Since last time, I received three characters, with a fourth still in development. Their names are:
Cole Autumns (MaMcMu)
Cecilia Delcourcy (Curiously a Theory)
Devon Manson (iM 0bLiVi0uS)
With that, our cap has officially been reached, and technically broken, since we were apparently at 18 characters last time. I don't care too much about that, but as a warning any future character submissions will not be accepted, unless I like them enough to include them at a later date.
Now that that's out of the way, let's do our review-answering column!
LevelNineCPU: Sherman is definitely going to continue his current streak, but as we'll later find out he and Ray are not very similar at all.
pokemonking0924: I'm glad I'm writing Kagome well! I do love knowing when I'm writing a character accurately or not, so I'm able to change course if necessary.
Guest: I'll keep your suggestions in mind.
Rescue Wolf: I'm glad you're enjoying how I'm doing Tori! Dravilius certainly is odd, isn't he? But we haven't even met him in person yet...
coolhuh0526: There are a couple more introductions left, but we're wrapping those up and then we can start progressing down the path that I have (somewhat) laid out.
MaMcMu: As you can tell, I received them and added them! You'll see them here pretty soon.
jjjdunk1: Well, so far.
1415: Yup, plot will progress soon! So will relationships, romantic or otherwise.
iM 0bLiVi0uS: Your character will show up here, even if there were a few kinks that needed to be worked out.
Omesta: Glad to hear it!
AnonChan1: Ooh, yay, another long review! We'll start seeing some Ray this chapter, among other things. Yes, Ember is a Fire specialist, and yes, that is very important knowledge I dropped there. He will be pretty important later on. And yes, someone let a Steelix indoors. You probably won't see them in this story though.
I'm glad you like Grant so far! He's one of the characters I put more thought into, and he'll have a big role to play in a future arc.
Evan and Jason are going to be fun rivals, certainly! Any battle tournament arcs (of which there will be a few) will definitely feature them! As for Megas, Z-Moves, and Dynamaxing, I will be sure to give everyone opportunities to use them, depending on what I have to work with. As for DJ Dustin, he will start showing up more frequently, but I'm keeping things in the dark about him for now.
As for the dorms, you've guessed them correctly! Charizard is for Battle Course, Venusaur is Research/Medical, and Blastoise is Ranger/Arts. The other three dorms are for different things, as I'll elaborate later.
Kagome and her plants are going to be something I'll be working with later, although I still need to flesh out the minor details. Who knows, it could be very important... But anyways, she'll definitely be making something delicious with those berries. As for Winona and Nancy, both are my personal characters, and I have plans for them (although I have a better idea for one of them...).
Cristian isn't the type to let a loss crush him! But yeah, the family obligation trope strikes again...I'll try to mix it up, though! Floris is nice too.
Shelly is not a Mimikyu, I can confirm that. And no, Donovan is perfectly chill with most Shuckles, so an irrational fear is not in play here.
Shelly is definitely not most Shuckles though.
Gwendolyn has a LOT going on with her. Ah, I'm so excited to explore it! But I can't give things away too fast...(yet I'm bad at that).
She doesn't seem much right now, but trust me, Jennifer is going to be pretty darn important too. Everything's important! That's my goal here!
Socializing is definitely NOT optional here. That observation is incredibly accurate.
If you've ever read some of my other stories, the fact that Victor John Foxfire's character has armor should not be a surprise. It's a pretty common thing with him, not that I have much problem with it. Thankfully, he decided to explore a new direction with them this time!
And don't be afraid about Dravilius, he's not that dangerous. (Not entirely harmless either, though)
And to wrap up this review review, you want to know what I think about Scarlet and Violet?
I think they look awesome! I wish Koraidon's bike mode wasn't so weird looking, but I do like some of what else we've seen! Fuecoco, Tyranitar, Eelektross...muahahaha, my team will be legendary!
I also like Lechonk. Sorry Fidough, you didn't beat this little piggy. You tried really hard though! Let's see what evolution brings you two!
Victor John Foxfire: Hello old friend! I do like seeing what unique thoughts you put in your reviews, and this time I'm gonna be answering them!
Donovan is a cool character, and I've been enjoying writing him so far! Shelly is quite a mystery too. I'm glad Kuronicle was creative with them!
Tom Tom definitely is asking for it, isn't he? But this Meowth is going to be doing his very best to one-up Team Rocket's, and that means he will masterfully weave his way through this story! ...Even though there are dozens of Trainers and Pokemon who are more than capable of wrecking his smug face.
AnonChan1 was correct in his assumptions about the dorms, but here I'll explain what the other three are for.
Meowth Dorm is for higher-level students, and features more luxurious and private rooms. Some freshmen got in them, but it's a pricy bonus, and I also wanted to get more character interactions so I did not mention private rooms were a thing. Most characters probably wouldn't be able to afford it anyways.
Eevee Dorm is the faculty bedrooms, as well as for guest use. Nothing too fancy or important to plot here.
Pikachu Dorm is a lie! It's not actually a dorm! This is where clubs meet up and work on things. The only reason this is next to the dorms and is called a Dorm is because 1: it's convenient, 2: it has beds, snacks, and drinks for those all-nighter club appointments or in case of disaster, and 3: it's just easier to say and matches the theme.
If you guys are curious about the clubs, I'll try to elaborate either in this chapter or one of the later ones.
Huh, I never thought about that...that will certainly be an interesting interaction between Floris and Victor. I'll keep it in mind.
As for the knife, since I wasn't entirely sure what you were talking about I Googled it and used the first few images I found to describe it. If you'd like to describe more of its details, feel free to share them with me!
Kuronicle: Glad to know you're enjoying it!
That's all for now, so let's begin our chapter! (-o-)
The University Reserve was a sprawling expanse of wilderness, blocked off by a twenty-foot high fence loaded with defenses against every kind of Pokemon. Kealoha remembered conducting research on the college before attending it, and knew all about its various statistics.
Three-quarters of the island was taken up by the Reserve, with carefully maintained biomes established so that just about every Pokemon species in the world could feel comfortable here. To the far north of the island, there was a literal volcano, which although small was quite active. There were rumors of hidden ruins far off the few trails through the reserve, and stories of a massive colony of Dragon-type Pokemon beyond the volcano, yet only Rangers were allowed to go even close to that far.
Seeing as Kealoha was a ranger in training, they wondered if they'd get to find this out for themselves.
Victor stopped ahead of him, looking at the road leading along the fence. "I wonder if this Dravilius fellow is brave enough to try crossing through the fence, even though we're not currently allowed to go past it. I'll have to deploy my drone to verify, though."
"Your...drone?", asked Kealoha, confused.
Victor started tapping away on his left gauntlet, which Kealoha realized had a familiar-looking tablet on it, although it was clearly heavily modified.
"Whoa, you already have a Capture Styler!?", exclaimed Kealoha.
Victor nodded. "Yeah, I do. Now, where is - aha!"
He pressed a sequence of buttons, and suddenly a disc of glowing light floated up into the air, where it solidified into a form that resembled a Pidove.
"Alright, this recon drone can help us pinpoint where our two roommates ran off to.", Victor stated, "Let's go!"
The drone glided off, and Victor turned on a screen on his other gauntlet that allowed him to see what the drone saw.
"Wow, that's pretty cool.", commented Kealoha, "I can see how that could make things for Rangers much more safe and easy. You could use it to more safely investigate disasters or pinpoint a potentially dangerous Pokemon!"
"Yeah, yeah, I know.", Victor replied, "It's why I designed it."
He then smiled. "Aha! Found them! Huh...why does one of them look like somebody out of Dragonite Ball Z?"
Kealoha ran over, curious.
Sure enough, Victor's screen showed a bird's-eye view of two people walking along the path, one tall and regal, the other shorter, wider, and clearly not looking too comfortable.
The tall one wore long, flowing green robes, as well as a massive red cape with a tall collar. His dark purple hair stood straight-up in a spiky manner, making him indeed appear to be a character from a certain show.
The short one had messy, chestnut brown hair, as well as a purple headband and a long orange scarf. He wore a green shirt with black sleeves, as well as blue sweatpants and red sneakers.
"I believe the tall one is our elusive Dravilius, and the short one is our abducted roommate.", Victor stated, "Shall we go ahead and catch them?"
Kealoha nodded. "Let's go."
The two of them took off at high speed down the path, and it wasn't long before they could see the two boys walking down the path, seemingly oblivious to their presence.
As they grew closer, though, they heard the tall kid calmly say, "Bahamut, use Protect."
Suddenly Kealoha and Victor slammed into a large blue barrier, on the other side of which was a large Shelgon, its white armored body reflecting the sunlight.
Its Trainer turned and strode towards them, staring at the two students with sparkling gold eyes and grinning. "Hello there! I suspected I would see you soon! You're my roommates, correct?"
Kealoha nodded, somewhat embarrassed. "Um, yeah. I'm Kealoha, Kea for short, and this is Victor."
The boy in front of them did an elaborate bow. "Pleased to make your acquaintance! I am Lord Dravilius Skyborn, but you can simply call me Dravilius! Or if you're feeling particularly subservient, you can call me 'my lord'."
Victor scowled. "Yeah, I think not."
Dravilius shrugged. "Ah well, it was worth a shot! Oh, and as for our friend over there..."
He gestured towards the other boy, who had walked over and was standing nearby. "That boy is Cole! Say hi, Cole!"
"I can introduce myself, thanks.", Cole replied. He looked to his two other roommates with a shrug. "Nice to meet you two. Is there a chance we could head back to the dorm now?"
Dravilius frowned. "Well, that wouldn't be interesting, would it? How about...a quick battle first! One on one! I choose..."
He spun around for a minute, before pointing right at Victor.
"I choose you!", he cried.
Victor shrugged. "Fine, then. I'll battle you, 'Dragon Master'."
Dravilius grinned. "Splendid! Who do you choose?"
Victor replied, "So you want me to choose a Pokemon first, so you can counter whatever I send out? I'm not new to this, you know."
Dravilius chuckled. "I'm not that devious! Besides, I only have four, you have five Pokemon! So technically, you have the advantage!"
Victor stared at him for a moment.
"You know you challenged me to a one-on-one, right?", he stated, "So technically team sizes aren't a factor."
Dravilius said, "I know that! Come on, send out your Pokemon!"
Kealoha wondered how this fight would go.
Victor picked up an old, wooden Pokeball, and shouted, "Alright, Kiyoko! Let's take this guy out!"
Appearing in a flash was a tall Hisuian Zoroark, who was wearing a similar chestplate and backpack to Victor. Seeing that she was facing a Trainer, she tossed the backpack aside, and readied her claws.
Cole froze. "Ack, it's a Ghost-type! I'll, uh, just sit over here..."
He backed up a good ten feet, and Kealoha decided to get up and go sit near him.
Dravilius grinned. "Oh my, it appears I don't have any counters for this! An armored Zoroark? Fine then, let's take her down, Smaug!"
He sent out his own Pokemon, which resembled a massive, bipedal red turtle with a spiky shell.
"Turto!", it bellowed.
Kiyoko smiled. "Interesting.", she purred.
"Agh, it talks!", cried Cole.
Kealoha frowned. "Another talking Pokemon, huh?"
Cole looked up and realized Kealoha was standing next to him.
"Aah! I didn't see you there!", he cried.
"It's fine. Stay calm. I'd like to get to know my roommate more, is all.", Kealoha replied.
Cole shrugged. "Okay then."
Victor said, "Alright, Kiyoko, we've never fought this Pokemon before, but we'll just have to do our best! Let's open it with Dig!"
Kiyoko dove to the ground and began burrowing into it, disappearing from sight.
"Cool!", declared Dravilius, "A Ground-type move would indeed be super-effective against Smaug! But we know what to do, right?"
"Turtonate!", agreed Smaug, and when Kiyoko surfaced, he turned his shell her way and she rammed right into it.
There was a massive fiery explosion, and the Zoroark was thrown back, stunned.
"Kiyoko!", cried Victor.
Dravilius smirked. "Oops, looks like we dropped a little shell trap on you! Hurt, didn't it? I'm surprised you didn't try to bait out another one of my Pokemon by using your Illusion."
Kiyoko growled, "I like to make a first impression. And now that I know more of what your Pokemon can do..."
She rose up her claws, and shifting shadows whirled up around Smaug, full of terrifying images that barraged his mind with attacks.
"Aaaah!", cried Cole. Kealoha had to hold onto him to keep him from running.
"You really are scared of Ghost-types, huh?", Kealoha commented.
Cole nodded, trembling.
Kealoha smiled reassuringly. "Don't worry, Cole. You're safe right now, this Ghost-type belongs to a Trainer and doesn't seem to want to hurt anyone."
Cole took a deep, calming breath. "Yeah, okay. I'm safe."
Meanwhile, the battle was still underway.
"Night Daze, eh?", Dravilius commented, "Not very surprising. Smaug, it's just a trick! Burn those illusions away with a Flamethrower!"
"Turto!", bellowed Smaug, breathing out a powerful jet of flames that burned through the haze and scorched Kiyoko, amplifying her already painful burns from his shell trap. The Zoroark hissed and backed off, dark energy whirling around her.
Victor grinned. "Kiyoko does not play fair! Now here comes your damage, doubled!"
Kiyoko shot the dark magic into Smaug, causing him to topple over from the strength of his attack thrown back at him. With the damage of his Shell Trap and Flamethrower combined, even the defensive dragon could not outlast it.
"Turto...", he moaned, slumping over as he fainted.
Dravilius was quiet as he returned his Pokemon.
"WOOOT!", he cheered, "Now that was fun, albeit very very short! Sweet moves from your sweet fox! But don't you fret, I will train up and show you how I win things!"
He pressed Smaug's Pokeball to his face, whispering, "Don't worry, partner, I'll heal you right back up."
He turned towards Cole and Kealoha. "Don't think you guys are safe either! I'll defeat all three of you one of these days! But I hope that we can be good friends also! Trust me, these four years are going to be the best of your life!"
All three of the students stared at him silently.
"So, uh, we gonna head back now?", asked Dravilius. (-o-)
Charlie was heading down to a secluded battlefield located off the main campus, surrounded in a small grove of trees near the Ranger section of the university. The sun was low on the horizon, and the sky was somewhat darker than it had been earlier, though not quite evening yet.
From what he'd been able to learn, this was where Ray had gone to train. Charlie wanted to chat with him, so here he was.
As he got closer, he heard Ray command, "Alright, Falco, let's try our Zephyr technique again! See if you can do it faster this time!"
Charlie felt the wind suddenly pick up, and noticed a tornado rising up in the center of the ring of trees, Ray's Pidgeotto spinning around inside it. As he watched, the Pidgeotto then slashed its wings, summoning several Air Slashes that were thrown out in all directions thanks to the cyclone. Charlie ducked as one whipped over his hair, before hurrying down to the arena as the tornado died back down.
"That was pretty good!", Charlie heard Ray compliment, "But I don't think we're quite ready to use it yet."
As Charlie stepped through the trees, he saw Falco flying down and landing next to his Trainer, near where a tired-out Charmeleon and Honedge were resting. Ray spotted Charlie coming, and stepped forward to greet him.
"Heh, I wasn't expecting anyone to come over here. You're Charlie, right?", greeted Ray.
Charlie nodded. "Yup. I'm one of your roommates."
He looked around, where he noticed scorch marks and severed tree limbs all over the place. "Looks like you've been doing a lot, huh?", Charlie commented.
Ray nodded. "Yeah. As my defeat earlier proved, I clearly need to catch back up on my training. I slacked off on it after I enrolled, and Gwendolyn made that painfully clear. I refuse to be the weakest Trainer in the Battle Course, at least not for long. You understand that, right?"
Charlie shrugged. "I suppose. But I also know that it's important to not let your drive for victory take over you. You've been training all day. Maybe you could take a break and relax for the rest of the night?"
Ray replied, "I'm not letting this drive for victory to take over me. But our first battle lessons start tomorrow, and I want to put on a good performance..."
Charlie sighed. "You'll be fine, I'm sure. Come on, why not we get some food and maybe hang out for the rest of the night?"
Ray glanced at his Pokemon, which all nodded approvingly.
"I guess that wouldn't hurt.", he said.
After returning his Pokemon, Ray followed Charlie as he walked away from the arena, heading back to the main campus. As they walked, Charlie attempted to strike up a conversation.
"So, are you excited for our classes tomorrow?", asked Charlie, "It will certainly be interesting to see what the battle lessons are going to be about."
Ray shrugged. "It will definitely be something, all right."
Charlie said, "I think that they'll be teaching us things that don't require full teams of Pokemon at first. From what I've seen, I'm one of the few students here who has six Pokemon. The average appears to be about four."
Ray stated, "Even with my three Pokemon, I will do my best. In two weeks we'll be able to try and catch some additional Pokemon as well. From what I can determine, the lessons after that first catching trip will be related to leveling up our new Pokemon."
Charlie nodded. "That sounds about right. It shouldn't be too much of a problem for me."
Ray replied, "It will certainly help me as well."
At that moment, his phone started ringing.
Ray picked it up, checking the caller, and smiled. "Alright, Charlie, got to go for a moment."
He walked out of earshot, and Charlie sat down on a nearby rock. Ray's phone call had reminded him that he needed to place a phone call of his own soon.
But Charlie couldn't exactly bring himself to do it. He wasn't entirely sure why, and he started trying to figure that out.
As he sat there, another young man walked up to him. He was tall and muscular, with dark skin and darker hair styled in cornrows. His eyes were brown and full of energy, and he had a slight smile on his face. He wore a black jacket and bulky black cargo pants. Sitting on his shoulder, in sharp contrast to his outfit's color scheme, was an Alcremie. This one was made of white cream with swirls of red throughout it, as well as two hearts above its smiling face.
"Yo there! I recognize you! Charlie, right?", the boy called.
"That's me all right.", replied Charlie, "Who are you?"
The boy answered, "My name's Devon!"
He stopped near Charlie. "What are you doing sitting right here?"
Charlie answered, "Waiting for a friend to finish their phone call. How about you?"
Devon replied, "I was just taking a walk around, seeing what I could find. I saw you and figured I could try talking with you! I wasn't able to find any of my roommates - they're all off training or something."
Charlie nodded. "Seems to be a thing around here. I'm guessing today's battles made a lot of people second-guess their skills and start trying to improve them. I won mine, but I know that even tomorrow things could end up going differently. I'll be getting some training of my own in tonight."
Devon agreed, "Sounds smart. I won my battle pretty handily, but I still don't know the composition of everybody's teams, and somebody could end up surprising me."
Charlie said, "Yeah, I've had that happen before. Several times."
At that moment, Ray returned, smiling to himself. When he saw the two boys ahead, he walked over to Devon.
"Hi there.", he greeted, holding out his hand, "I'm Ray."
Devon took his hand and shook it. "I'm Devon. Nice to meet you! I don't think I saw your battle, though."
Ray's expression darkened. "Yeah, that's probably for the best."
Devon gave him a sympathetic glance. "Guess you lost yours, huh?"
Ray nodded glumly. "I won't let that stop me, though."
"That's good!", replied Devon, "Losing is just a way to help you learn how to win!"
Ray smiled. "You got that right!"
Charlie said, "Well, since it looks like we're all getting along, why not we go get some dinner together? The Snorlax Buffet is pretty close. Maybe we could head there!"
Devon grinned. "Sounds great! I am pretty hungry, let's go!"
They were about to start heading there, when Charlie thought of something.
"Hey, our roommates would probably like to come too!", he declared, "I'll let them know where we're headed!"
Ray shrugged. "Fine, I guess."
Devon nodded. "I can't wait to meet them!"
Then they started making their way to the restaurant. (-o-)
Tori was finding out pretty quickly how antisocial her roommates were.
Gwendolyn was trying to stay on the opposite end of the court from everybody, while Jennifer was simply sitting at another corner and playing with her Ralts. Kellie at least was trying to be friendly, but it was clear this training session wasn't working the way Tori had intended.
"Alright, Monet, let's keep practicing your sketched moves!", Kellie declared, "Try using Flamethrower to make a picture on the ground!"
"Smear!", her Smeargle replied, taking a deep breath before breathing out pink flames and proceeding to scorch an image of a flower on the ground.
Kellie giggled. "You love flowers, don't you?!"
"Smeargle smear.", Monet replied, crossing his arms indignantly.
"Well, there's nothing wrong with it! Right guys?", declared Kellie.
"I am literally not paying any attention to you guys right now.", muttered Gwen, trying to help Nala practice using stronger Electric-type moves without having to use Charge.
Tori groaned. "Come on, Gwen, you're completely ignoring the point of this."
Gwen rolled her eyes, before turning back to her Luxio, concentrating.
At that moment, Monet was startled to see Jennifer's Ralts in front of him, holding out a pretty flower. No one had even seen her appear there.
Jennifer walked over. "Mary heard that your Smeargle likes flowers, and so she got him a flower."
"Smeargle!", Monet said happily, taking the flower.
"Ralts!", Mary replied, happy that he was happy.
"Your Pokemon is very kind.", Tori commented, smiling.
Nala ran over, Gwendolyn close behind.
"Lux!", she said, and stood near the two Pokemon. "Luxio."
Gwendolyn sighed. "Looks like Nala wants to make some new friends too."
Tori smiled. "She definitely has the right idea."
Gwendolyn rolled her eyes again. "Just stop, please."
Tori was growing more and more aware that befriending Gwen was going to be a right pain.
Nala, Monet, and Mary started playing together, using their moves harmlessly to show off and interact. Jennifer and Kellie smiled at the sight, and Tori thought it was pretty cute.
Gwen's face was a passive mask, but it did not appear that she was having any problem with her Pokemon taking a break from training.
After a few minutes of watching the Pokemon play around and roughhouse, Tori looked up and noticed a certain building nearby, most notable for the giant inflatable Snorlax on top of it.
"Hey, girls, what if we go get some food at that buffet there?", Tori suggested.
Kellie shrugged, "Heh, I guess that would be fine. I missed lunch today, anyways."
Jennifer whispered timidly, "But...there's people there..."
Tori expected Gwendolyn to complain as well, but there she was mistaken.
"I could definitely go with some food.", Gwen stated, "And so would my Pokemon." She smirked. "You are paying right?"
Tori smiled. "A buffet isn't that expensive! I'll pay if you actually put an effort into being friendly, sound good?"
Gwendolyn sighed. "Fine."
So the girls started making their way to the restaurant, Tori humming cheerfully to herself. It was a beautiful tune, one that she'd developed herself. They didn't call her 'Graceful Melody' for no reason.
But Tori knew that she still wasn't quite good enough yet to take the world by storm. So here she was at the University, dreaming fondly of when she'd stand on a stage and wow millions with her talents.
She was suddenly distracted when another girl popped up in her path, startling both of them.
This girl was younger than Tori, but similar in beauty. She had long black hair with a purple streak through it, as well as gorgeous dark eyes. She wore a simple purple camisole dress and brown backless loafers, giving her a casual look.
The two of them had been startled to nearly run into another, but once the momentary shock wore off they both smiled.
"Hi, I'm Tori!", greeted Tori, "How about you?"
"My name is Cecilia.", replied the girl, "Looks like you already have a few friends!"
Tori glanced at the girls behind her, Jennifer hiding behind her bangs and Gwen looking rather disinterested.
"Eh...we're getting there.", Tori said.
"Cool! Mind if I tag along? I haven't really been able to hang out with anyone yet, and you guys look nice!", Cecilia said.
Gwen replied, "I don't look nice."
"Luxio...", grumbled Nala, seemingly annoyed by her Trainer's statement.
Tori declared, "Sure, you can come with us! The more the merrier!"
Jennifer murmured, "Not really..."
The five girls continued to the buffet, where they noticed quite a few students already gathered there, forming a long line.
Kellie sighed. "I think we're gonna be here a while..." (-o-)
Donovan flipped through a brochure, showing the curriculum plans and event schedule. It had been many years since he'd last been here, so he was refreshing his memory and trying to remember the various events that had happened.
He was currently sitting in a chair at one of the tables in the buffet. His three roommates were currently getting some food, leaving just him, Boulton, and of course, Shelly.
Donovan looked up and studied the Shuckle again. Shelly probably looked normal to most people, but Donovan could make out all the details that distinguished it from all others of its species.
"I'm keeping an eye on you, you know.", Donovan muttered, "I know what you are."
Shelly stared blankly at him, as usual.
"Yeah, yeah, go ahead and play dumb. At this point I don't think even you know what chaos you're capable of. But I know. I know far, far more than you think.", Donovan continued.
Shelly kept staring at him, and Donovan held up his brochure in front of its face.
"You can stop doing that, you know.", Donovan grumbled, "I'm not sure what customs you have, but staring at people is rude."
Shelly still did not respond.
Donovan sighed. "It's like I'm talking to a rock. But that is to be expected."
Jeremy returned to the table, a plate of pizza for him and a bowl of mixed berries for Shelly. The Shuckle gingerly started nibbling away, a calm appetite that did not reflect his trainer, who was devouring his pizza voraciously.
Now that one of the others had returned, Donovan and Boulton went to go get their own food. He got some grilled berries for Boulton and some Swinub pork and rice for himself.
When he returned to the table, though, he spotted some familiar faces pulling up tables beside it. One group had Charlie, and another had Gwendolyn. Donovan walked over curiously, although he suspected that he already knew what was going on.
"Oh, hello there!", greeted a girl, who Donovan remembered was Tori, "You guys looked like you would enjoy some extra company!"
Danforth was currently leaning back on his chair, eating some food. Next to him was his Monferno, Wukong, who was greedily munching away on a Mago Berry.
When Danforth spotted Donovan, he commented, "By the way, this wasn't my idea."
Jeremy grinned. "It was mine!"
"Shuuuu...", grumbled Shelly, and Donovan flinched when he realized that I was actually talking now.
Charlie walked over. "I thought it was a good idea as well. Get to know our fellow students better and all, right?"
Donovan remembered Charlie. His mind started thinking back through the many situations that had happened at the university, and recalled that Charlie had been involved in many of them.
But of course he couldn't mention that.
Instead, he said, "It is nice to meet you, Charlie. I believe we can be good friends."
Charlie nodded. "Good to meet you too, Donovan. Shall we take a seat?"
Donovan sat down in his original spot, nodding. Boulton sprung up onto his lap, eagerly looking forward to the food he remembered tasting good.
Charlie sat down next to Donovan, slipping a bowl of spiced berry noodles to his large, purplish-blue Quilava under the table. The Quilava started eating them happily, and Charlie began to try and start a conversation.
Donovan looked around the table, recognizing each of the faces there. There were his three roommates, Jeremy, Danforth, and Travis. He could see that Charlie had brought along some boys as well - Sherman, Grant, Ray, and Devon. Then there were the girls - Tori, Kellie, Cecilia, Jennifer...and Gwendolyn.
He had already seen her today, but seeing her again just sent a flourish of mixed emotions and old memories through him. She looked exactly the same as when they'd first met, yet nothing felt the same either.
After all, he knew where the future led. And he did not want to even hint at everything he knew about it, in case something changed and things got even worse.
And yet...how could he let things happen exactly the same?
"Hey, Donovan, you okay? You've got this strange look on your face.", Jeremy said.
Donovan snapped out of his thoughts. "Huh? Oh, yeah, I'm fine!"
"Tepig?", Boulton asked, seemingly concerned.
Donovan started scratching Boulton behind the ears, remembering how much he'd loved that as a Tepig. Boulton closed his eyes blissfully.
As Donovan pet his Pokemon though, he noticed Ray giving him an odd look. Donovan felt somewhat nervous, not that he'd show it. He remembered that Ray loved to investigate things that were strange or unusual, and Donovan knew that was an additional reason why he needed to act completely normal. If Ray thought something was wrong, he was going to find out why.
They were somewhat alike in that way.
"So, anyways, as I was saying, I'm wondering what all of us are doing this year.", Charlie said, "On top of the general lessons, freshmen can sign up for up to two optional curricula, and you need to let the faculty know by tomorrow."
Grant's eyes widened. "Ack, I completely forgot about that! ...Um, what are all of the classes again?"
Tom Tom slapped him in the face.
"Ow, really!?", cried Grant, glaring at his Meowth.
Tom Tom replied, "What? You deserve it, you dumdum! If you can't even keep all the classes straight, we'll NEVER become a champion!"
"Well, yeah, but you didn't need to slap me! In PUBLIC, no less!", Grant snapped.
Tom Tom replied, "How else am I going to get things through your thick skull? Embarrassment is one of my best tactics!"
Grant and Tom Tom glared at each other, and Sherman groaned.
"You know, this is actually kind of entertaining.", admitted Gwendolyn, petting her Luxio, "But I need to know where Gomez is..."
"Gible!", chirped a voice, and Donovan looked down to see a mountain of food moving across the floor.
Oh, he remembered THAT Pokemon all right.
Gwendolyn's Gible carefully navigated over to his Trainer's side, his massive mouth drooling at the sight of all the food. Donovan remembered that, of all Gomez's lovable traits, his immense appetite was one of them.
Judging by how Tori paled, Donovan remembered the full details of Gwendolyn's first act of revenge against her forced socializing.
"Well...at least it's a buffet, right?", Kellie commented, but even she seemed astonished by the sheer pile of food that Gomez was now devouring.
Gwendolyn smiled. "Yup. I'm not THAT cruel."
"Luxi?", Nala questioned, staring at her.
"Most of the time.", Gwendolyn clarified.
Devon had to restrain himself from laughing. Cecilia wasn't as good at it, giggling under her breath before noticing the fierce look Tori gave her.
"Uck.", Shelly said, staring at the shrinking food mountain.
Travis's Chatot, still perched on his shoulder, mimicked, "Uck!"
"Yeah, Staccato eats like a Pidgey.", Travis said, "Seeing all that food probably makes him nauseous. Are you okay, little buddy?"
"Okay!", replied Staccato cheerfully.
Tom Tom said, "Well, even if it makes him nauseous, I wouldn't mind a bit of it myself..."
"Tom Tom, stop drooling on my shirt. This is my only one.", Grant replied.
"Only clean one, you mean?", asked Ray.
"No.", Grant replied darkly.
Ray frowned, and started jotting down some more notes in his notebook. Donovan hadn't even seen him bring it out, but he knew Ray liked to take notes on everything.
'Probably including myself.', he thought warily.
"Well, anyways!", Charlie said loudly, distracting everyone, "I'll help refresh Grant's memory."
He gave the buff kid a friendly smile. "So, for the first year, we have four general classes: Pokemon Training 101, Basic Pokemon Care, Pokemon Biology, and Trainer's Education. Additionally, your chosen course adds an extra class, depending on the one: Battle is Combat Strategy, Research is Logic and Statistics, Medical is Pokemon Medicine, Arts is Artistic Thinking, and Ranger is Wilderness Survival. On top of that, you can additionally sign up for Introduction to Type Specialization, Pokemon Care and Wellbeing, Pokemon Legends and Myths, Contest Readiness, Pokemon Physical Education, and lastly, Pokemon History. Sound familiar yet?"
Grant nodded. "Uh, yeah, that sounds right!"
Tom Tom said, "I got it all taken care of! I signed us up for that type introductory thingy and Pokemon Care and Wellbeing!"
Grant stared at him.
"What? Being this handsome doesn't come easily, and I'd appreciate the help!", Tom Tom replied.
Grant groaned. "This. Right here. Is why you don't teach your Pokemon to talk."
Gwendolyn flinched slightly.
Jennifer sighed sadly.
Tori shrugged. "I don't see what the problem is. I think, more likely, is that you shouldn't put your Pokemon in charge of your schoolwork."
Cecilia burst into giggling, while Grant's face turned bright red.
Sherman gestured at Tori and Grant. "Yes! That! Exactly that! The girl's got it right!"
Tori smiled at him. "You're so sweet."
Sherman seemed to melt under the praise.
Donovan felt more than a little uncomfortable.
"So, what about the rest of you guys? How many of the classes do we align in?", Charlie asked, "Not that I need to see your whole schedule or anything!"
Sherman beamed. "I'm in both Legends and History! There's just something about those epic stories of old...I simply had to sign up for them!"
"Kid's got a knight obsession.", Grant stated.
Now it was Sherman's turn to be embarrassed. "That's...that's not a BAD thing!"
Danforth gave him a reassuring smile. "Yeah, I don't think it's a problem either. I'm in Myths and Legends as well."
"Cool!", Sherman said, "What about history?"
Danforth shook his head. "Nah, my other one is Phys Ed."
Donovan looked over the kid's muscles, which were pretty decent even if not at Grant's level. Made sense for him to be in Physical Education, although he had already known that.
Sherman sighed. "Aww...are you in the 11:00 time for Legends, at least?"
Danforth smiled. "Yeah, actually!"
Donovan also smiled. So was he. He'd taken a bit of a liking to Sherman, although as he remembered the kid had his own issues. And Danforth was in the Ranger Course, which meant they would also be in the early 9:00 window the course used for Wilderness Survival.
Those 'bonus classes' were basically the actual course itself, after all.
Tori said, "I decided to enroll in Contest Readiness and Pokemon Care. How about you, girls?"
She smiled sweetly at them, hoping they'd open up a bit.
"Um, me too, actually.", whispered Jennifer, "Both of them."
Kellie said, "I'm just in Contest Readiness for this semester. Taking it easy since I don't know how hard these classes will be."
Cecilia smiled. "Same, though I went with Pokemon Care since I heard you'll get to interact with all kinds of cute Pokemon! It will be a lot of fun!"
Tori looked over at Gwendolyn. "And, what about you?"
Gwendolyn replied with silence.
Donovan remembered, though, that he had seen her in Pokemon Myths and Legends, and that she'd gone with Physical Education for the other. She had always wanted to drive herself to her limits.
After a minute of Gwendolyn's passive-aggressive silence, Tori sighed. "Okay, then."
As the others continued talking about what classes they were doing, Donovan picked up the brochure again and took a look at the other thing he was jogging his memory on.
It was the calendar, and he wanted to remind himself of the various events throughout it.
The first big event took place in two weeks- the first of four open catching expeditions, which allowed students to go out and catch a Pokemon or two from the many species in the Reserve. After that, there was the Autumn Celebration, which culminated in the Freshman Cup, a tournament to allow the newest batch of students to test their skills against each other, and additionally served as the first Battle exam. At the same time was the Freshman Showcase, which did the same thing for the Arts Course.
The next month was mostly uneventful, with another catching expedition, but it ended with Spirit's Feast, a day where ghosts were said to wander and people celebrated with costumes and treats. After that, there was an archeological expedition (only open to Myths and Legends students, or members of a higher-level archeology class) and another exam, though not tied into any festivities. The next month, though, featured a special tournament where students would have to team up (though only with others of their grade level) and battle in dual battles. After that was a big party to celebrate the coming of Delibird Eve (though the actual holiday took place over winter break) and the end of the semester. Fast forward to next month, and there was another set of exams. After that came Luvdisc Day, as well as another catching expedition (which actually took students to a special small island offshore to the east). After that was the freshmen field trip (other field trips took place at different times, but Donovan didn't care about those since they didn't involve the freshmen). Then there was the Spring Festival, full of surprises and cheer, followed by more exams. As the school year approached its end, there would be one last catching expedition, followed by a day celebrating Pokemon of all kinds. Shortly after that was a giant tournament and showcase featuring the entire student body (yes, seniors could go against freshmen), then final exams and finally summer break.
Donovan smiled to himself. Ah, yes, the school year would prove to be very eventful, and he was excited.
Yet also, somewhat afraid... (-o-)
AN: Although I don't think this was my finest chapter, it has opened the window for our characters to be friends, as well as provide some hints as to what will happen over the school year!
I hope you all are well, and I'll see you next time!