Coming in with another Chappy. I was planning on making a shorter one but it just turned out to be regularly sized when all was done. Speaking of shorter chapters though, I've been thinking, would you guys prefer shorter, more frequent chapters, or longer chapters, with them taking more time to be made? Idk honestly, please comment what you think, definitely not doing it to get more comments on my fic :P
I've upgraded the rating from Teen to Mature just to be on the safer side of things, I like mixing in dark themes with a good dose of fun and humour, it's what makes a good story honestly. I don't plan on writing smut, screw that, but I will have some…Suggestive themes going.
Edited the previous chapter. Just a single word, the name of the Eevee's trainer, I don't know how I messed that up and ended up giving her a completely different name but there you have it.
In other news, the Fantasy Fiction I plan on uploading on Royal Road is moving along nicely. I've got chapter zero written down, it doesn't affect the story in any way and it basically exists as a way of giving you a feel for the setting, what everything's about and what to expect. Chapter one is also written. Combined, the two have a collective 8k words, nearly a third of the way to the 25k I plan to have before I actually upload the story.
Please, do enjoy the Chappy.
Side note - Okay what is going on, I've been trying to upload this chapter for 2 hrs now, fanfic keeps fucking something up everytime. Sometimes the words I want to be in Bold, simply arent. all of the tilted words are just gone, and one time it converted the entire chapter into eldritch script. What the hell?!
Please notify me if something is messed up in the chapter, this is out of my hands.
- o - o -
Pure silence.
Those are the words which best describe the current conditions inside the Rustboro trainers' school, a highly unusual event considering the fact it is almost lunchtime on a work day, the most active hours of the school. No matter how hard a person listens, no matter where - there is just silence. In the classrooms, the hallways, the cafeteria and mess hall…and the toilets.
And suddenly, out of nowhere…
*ring* *ring* *ring* *ring* *ring* *ring*
The bells activate, indicating the end of the school hour.
Out of one of the classrooms a teacher can be heard talking.
"Alright, everyone please come over to my desk to hand over your exam papers. In a calm and organized manner." The teacher adds significantly more weight in his words when saying 'calm and organized', a necessity to make sure none of the kids cause a stampede, not that any are even listening.
A few minutes later, after all of the papers have been handed over and the teacher has made sure that everything is in check, he speaks up again.
"I hope that everyone's first half of the school year has been joyful and productive, we'll see each other again in a few weeks. Until then though-" For a split second he interrupts his speech to stick out his arm and glance at his watch. " -happy holidays and a merry new year."
And that's all the kids needed before they start to squeeze out of the tiny classroom door, pushing against one another as three or more try to force themselves through.
Those unaware of what's happening would have surely taken but a single glance at the kids and thought that a zombie outbreak had occurred. With all of their grunting, heads kept low, dark circles under the eyes and hands limply swaying with their bodies, boys and girls alike. An odd thing is that they also appear to be the only group of kids left in the school, all other classrooms completely empty.
Finding the main double doors leading out of the main building, the brown haired kid at the front of the bunch takes the liberty to epicly open both of them, the two doors hitting a rubber door stopper.
Just as the doors open the entire scenery in front of them could be seen lightening up. The cause being the sun finally peeking out from behind the thick grey clouds blocking it out, clouds which have been present ever since the beginning of the day, just now deciding to scatter.
The very same boy who opened the door slowly holds up both his hands towards the sky. Taking a deep breath he shouts.
"Praise the sun!"
"Mud?!"
Not to be outdone, a girl walks up from behind and stands next to him, assuming the same posture.
"Praise it!" She shouts with the same strength of voice.
"Muh… mu-hahahaha!" An odd laughter causes both of the kids to stop their posing and look down.
In front of them they can see a group of pokemon, all of the pokemon ones which belong to the children. The one in the front, closest to them, appears to be a Mudkip caught in a mighty bout of laughter, so much so that it has fallen to the ground, unable to keep standing.
"Hey! What are you laughing at, you troublemaker." The brown haired boy walks forwards and picks up the Mudkip in his hands, the moment the Mudkip is raised high enough it 'lunges', stretching its tiny neck and body just enough for it to reach the boy's nose and nip it.
"Ow! You evil-" Not one to simply take it lying down, the youngster gives back what he has received by tugging the pokemon's frontal fin.
"Maaaaaah!"
"Yeah! You don't like that do you!"
The others of the group, following the boy's example, go and reunite with the pokemon
"Phew, these exams were awful Danny. And not because they were even that hard! How exactly did we end up being the only class which had to do four whole exams in a single day? Even those from higher grades didn't have to deal with this!" The girl named Anya says as she goes to stand next to the boy with the Mudkip, an Eevee being carried in her hands.
"Bad luck? I have no idea, I'm just happy that it's over. I don't want to experience anything of the sort ever again. Did you see the look on the teacher? Even he was having absolutely none of it by the end."
The two of them separating from the larger mass of children, they begin walking towards the one street which runs by the school, the school itself being exactly on the border between 'city' and 'forest' lacks any but the most vital of infrastructure. Even going as far as operating its own electrical generator instead of connecting to the power grid.
"So, what do you plan on doing this vacation?" The boy speaks up, attempting to start a conversation to break the silence.
"Draw." The reply's tone is cold, the girl not changing her expression as she delivers it.
"..."
"I don't know why I even asked."
"I don't know what you expected me to even say, of course that I'm going to draw! Especially with this guy here." She pats the head of her Eevee. "For my birthday Mom and Dad gifted me an entire box full of a special brand of paint, it's made specifically for pokemon like him as it can easily be cleaned off of fur without it staining. I haven't been able to actually use it yet because of the exams but you can bet that I'll use it now."
"Eev!" The Eevee in her hands responds with an excited cry.
"That's cool, don't forget to show us what you guys drew together."
"Of course… Now let me ask you the same question? What are your plans for the vacation."
"We're going to train on the beach! Actually I plan on bringing us there right after we have lunch."
"'We're going to train on the beach.'? Is that how you want to spend your time off school?" The girl is a bit disbelieving as she asks the boy the question.
"Yep! You can come visit us if you want, I plan on spending most of the days there, we have our special training spot which is just out of sight."
"Boring… I think I'll pass, the heat is way too much for me to handle, which is weird considering that it's winter in the other regions right now, the weather in Hoenn sure is weird… wait a second here." She turns to look at the boy
"Your Mudkip hasn't lost a single battle this entire month! What do you mean 'training'? He doesn't need it!"
"Hah Hah" The boy rubs his nose "He's amazing isn't he?" He extends his arms to showcase his Mudkip "Why shouldn't I make him stronger? I'll have you know, I aim only to be the very best! Like no one ever has been before me!" He declares, raising his free arm imperiously into the air.
"Blergh!" Immediately after the boy's declaration the pokemon he's holding visibly and audibly gags, as if someone had just forced rotten food directly down its mouth.
"Huh?! What, you don't want to be strong now or something?" The reaction of his own pokemon takes him a little bit aback, though he quickly recovers, deciding to tug at the Mudkip's frontal fin again.
"Ow!"
The retaliation is not unexpected, a sudden lunge and a bite on the nose…again. This time however the pokemon takes the opportunity to wiggle itself out of the boy's grip. Hopping a small distance in front of its trainer after landing, it assumes a very taunting pose, showing and wiggling his backside, its cries also incredibly provoking and annoying.
"Oh, you're so gonna get it you little- "
*Splash*
Before even having the time to respond the Mudkip launches a ball of water directly in the boy's face.
"Raaagh!" Having entered a berserk state the student begins rushing the pokemon, the Mudkip, likewise, begins running away from its enraged trainer.
"Off they go I guess…" The girl comments just as her best friend disappears behind the bushes, the last time she'll see him this year.
"Eev…"
The words coming from the duo seem… nonchalant, lacking any emotion - almost as if they've seen the same scene play out on repeat over and over and over again.
"Come on, we should be going home. There's mom's car over there."
- o - o -
"Birch!" A man's voice rings out as he enters a rather spacious room, a researcher going by the way he looks. A white lab coat and glasses, short cut hair.
"That's my name." Professor Birch calls out to his colleague. He's currently filling out some papers positioned on a clipboard, concentration evident on his face, a Mawile standing still directly in front of him. It questioningly turns its head in the direction of the person who just entered the room.
"You wouldn't believe what I just found out, it took me a couple more days than it should have since I wanted to make sure that I didn't get anything wrong. Why don't you come and listen to this?" He lays down a folder on one of the tables close to them.
"Oh yeah? What's this about, It's awfully unusual for you to be so excited."
"The blood tests for the Mudkip of course! Don't tell me that you've already forgotten!"
"Uuugh." The professor puts down his clipboard, sheepishly scratching his cheek. "I'm a bit forgetful."
"Ha! Of course you are Birch, you haven't changed even a little bit since you were a kid." The researcher repositions his glasses with a mocking smile. "Anyways, this is great news for me as well since one of my kids also happened to receive a Mudkip from that odd situation half a year ago."
"Just give me a second here." Rummaging through his pockets for a couple of seconds the professor picks up a round pink berry. "Thank you for working with me chap, you've been a great help." He says as he hands the small humanoid pokemon the berry, it stretches both of its arms to take it from him.
"The door to the outside is over that way." He gives the pokemon a slight head pat before he turns to his friend.
"Here, read through these."
"Hmm, let's see what this is about then." Birch says, picking up the papers handed to him.
The professor goes through an odd turn of expressions whilst reading. At first his expression was carefree, not really thinking much of the tests, what kind of parents could those Mudkip have had that they could surprise him? Continuing to read on, however, his bearing… changes. Brows furrowing and face flushing, he has to read through a couple of times just to make sure he hadn't misread what had been written on the paper.
"Seriously!? How in the…" He places a hand on his noggin, bewilderment evident from his tone of voice. "How did this happen?" He says, turning to his fellow researcher.
The man in question has a large smile decorating his face. "You've been reading the news right? You should be aware that a terrorist organisation based in Johto and Kanto which calls themselves Team Rocket have been trying to expand to Hoenn recently"
"Yes? But how does that have anything to do with this?"
"About two years ago those two regions signed an agreement, Johto and Kanto would send out elite trainers to help us root out whatever seeds that organization has planted here, in return we'd trade some resources and form a research collaboration agreement with them, you should be aware of that aspect at least, I doubt that you haven't noticed the flood of foreign researchers in the region."
"I have noticed."
"Yeah. So, here's a little less known fact. The Champion Lance came to Hoenn himself, along with a few other gym leaders from the two regions. You may have even heard of some of them, there's Clair - Lance's cousin, Surge - who just so happens to have decided to be a temporary battle class teacher in the trainers' school, and Giovanni - he's quite the prominent businessman on top of being a Gym Leader."
"Wait, just hold on a second here…Surge is a Gym Leader?" Birch says as he leans his back on a nearby wall, massaging his temples.
"Yep! Bet you didn't know that little nugget of information. He decided to become a teacher of the school for seemingly no reason. I don't even know how he has the qualifications to be a teacher or why he'd even do so considering that he has a job to do, but the school accepted him anyway."
"Back on topic though" The researcher indicates to the papers he's holding with his hand "It turns out that one of Lance's Dragonites has built itself quite the… reputation. If you could call debauchery 'reputation'. Apparently it's an open secret you wouldn't know unless you happen to be one of the parties involved…"
The words spoken by his fellow researcher causes Birch to start massaging his temples again in order to stop the migraine that is desperate to appear.
There is about half a minute of awkward silence as the two researchers look at each other, followed by the sound of Birch clearing his throat to speak.
"Is that even legal?"
A shrug is what he receives in response. "Even if it was, would you press charges, especially considering the strength of these Mudkip? I certainly don't want to spend all my money suing a champion that's an ocean away from us, not to mention that he has substantial legal protection."
Several more seconds of silence.
"What about a class action lawsuit?" Birch suddenly says jokingly.
"Pheh…" that causes the researcher to crack up, desperately trying not to laugh.
"Hahahahahahaha." The professor laughs at his own joke... "Do you have any information on who the mother is? What you gave me doesn't really mention anything other than it being a Swampert, obviously."
Composing himself the man responds "Yeah yeah, I have it here." He says, pulling another paper from the folder. "The Swampert belongs to an Ace trainer called Julia, she works for the Sootopolis City Gym when she isn't traveling and training, as one of the substitute Gym Leaders when Juan isn't available."
"At the time of the 'incident' she had left her Swampert in the Habitat close to the weather institute. Family matters are the reason, apparently. Her grandmother's health had taken a turn for the worse and she'd stopped her journey to take care of her until her parents came back from abroad… I've got no idea how Lance's Dragonite made it past the army of rangers undetected but I won't question it, it's a Champion level dragon after all." Switching to another paper he continues.
"After that it's the standard National Pokemon legal stuff, she was given the choice of either leaving her pokemon in the habitat for two years until the offspring were raised to an appropriate level or giving them to a Hoenn approved breeder."
"Well… That certainly explains some things about these Mudkip that's for sure, I'm happy I made you do those blood tests."
*Tug*
"Maaaaa!"
"Huh? You're still here you glutton?" Birch says as he turns to look downwards toward the Pokemon pulling on his lab coat, asking for attention.
"Maaaa!"
"Alright, alright… just this once though, for being such a good boy and waiting. We can continue the examination afterwards." The professor says as he pulls another one of the sweet berries from his coat, handing it over.
*Croon*
The Mawile emits a cute humming noise while being petted by the professor.
"So, did you have anything else you want to talk about?"
"No, that was all"
- o - o -
"Haaah, finally." A large Typhlosion says right before letting his body limply fall to the ground.
*Crash!*
"These wretches are really starting to piss me off." Kicking up a cloud of dust with his fall, he orients his body so that he lays on his side, propping his head up with his right paw, the other limb staying close to his belly.
The words he utters are spoken with such disdain that nobody who's met him would even dare to believe they came from him. Truly… why would they? The 'kind' Typhlosion is well known throughout the whole school, by teachers, students and pokemon alike. Seen as easygoing and happy to help anywhere he can. Everyone would say that he's a competent teacher, being able to drill young pokemon in the art of combat better than most trainers.
"Huh?" Suddenly noticing something with his peripheral vision, the Typhlosion focuses his attention on it. A faint shadow, coming directly in his direction, hiding a part of the setting orange sun.
"Oh Fuck off, you're the last thing I need right now Bats."
Directly in front of the annoyed pokemon, a Crobat descends in complete silence, his landing barely disturbing the grass and dirt under its feet.
"You're angry…" Utters the winged pokemon, its voice faint and barely audible.
"No kidding, you try and deal with a bunch of wriggling worms for as long as I have and not become 'angry'. Fucking kids, screamin' and running around clueless like they got a Spelon shoved up their collective asses."
The Crobat raises an eyebrow at the antics of his partner. "You've been doing this for some fourteen years now without much complaint, what's so different this time that it's got you acting up."
"The difference, Bats, is that I haven't left this pisshole for two years now. Two. Cursed. Goddamn. Fucking. Years." With each word spoken, the flare on the Typhlosion gets bigger and brighter to the point where it's difficult to directly look at it. It remains burning for a bit before suddenly extinguishing. "You know how mentally taxing it is to keep up a front for such a long time? In front of psychic pokemon who can pick out your mental state no less, having to delude yourself that you're happy. How irritating it is? Fuck!"
After the outburst of the Fire type the Crobat simply decides to… not say anything and keep quiet. The Typhlosion does likewise, closing his eyes and waiting until he hears a response. The silence is broken only several minutes later.
"Do you feel any better?"
"A little bit..." The Typhlosion comments, scratching his belly.
"Good…Now what's this about Psychic types? It's highly unusual for a school to have one of those, especially one which can sense emotions, there's a reason why they're so heavily regulated."
"Humph! don't worry too much about me blowing my cover bats, we trained specifically for this, remember? The reason they're here though, it's just pure damn coincidence. You know those trainers that came in from Johto and Kanto? They decided that the environment here is nice enough for them to camp out, at least until they return… There are two Hypno…and a Sylveon. Although that isn't a Psychic type it can still pick out emotions. They appeared at the start of this school year but left about a week ago. Apparently the 'aura around the exams makes them uncomfortable'. Hahahahahahaha."
The fire on the nape and shoulders of the Typhlosion blazes forth again in line with his laughter.
"I see…Well, anyways, let's talk about what I actually came here for, are there any new possible recruits that you've noticed Rupho?"
"Bah! Fuck no there aren't any, look around you." The fire type does a gesture showing the area around him with his free paw "Do you see any of the rental pokemon roaming around? Cuz I sure fucking ain't, and that's for a reason. All of them have already been bought out from the school, every single one without exception. What does that tell you, Bats?"
"That those behind the kids have money…" The Crobat states, thoughtful.
"Exactly! This isn't the shithole it was back in the day where people had to pay the fee every month of every year. Barely being able to scrape enough money by graduation, the school finally gracing them with the pokemon they've built a bond with over those years. This is a prestigious school now, the people who sign their children up here have capital now. Their entire lives are set in stone, planned from their birth until they go croak, no way are we getting any new loyal members from that. Especially since that cutie Roxanne ripped the money grubber from his position."
"'Cutie'?" The look given to the Fire type turns into a questioning one.
"Urgh…Just, please don't tell the Miss, okay? There aren't a lot of things around here that can bring me joy and she's nice enough. Removing that snake from his position has certainly placed her in my good books."
"Suuuuuure." The four-winged pokemon responds - unconvincingly. Although the Typhlosion notices, he doesn't bother to comment on it, deciding instead to change the topic.
"In other news though, I have noticed something really odd that has happened these past two years. We might be able to do some blackmail on a major figure if it actually turns out to be true. Keep in mind that it's based on several massive assumptions on my part, it may turn out to be just hot air."
"I'm listening."
"Yeah… So, you remember that weird Wooper I told you about the last time you came here?"
The Crobat nods.
"Turns out that there may be a lot more there than meets the eye. This year a clutch of Nationals were given out to the new students in school, Mudkip of all things."
"An entire clutch of nationals? Are you sure that you're not just making this up?"
"Of course I'm fucking sure Bats. I trained them myself!" The Typhlosion responds angrily.
"Okay…"
"So, the official story is that they 'grew too fast' so much so that the breeder in charge of them was afraid that they'd evolve before the time comes for them to actually be sent out in the yearly award ceremonies. Although they still haven't evolved, I can see why he could have thought that they would, owing to the fact that the lot of them are monsters in a fight, I think that they have something close to a seventy-five percent victory rate combined." Stopping for a second, the Pokemon thinks his words over.
"So far, so good. The story is believable. What really gave me a pause however was one particular specimen that is even more monstrous than his siblings… fucking… get this shit right." The Typhlosion feels the need to change his pose, getting up so that he can sit, instead of laying on his side. "He learned fucking Hydro Pump, actually no. He didn't learn it. He fucking figured it out himself bats!"
The Crobat furrows his brows at the outrageous statement coming from his partner.
"You sure that the psychic pokemon haven't done your head in, friend?"
"Yes! Fucking Yes I'm sure. I saw him use Hydro Pump in person." The Typhlosion suddenly turns his head to look in the direction of the main school building.
"Pheh… Hahahahahahahahaha." The laughter of the Typhlosion causes his flame to blaze forth once more, this time to a point where his conversation partner has to shield his eyes with one of his wings.
"..."
From the expression of the Crobat, It can easily be deduced that he isn't thinking many good things about the Pokemon in front of him.
"Heh Heh… Oh, come on. Don't look at me like that, Bats." Resuming his previous position, leaning down on his side, the Typhlosion continues. "Witnessing that Hydro pump really got me to start digging around. I've found some curious information that might just tie everything together."
"First and foremost - that very same Mudkip which learned a move it has no business learning just so happens to be the pokemon of a kid named Brendan Birch." He sends a smile to his friend.
"Second of all, It came to my attention that the breeder in charge of these Mudkip has a Psychic type under his command, a Gardevoir no less. A Pokemon renown for their ability to manipulate the mind. It would be a trivial thing. A couple of psychic compulsions taking place."
"That, coupled with the crazy Wooper has made me think that there is something more foul at play here. Especially considering the similarities between Wooper and Mudkip, both of them sharing the ground and water types, well, Mudkip evolves into it but it's close enough. Both of the species share the same ancestor as far as I know. This would also explain the Wooper's deranged behavior and his strength, if he'd been used as an easily disposable experiment…"
"...What you're suggesting here seems a bit wild, Ruph."
"I know for fucks sake! But how else should I explain these odd series of events? There's too many coincidences lining up, too many odd events. Don't you remember when the Miss told us 'If it's a coincidence or an accident and it benefits somebody, it most definitely isn't those things.'? Yes, it might turn out to be nothing, but it's good to at least investigate more into the matter. If I happen to be right, there's a lot of stuff we can 'extract' from a professor with national renown."
"...I'll tell them about it, don't worry. Before that though…" The Crobat waddles up to the Typhlosion, hugging him with his wings.
"She's sorry for not coming over for so long. I can't imagine what it's like to be stuck here for such a length of time without being able to stretch your legs."
Breaking the hug, he returns back to his previous spot, he smiles. Something really uncharacteristic of the species as a whole.
"You should know that she made it to the position of Admin just a week ago."
"Wait, really!?" Similarly to his friend, the Typhlosion smiles.
"Yeah! The reason why she hasn't been able to meet you for such a long time is because of how busy we've all been, especially with those people coming in. You're not the only one who's been suffering from the Johto and Kanto trainers, we've received quite a lot of collateral damage in the process."
"Considering the lack of new recruits from this and previous years she'd probably be eager to finally get you out of here, especially considering the reward she received as a gift from the leader, we could use the knowledge you've accrued by working here. Have you ever seen a Charmander egg? It's one of the few good things we got from the skirmishes with the Rockets."
The Typhlosion doesn't respond, but it can be seen that he's got something on his mind.
"..."
"If you don't have anything else to report I'd better get going then, expect us to come pick you up soon."
"Just make sure the Miss comes before the vacation ends, Bats. I might end up accidentally snapping a couple of kiddie necks if you take too long."
The Crobat obviously doesn't find the words of the Typhlosion even the least bit humorous.
"Also, stop calling me Bats. I have a name."
"Sure thing, Bats."
A blast of air and dust is sent directly in the Typhlosion's face along with the ascent of the Crobat.
*Cough* *Cough*
"Dick."
Watching the Crobat getting smaller and smaller the more distance he gains from him, Rupho can't help but smile as he observes his friend disappear over the horizon.
- o - o -
Again! Please notify me if something is messed up in the chapter, this is actually out of my hands.