Here we meet some new friends and well you'll see...
Bunny's garden was sacred to her. She had always taken time to tend to the garden every single day. That was obviously not possible now that Bunny had a tattered arm/shoulder. Alex had unofficially taken charge of monitoring his friends garden, but that had been a disaster. He did not have a green thumb like Bunny did. So Bunny had made the swap from allowing Alex to run the rebuild of her precious garden to putting her beloved Ribes in charge. Of course Alex's Pokémon were still allowed to help, but Alex was to be no where near the ground. Ribes made sure of that. Alex had also recruited some older and first year students to help fix Bunny's garden that had been damaged in the battle. Despite Alex no longer being in charge of the rebuild, the "volunteers" were scared of Bunny's Torterra so they would listen to him.
"TorTerra!", Ribes kept a watchful eye on the trainers and Pokémon. A short, but not as short as Bunny, black haired girl stood next to Ribes. She had her usually long black hair styled into a bun and seemed to be Ribes' human translator. This made sense since the female was friends with Bunny and Bunny had asked the older student to Ribes. "He says to watch where you step as we are almost done.", Catherine Kinner had not expected her weekend would involved supervising a rebuild of a garden, but here she was. She didn't mind it afterall Bunny was a friend. They both had been caught in the middle of the Ava-Alex feud. Catherine was Ava's roommate since their first year at the school. So she had seen Alex and Ava go from happy couple to hating each other. Catherine had found it incredibly annoying as did Bunny. Which was why they had become friends. So of course Kat would help Bunny while Bunny was recovering.
Andy and Royce had been roped into this by Alex. There were two other students that joined them one a first year the other another junior. All four of them trudged around the ground sodding the land. Andy and Royce had visited Ava and JJ often for nearly two weeks since the battle of Dexter's. That was how Alex had tricked them to help with Bunny's garden. The guys had noticed that Nikki had not been to visit either one at all. In fact they hadn't seen Nikki in class either. Royce would even say that he noticed she hadn't left her room and if she had it was only for a few moments. Both males figured that this was because she blamed herself for sending JJ to the hospital. She had been inconsolable at the hospital when the doctors were doing surgery. They could, from time to time, even hear her sobs from her room. So Andy and Royce had wanted to get away from the sadness of the hospital and Nikki.
The other two males had different reasons for joining in helping out with the garden. James, a rather fit yet small probably 5'6, male with shoulder length brown hair had gone on a date with Bunny last year. That had not worked out, but they stayed in touch throughout the years. Plus he was friends with Catherine so of course he had decided to help out. The other male student, who was nearly as buff and toned as Alex was with short brown hair, was in the same grade as both Bunny and Alex. He knew them very well. Jeren had beaten Bunny in a battle last year, but just barely. He was then decimated by Alex in a fight that wasn't even close. But Jeren had trained all summer and was eager to prove that he had gotten better. Jeren suspected that Alex had convinced him to help out because Alex was threatened by Jeren. All four males continued to just sod away in the heat.
"Kat, can we get a break? You and Ribes are going to kill us.", James spoke up. The other three males nodded emphatically. They were all drenched in sweat and exhausted. They had come to the Institute to train their Pokémon not perform manual labor. Yet they had two taskmasters that were watching them. Catherine, stared at the four males, "you guys are such pussies some times. Come on Ribes." The black haired junior just rolled her eyes and huffed. She would climb on the top of the Torterra. Ribes would slowly walk through the perimeter of the garden. His black eyes peered and measured every inch of Bunny's special project. Ribes wanted to make sure that everything was up to code. He couldn't wait for Bunny to come back and see that everything was in good hands. That he and Kat had done a great job. Plus it would be good to see Bunny in her garden again.
The four males waited as Ribes and Kat looked around. "Terra!", Ribes cried happily. Kat hoped off and walked over to the boys, "he said you bitches did a fine job. But to continue working until your arms fall off." Ribes rolled his eyes, it was as if Alex had taken on a female form. He sighed and nudged the junior with his large head, "Torrrrr..." Andy, James, Jer, amd Royce could tell that Catherine had taken some liberties. Kat just brushed it off and huffed. The phone in her back pocket was ringing anyways. "Fine, take a break. Someone important is calling me anyways.", she would excuse herself as she answered her phone. Ribes face a smile at the males as he motioned for them to go take a break. The males were glad to have some time to actually relax given they had been spending their Saturday working on helping to fix up Bunny's garden.
Having been used to the back breaking labor, the guys had packed some waters in a cooler. James, from his experience as a runner, knew how important hydration was. He passed out some waters, "so any of you guys have any questions about the institute go ahead and ask" James and Jer had heard about what had happened at Dexter's bar. Of course that had been the talk throughout the university, for the Institute being such a large school there was a lot of gossip that went around. So Jer and James bitch knew that these two had been involved in the fight. The older students had figured that they shouldn't press the younger students on what had happened in that bar. Pressing the younger students probably would have dredged up some feelings after all, two of the other students were now laying in the hospital with life threatening injuries. So Jer and James didn't want to press them.
"How often do The Righteous attack students?", Andy's question was right to the point. Even Royce had to admit that it was a good question. The fact that both Ava and Dexter both had known the group was the sign that clearly the group was well known. If this had been a group of strangers than those two would not have reacted like that. Andy had spent many hours visiting his best friend, JJ, in the hospital and reflecting on what had happened. Andy wanted to know what exactly they were up against. He also wanted to know if it was safe to travel in the area outside of the university. Areceus, he wanted to know if even the school was safe. He had already lost someone close to him before he came to the university. He was not prepared to lose someone else close to him. So Andy wanted a full description of what they were going to be facing and how many times people had been attacked.
Jer and James looked at one another. They really didn't know how to answer that question. The standard response would have been to lie and tell these young students that it was a one off attack.that yes they were safe from The a Righteous. But that would have been a lie. Jer looked at Andy and Royce, "to be honest their attacks have increased since last year. It's become more frequent. And yes they attack students of the school. I am not going to bullshit you." Jer was not one for sugarcoating things and he wanted these young students to understand what was happening. "Alex, who you met, apparently fought one of them off when he was up north in Avantura last spring. Even Catherine fought against one last year. We don't know why this is happening, but it is happening. So don't go out without your Pokémon and make sure they are strong.", Andy nodded. Royce though smirked, 'oh I have a strong Pokémon that I could use.' Royce had the ultimate trump card that he could use that no one knew about. He would only break it out when he had to.
James would add onto Jer's comments, "there is also a system that they will implement. It's called the mentor-mentee system. Essentially an older student mentors you and trains with you throughout the year. It'll help you become a stronger trainer." There was also the little fact that the mentors and mentees would fight against each other in a tournament. But that would be a fun little secret that the older students knew that the younger ones didn't. "So by going with the older students you will have someone with you when you go out into the city and surrounding areas.", of course the Righteous had decided to go in pairs as well. It seemed like whatever the Institute did, the Righteous countered. It was odd.
"Sorry to interrupt boys.", Kat had returned and had a serious look on her face. Whatever the phone call was about and changed her demeanor. This was the Kat that Jer and James knew. Not the overly social one that she had been before. That was an act. All of the guys looked at the black haired female they could tell this was not about gardening. "That was Alex, he said that he needs to talk to all of us. He wants to meet us at mine and Ava's place off campus. He said to start heading over there now", all the guys looked at one another. They didn't know if this was Kat still being sarcastic and playful or if she was serious. Whatever the case was apparently Alex was the one that called this meeting. That was never a good sign. At least not the times Andy and Royce had interacted with him. Still Kat motioned for them to follow her.
Nikki Allaire kept replaying it over and over again. JJ, her roommate and drinking buddy, had shoved Nikki out of the way during the fight with the Righteous. Nikki had gotten too cocky again, something that had cost her over and over again. She wasn't paying attention when she had been shoved into the ground by JJ. At first, Nikki didn't understand what happened. She had just heard that awful scream of pain from JJ. She thought that JJ had been hit by a Pokémon attack. But then Nikki had seen the pieces of debris from the wooden tables and chairs that had gone into JJ's stomach. The sight had made Nikki sick. Here was someone she didn't even really know saving her from the debris. Nikki had just watched and felt hopeless. She just saw the blood and how JJ had been battered. Nikki couldn't shake that image from her mind. It was in her dreams. The worst part was that it was all Nikki's fault. If she had not been so stupid to use the hurricane attack then JJ would be fine. But Nikki had been an idiot and had nearly killed someone innocent. It tore Nikki apart.
Nikki had not been to class. She had even tucked her mega stone in a drawer and wouldn't use it again. Nikki had stopped going to class and didn't go out. She hadn't been able to bring herself to visit JJ. Nikki knew it was wrong to not visit her friend in the hospital, but she couldn't do it. Nikki had nearly killed her. The amount of guilt she felt weighed heavily on her. Plus, Nikki had heard that JJ was attached to so many machines and had so many surgeries. Nikki couldn't bear the pain of seeing JJ like this. That was why Nikki had never gone out since then, she couldn't bear to know people thought she had almost killed JJ. The only thing Nikki did was take care of JJ's egg. Nikki knew that the egg was very important to JJ. All Nikki could do was just take care of the egg for JJ in case JJ did come back. So every waking day and night Nikki watched JJ's egg for her. Nikki brought the egg everywhere she went.
That included President Franz Babic's residence. Apparently the President had heard that Nikki had essentially given up on the Institute. In fact Nikki was prepared to drop out of the university. That was why she stood outside of the gate to the mansion, her resolve was firm. Nikki was going to drop out of the Institute. Nikki rang the bell located on the gate, she had of course brought JJ's egg with her. The usually perky pink haired female was stoic and dressed in just a shirt and pants. She would have dressed up, but didn't feel the need anymore.the buzzer rang and Nikki sighed. She walked through the gate towards the house. Dr. Babic's house was one of the best designs in all of Zlato. The house was sprawling Brice masterpiece. There was a large sprawling ground and columns in front of the mansion. The centerpiece though was the water fountain. It was made of porcelain with figures made of gold. There were three figures on the water fountain the same three figures that appeared in the painting in Dr. Babic's office. The bird, the three headed dog, and the hydra. That statue gave Nikki creeps whenever she saw it.
Nikki would be led into the house by Dr. Babic's shiny Alakazaam. Not that she needed an escort, she knew this house better than anyone. She would even know where Franz would be seated. The Alakazaam, Felix, still showed Nikki where the president of the Institute was located. 'It's his smoking room, it's always his smoking room.', she sighed to herself. That was indeed the case as she was led into the room by Felix. Dr. Babic was in his large lounge chair In his black and silver smoking jacket. There was a large smirk on his face as he looked at Nikki and his Alakazaam. "Thank you, Felix. You can go now, I want to speak to my goddaughter in private.", Felix nodded and floated away. Nikki sighed as she took a seat across from him. His blue steely eyes focused on his goddaughter. Nikki shot her godfather a look back.
Nikki did not know how or why Franz Babic was her godfather, but he was. Nikki had visited the school many times as a child. She used to love always coming to visit her godfather. His Pokémon had always been the best and he always had the best stories. When Nikki had turned the proper age, it had been Franz that had funded her adventure in Kalos. He had given her the best equipment and supplies. He only wanted the best for his goddaughter. He had monitored her throughout her adventure in Kalos. She had done well, but she had suffered some pretty bad losses in gyms. But then Nikki had found the mega stone for her Noivern and the rest had been history. That was why Franz had fudged Nikki's record when she applied for the Institute. It was Franz that had wrote she was undefeated. If it was up to a Franz, he would have of course admitted Nikki, but the Institute had a review board so of course Franz had cheated the system to get his goddaughter in. Nikki didn't kn9w or else she would have been pissed. This was his little secret. But now she wanted to leave and he couldn't allow that.
"What is this I hear about you not attending your classes Nicole? I have professors talking to me saying that you never attend in person, you just post some generic answers on the class webpage, but never show up. You promised me you would take this seriously. But you're not.", Franz stared at his goddaughter. She was pale, even more than usual. Nikki had always been very athletic, but right now she was like skin and bones. Her cheeks were sunken. Her eyes were bloodshot. Concern spread over his face as he looked at his goddaughter. Of course he knew that she had been involved in the fight at Dexter's. He had made sure that she was fine, but he had also heard that her roommate Jessica Walkmen and the girl he had assigned to watch Nikki, Ava Bloodsworth, were in bad condition. It was clear that whatever happened there had taken a toll on his goddaughter. "Nicole, talk to me please.", he begged.
Nikki's brown eyes watered with tears. This had become a common occurrence since the battle. She hung her head, "I want to leave the Institute. I just can't be here anymore. Not after what happened. I'm sorry, I know you really pushed for me to come here, but I just can't do it. It's just too much.", she buried her head in her hands. The tears had streamed down her face. She didn't want to show her godfather the weakness. She knew that he hated when people were weak and made excuses. Yet here she was showing weakness. This only made Nikki sob in agony more. "I know I am letting you down, but it's just that I can't do it. Not after what happened at that place. You weren't there you don't understand-", Franz raised a hand to cut her off. He was not a man for excuses, even with his goddaughter. His face had contorted into being hard and cold. Something that Nikki had never really experienced from his godfather before.
"I hate excuses", Franz's Corviknight, that had been perched asleep next to the fireplace, opened its eyes. Those cold unfeeling eyes stared at Nikki. Franz mimicked the Pokémon's cold stare. This was how he talked to people that were going to quit the Institute for whatever reason. Be it personal issues or the rigor of the curriculum being too difficult. Franz could not tolerate the excuses. Neither could his father. "Nicole, I understand that some people you know were injured. I am sorry that happened, but this happens all the time. People get injured in Pokémon battles all the time. Sometimes they end up in the hospital. You have to get used to it. You cannot just quit because you saw someone get hurt. They are going to be fine. You need to stop making excuses and get back to attending classes." Franz had big plans for Nicole. It was imperative that she would be able to get back to her normal self. His plans depended on it.
Nikki stared at her godfather. He just didn't get it. There was no compassion, no empathy. She had expected her godfather to be caring and warm. But he was just cold. She stared at him and just frowned, "it just wasn't a battle. This was an attack. An attack on YOUR STUDENTS." Nikki let out a growl. Why wasn't he more compassionate? The Righteous had nearly killed Ava and yet Franz didn't seem to care. This coldness was completely different to what she had always known from him. He also probably didn't know that she had almost killed JJ. Or maybe he did and that was why he was acting like this. She just glared at him, "I nearly killed my roommate, uncle Franz. Me. My stupid mistake nearly killed her. You weren't there. You didn't see the terror on her face. How her body was torn apart. I did. I caused that. I can't live with myself, can't you see that? That's why I can't go to class. That's why I don't want to stay here. What if I did it again?", Nikki cried. She buried her head in her hands again.
Franz sat back and stared at Nikki. Of course he had known about what happened at Dexter's. He knew that the Righteous had attacked them, but he had a plan to deal with them. Something that would put them down for good. They had been a thorn in the Babic family's side for years. But he would deal with them. "You need not worry about The Righteous. There is already a plan in place to take care of them. They will be dealt with.", oh yes The Righteous had served their purpose, but they would now be stamped out. Though he didn't show it, he was giddy about that prospect. But for the plan to be successful, he needed Nikki to stay at the Institute. If she left then his plan would go to shit. She was the key cog. He stared at his goddaughter, he noticed that she wasn't wearing her mega stone which she always wore. Ever since she had earned it she wore it. But now she didn't wear it. Franz sighed, "Nicole, accidents happen. It was not your fault. Plus, Ms Walkmen will make a full recovery. You need to be strong."
Before Nikki could respond, Franz walked over to a small drawer in the room. He would pull out a file from it and handed it over to Nikki. The pink haired girl opened it as her eyes widened and her jaw opened in utter shock. She looked up at her godfather as he smiled and sat in his chair again. In her hands was the deed to the university. Franz just smiled, "as you know I have no children of my own. My wife and I were not blessed to have any. You are the closest thing to a daughter that I have. So when I do pass on, all of this will pass onto you. You will be in charge of keeping the legacy alive. This is why you need to start attending classes again. You need to shape up. I cannot have my heir making a fool of herself." The confusion on her face was apparent. She looked as if she was going to cry again, which he did not want. "No, I am not sick. But I wanted to show you how important it is that you succeed. That the future of this place lies in you, Nicole." His cold demeanor had changed back to the jovial man that Nikki knew and loved.
For the first time in a long time, she smiled. Now Nikki understood why exactly her godfather had been pushing so hard for her to come here. The university was going to be hers. This was the news she needed to hear. It brought joy back into her life. All those doubts that she had about the Institute were gone. In fact she would from this point on dismiss anyone who complained about the school. Her godfather had just given her the greatest gift imaginable. "Thank you, Uncle Franz. I swear I will go back to class and shape up. I will become the greatest Pokémon trainer to come out of this place. You will see. I promise you, you will not hear any negatives about me again.", the jovial girl was back. In fact she had practically leapt out of her seat. She was so excited now. Nikki Allaire had a legacy to worry about. She would do her family and godfather proud.
Franz Babic watched, from his window, as his goddaughter happily skipped down the long path headed back through the gate. His trusted Corviknight and Felix, the Alakazaam, were by his side. "Well old friends, she shouldn't be a problem anymore.", a smirk crossed his face.
Ooc: You have no idea how long I have wanted to reveal that secret. Yes, this had all been planned out before hand. I knew that Nikki was going to be related to a Franz in some way or the other. The fact that she was "undefeated" was a hint that something was amiss. No one is going to be undefeated as that would mean they were basically Leon. So that was an Easter Egg. There was another Easter Egg dropped in this chapter as well.
As for the new students, I wanted to do a fun little introduction to them. Something playful. Yes, more will be coming later so don't worry.