her so it wasn't all that impressive, but if the other woman wanted to make a move then Callie was ready.

"Oh, really? That's so sweet!" Reed gushed.

"Reed!" Darla called from the counter, a little impatient. Their pokemon were fully-healed now, so they were free to leave. But Reed, of course, was being social.

She supposed she couldn't blame the woman too much; people from the Draconid so rarely get the chance to interact with outsiders, so Reed must have been having a blast meeting all sorts of new people.

Still, she and Lila wanted to go change into some dry clothes already.

Reed narrowed her eyes in consideration as she looked at Nick, her gaze intense enough that he began to feel a little uncomfortable himself.

Callie was right about to say something when Reed clapped her hands together so loudly it made them both jump, and even caught the attention of Darla and Lila across the room.

"That's it! I just had the perfect idea!" Reed decided, winking at the couple. "You two are certainly a cute match, so this is going to be great!"

"R-Really?" Callie couldn't help but smile. Like Lila, she may not have liked Reed very much, but was still weak to the woman's blatant flattery. Maybe it was because Reed didn't have a dishonest bone in her body.

"So, um…" Reed scrunched up her face. "…What was your name again?"

"…Nick," Nick said, still a little flustered. Callie might have been seeing stars thanks to Reed's praise of their coupleship, but Nick was more of the "get embarrassed" type of guy.

"Great! Well, Nick, I have a few questions I'd like to ask, if you don't mind!" Reed said.

"Reed, don't even think about it," Darla said, catching on immediately to what her cousin was planning. She snatched up her pokeballs and crossed the room, "you can't just ask him about-" but Reed quickly shushed her.

"Hush Darla, it's fine!" She assured her. She turned her attention back to Nick. "Now, where was I? Oh, yes, the test!"

"Test?" Callie asked, back from la-la land and newly suspicious of Reed's motives.

"The same one I gave you last night," Reed explained. She gave Callie a wink. "Wouldn't it be perfect? If he passes the test, I'll give him a Dragon type pokemon, too! And then you can raise them together, wouldn't that be just grand?"

Callie immediately turned traitor to camp Reed, nodding eagerly. "Nicki! Do your best on the test!" She loved the idea of the two of them training up their dragon pokemon! Could Nick maybe even get a Jangmo-o himself?

Darla groaned, and buried her face in her hands. Any thoughts of decorum or her dignity as an idol were lost, right now she was just frustrated with this whole mess. But there was nothing she could do, when Reed got an idea in her head, that was it.

"Here's the first question, then," Reed calmly began. "What are pokemon to you? Allies? Friends? Or juniors?"

Nick thought for a moment. He didn't particularly want to raise a dragon pokemon out of nowhere, given the knowledge that they were a lot of hard work. But he hadn't seen Callie look this excited in a while, she clearly wanted this. So he was going to give the test his best shot. "Pokemon, they're… my friends?"

Reed nodded. "I see. Okay, then let's move onto the second question. What helps you win battles? Strategy? Training? Or cheating?"

This question had made no sense to Nick last night, and it still wasn't making sense to him right now. What on earth would be the point of cheating? "Training," he answered.

"I see, I see. Third question!" Reed was smiling, but it was clear to everyone that her eyes were studying Nick carefully as he answered her questions. "What kind of trainer do you wish to battle? A strong trainer? A weak trainer? Or anyone?"

While Callie answered with her heart, Nick was the kind of person who thought about his answers carefully before giving them. He felt that the most important part of this test was honesty, if it really was meant to test him as a trainer for his ability to train Dragon types. So what kind of trainer did he want to fight?

Honestly, Nick liked the idea of fighting weak trainers, but that was mainly because of his self-esteem. He considered himself a weak trainer, and he knew he would have a much better chance of winning against someone who was also weak.

But at the same time, he wanted to improve himself. And you don't get stronger as a trainer by only battling against people weaker than you are. He wanted to be a strong trainer like his friends. Blake, Cynthia, Reiner, Julia, even Kitty, and especially Callie, he wanted to hold his head up high and be just as good as they were. And he wouldn't be able to reach that point if he didn't challenge himself, that was for sure.

Honestly, he really didn't care who he fought. Anyone would be a useful learning experience. So that was the answer he gave. "Anyone, I guess, strong or weak."

Reed's eyes twitched for a second, and she nodded. Her smile seemed to brighten for just a moment. "I see… now, the fourth question. What is most important for raising pokemon? Is it love? Knowledge? Or violence?"

Nick couldn't say for sure whether love or knowledge was more important, all he knew was that violence was definitely out of the question. Even when training in the Pokemon Fight Club, that wasn't about violence, it was about testing yourself.

He knew knowledge was important. But at the same time, for him, personally, he felt that the most important element was love.

"For me, I guess it's love," he admitted.

Reed's eyes widened. "Oh, I see."

Darla seemed taken aback by this answer herself. There's no way, she thought, shaking her head. She couldn't believe that Nick's answers were so close to the target of what the Draconid were raised to believe. While there might not technically be an "incorrect" answer to any of these questions, every one of Nick's responses were exactly in line with the ideals that the Draconid hoped to foster in each generation.

Nick was answering them naturally, even if he had to think about each one. These responses were coming straight from his heart, and Darla had to admit that was pretty admirable. Reed's smile didn't give it away, but Darla knew she must be thinking the same thing.

"Well, all we have left is the final question, then," Reed said, flashing a smile as bright as the setting sun. "Strong pokemon. Weak pokemon. Which is more important? Strong pokemon? Weak pokemon? Or both?"

This was probably the most important of the five questions, and the most telling of what sort of pokemon Nick would be given. Trainers that answered strong pokemon were often given pokemon that were outwardly tough and powerful, while trainers that answered weak pokemon were given pokemon that needed a little more love and care to raise.

But the "correct" answer was both. Loving all types of pokemon, whether weak or strong. That was the sort of belief that the Draconid hoped to foster in their children, a love of dragons no matter what kind they were.

It was the principle that Reed lived by.

And it was the answer that Nick gave as well, without even having to think about it. "They're both important," he explained. "Whether a pokemon is strong or weak that doesn't matter, you still have to raise them with love like any other pokemon, right?"

Darla was surprised, while Reed beamed at him proudly.

"Masterfully answered," she said, nodding her head in agreement. "And you're absolutely right. It doesn't matter what kind of pokemon it is, strong, weak, those are all just words we use to define pokemon that fight for our needs. What matters for a pokemon? It's what's in here." She reached up and placed her hand over her chest. "And it's glaringly obvious that you understand that principle perfectly, Nick."

Callie held her head up in pride. "That's my boy. He's wonderful, isn't he?" She wrapped her arms around his waist and hugged him tightly.

Callie had never doubted for one second that Nick's answers on the test would be perfect. After all, he was her boyfriend. She knew everything there was to know about him.

But honestly? If she had seen him take this test on the day they first met, she would have believed in him with just as much fervor as she did today.

Nick had showed her the moment they met. When he helped her, without judgment, and looked at her not just as some shorty, or a little kid. It was just like the question had asked; people always looked at Callie and saw someone weak due to her height. Unless they knew about her position, or saw her fight, in which case they knew she was strong.

Nick had done neither. He had seen her as just a girl, and treated her like just a girl. That was why she'd fallen for him instantly, because of that big heart of his. His eyes that saw her for who she was, not who she appeared to be.

Eyes like hers.

It was why, in her opinion, they were perfect for each other. Nick could see who she really was, and Callie could see who he really was.

And now everyone else could see it, too.

"Nick… it was an honor to test you today," Reed said, lowering her head in a polite bow. "Your love of pokemon is commendable, and I am grateful that there are people like you, even here. As proof of my recognition of you, I want to give you this."

She reached to her belt and took a pokeball from it, handing it over to him.

"I raised this little one myself," she said with a whimsical smile, her eyes filled with a strange mix of sorrow and joy. "Unlike that Jangmo-o, I'd hope to train him up a little longer as my own pokemon. But… I know that he's a perfect pokemon for someone like you."

Her eyes twinkled, and she let her hand fall to her side. "I can see it in your eyes."

Nick didn't know what to say. He didn't even know what pokemon it was. "Th-Thank you, I guess," was all he managed to squeak out. To say that he was embarrassed by all the praise being heaped on him would be an understatement.

"What did you get, huh?" Callie asked excitedly, practically on fire.

Nick pressed the button on the pokeball, and released the small dragon. It was one of the most beautiful pokemon he had ever seen, and he knew what it was right away.

The pokemon's indigo scales like the deep water of the ocean were distinctive, matched with the milky-white of its belly. The tiny fins on the sides of its head were notable as well, and so was the sleekness of its serpentine body.

The pokemon looked up at Nick with big brown eyes and cooed, "Dratini!"

Nick had heard of Dratini. They were some of the rarest pokemon in Kanto. He'd thought of catching one a few times, but that had always been a pipe dream.

But now, he'd just been given one. Just like that.

It… he couldn't believe it. He looked to Reed for confirmation. "Uh… a Dratini? For real?"

Reed grinned and nodded. "Yep. Aren't they adorable? The Dratini family, they're one of my absolute favorite species of dragon to raise."

"And… and I can just… have it?" He asked hopefully. No, wait, that was the wrong way to say it. "Sorry, sorry, I didn't mean, like, that he was a thing or anything, I meant… you're really okay with me raising this little guy?"

Reed crouched down next to the dragon and ran her fingers down his back. She was smiling, but in the light it was clear her eyes were wet.

"I won't lie… I'm gonna miss the little guy," she admitted. "But this is right. You're suited to train such a pokemon. It's a perfect fit."

Nick really didn't like that pressure. Even to a dunce like him, it was clear that Reed didn't really want to part with this pokemon. "L-Look, that's not necessary, honest!" He protested. "I would be happy with any dragon, really, you don't need to give me him if he's that important to you!"

Reed scooped up the small dragon into her arms and stood, turning to him with a smile. She rocked the Dratini gently like soothing a child.

"Saying things like that… just convinces me more that you're the perfect person to raise him," she giggled. She held him out to Nick. "Please. Take him."

Unable to protest when she looked at him with such eager eyes, Nick held his arms out and caught the weight of the dragon. He was lighter than he'd imagined. And so much more delicate. It was going to take a lot of care to raise him.

Reed brushed her hair back, and smiled sheepishly. "I-I know that… he's your pokemon now," she laughed. "But still, I… I know that I shouldn't ask this, but…"

"What?" Nick wondered. She was already making such a sacrifice, he had no problem granting her request.

"Do you mind? It's just… I named him Guinara," she explained. "And… could you let him keep being called that? I-I know you might already have a nickname, but I just-"

Nick laughed, hugging the dragon a little tighter. "That name is just fine," he assured her. "I like it. Don't worry, Reed. I'll take good care of the little guy."

Reed gave Nick a smile that was worth a million bucks. She nodded. "Yeah. I know you will."

Aww! What started out with hostility and tension ended with nice, heartwarming fuzzy feels. That's a good note, don't you think? Nick and Callie now have dragon pokemon to raise together, how nice!