First, I'd like to start this chapter with a big thank you for all of those who followed and reviewed. If my previous author notes weren't clear, I was a bit put down by the lack of response the first chapters had, but ever since chapter four came out the number of follow/favs almost doubled and I got four reviews in a single chapter, which may not look like much but it's honest work, and truly means everything to me.

I did my best to pay back the trust that was put on me and now I present you my biggest chapter yet, with 10K words. It took a bit longer to write than what I would've liked but it's there. It was not proofread twice as I usually do, so there may be a few mistakes, I don't think it's anything severe, but if it bothers you, contact me so I can fix it.

Going back to the subject of reviews, I'd like to answer the question about Thornham's pokémon movesets. In order to be able to properly write battles I increased the number of moves a pokémon can learn by two, so its six rather than four. I take a lot of inspiration from competitive battling (although my last real experience was on Gen VI), but there will be moves which will work a bit differently for the sake of storytelling. When I first planned this story, I was going to give Peter a Absol as a 'starter' pokémon due to the whole disaster symbology it carries, but I decided that it would seem unrealistic, or cliché to do so. Eevee was originally planned to evolve to Jolteon, and by doing so Peter's whole strategy would consist of switching in and out by using Volt Switch in conjunction to Braviary's U-Turn (I'll have him learning that later on); but it would also feel unrealistic to have Peter obtain a Thunderstone, so I opted for Umbreon with a different style of play. As I said in the earlier chapter; full blown shithousery: stalling, cheap shots and questionable tactics. Umbreon's moveset will be suited exactly for that.

Peter's Braviary is inspired by White 2 Route 4 Braviary, with Defiant as hidden ability. I do like to point however that this Braviary will be 'weaker' than the other of its species for the moment as the game's Braviary is found at level 25 whilst it usually evolves from Rufflet at level 54. Also, Defiant is only triggered by stats reductions caused by the opponent, so having its stats dropped by the use of Superpower won't trigger the ability.

"All my life, been grindin' all my life

Sacrificed, hustle paid the price

Want a slice? Got to roll the dice

That's why, all my life, I been grindin' all my life" – Nipsey Hussle

Chapter Five: Hustlin'

I soon decided that I have conflicting views on the school uniform. If I were to wear my everyday clothes I'd definitively stand out, but for the wrong reasons. It is hard to forget that the Institute of Unova is a private school, and even harder is to forget that the tuition costs are crazy expensive; like probably what my father makes in a month. So, having a school uniform prevents me from feeling underdressed, as the richer kids will probably dress a lot better than plain t-shirts and worn-out jeans.

The drawback however is the uniform itself. I had nothing against the short sleeved button-down white shirt, the black pants or the black dress shoes. The thing that irked me is the tie around my neck. I guess most of the students were already used to it, but that was not the case for me. Today, September 3rd, marks the first time I wore a necktie my entire life; hell, I even had to search on the internet how to do it. The loosely tied knot attested to that, although I've decided to keep it that way, in the right eyes it could even look stylish, I guess.

Another important aspect of the uniform is the crest, emblazoned at the left side of the shirt: a shield divided in four squares, two white squares occupying the northwest and southeast corners and two black squares occupying the northeast and southwest corners. At the white corners there was a black I and a U, and at the black corner there were two black five-pointed stars. The Institute of Unova, the premier institution in the entire continent, it seemed unreal.

The school grounds were fairly packed, with students taking time to socialize before the start of the year's first classes, which were due to start in about 20 minutes. I decided to go to the classroom earlier, though. I am a firm believer of the Murphy's Law and I'm not taking any chances on my first day.

After a few minutes of walk through the green fields, I made my way from the boy's dorm to the main building, where most of my classes will take place. A huge bulletin board was set near the entrance, with some huddled students gossiping around it. After a quick glance, where I checked that I was assigned to class 2B, I made my way to the classroom.

The first time I visited the main building was when I had the admittance exam, back then I only had been into one of the first floor's classrooms and into the headmaster office. Now, officially a student here I could properly take a look around and be awed by it. The main building is even bigger than I remembered. It is divided into east and west wings, with classrooms being located into the east part whilst other rooms such as the teacher's lounge, headmaster office, library, school secretary, administrative offices, auditorium and other special rooms scattered into the three floors of the west wing.

Soon enough I found myself into my classroom; fifteen minutes early. As expected, it was empty. The classroom wasn't enormous, but was bigger than the one I had in Galar, with sturdy wood small desks and chairs placed in an orderly yet not restraining manner, I counted a total of thirty-five desks, placed in five rows of seven. I opted for sitting into one of the last chairs of the row nearest to the door. There was only one door, which was close to the teacher's desk, so whoever got late would definitively get busted.

From where I sat, I could see everyone who entered the room. Rather than do people watching, I opened my black backpack and fished for the schedule I've received. The schedule consisted of classes going from seven am to two pm, with a small break at eleven and five minutes between each class. Teachers would rotate, with the students staying in the same classroom. Regular classes would take place during the weekdays, whilst Saturdays would be reserved for other activities, in my case football matches. Thankfully Sunday is a free day.

Electives would be open for registration for the next two weeks, and then would take place from two to six pm. Finally, from six to eight pm I would have practice on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. It would be extremely demanding, but if I succeeded, I'd be taking a huge step in my quest for vengeance.

As I started to hear the footsteps and chatter in the classroom, I've decided to reread the subjects we'd be having. There are 'normal' subjects, such as Language, Mathematics and Geography, although I'd wager that even they would have a special focus on pokémon. And there were subjects you'd only see on pokémon trainer's school: Pokémon Biology, Study of Pokémon-Human Relations, Theory of Types, Care of Pokémon and Battle Strategies. As I said before: extremely demanding but with a big payoff.

I was suddenly surprised by a loud squeal, and a hug, as red took over my vision. The figure hugging me belongs to woman, if the squeal's tone or the girly perfume weren't proof enough, the firm and perky breasts pressed to my side would do.

I got up, still surprised, feeling a multitude of eyes trained into me. Some looked at me in awe, some in jealousy, but most were as mine: astonished. I glanced at the reddish-brown mop of hair, belonging to a figure a bit smaller than me. The girl looked up, cobalt blue eyes meeting my green ones.

"Skyla?"

"You're here, I thought I'd never see you again." The girl said with a squeal. She then hugged me again. "But now you're here."

I glanced around, the eyes always on us.

"Errrr, Skyla, people are watching."

The girl immediately let go and I saw her cheeks becoming a red as her hair.

Another girl came forward, and, pretty much like Skyla, she was gorgeous. She was taller than Skyla, and leaner too. Skyla is somewhat curvier, but the other girl still has her 'assets' but less pronounced than the red-haired girl. The new girl has light blonde hair, in a short hairstyle that thinned as it reached her neck and with bangs covering her forehead and framing her eyes, which were blue, but way lighter than Skyla's. Her skin had looked like porcelain, as white as was unblemished. Like the redhead, the blonde also wore the girl's variation of the school uniform: the white short sleeved button-down shirt, with some few details different than the male version, black skirt and black doll shoes.

Yet, the girl made me frown. Not because of anything she did, but because of how she caried herself. Slender and elegant figure, confident stride; I've only saw one girl acting like that before: Nessa. Their features couldn't be more different, but the way they acted; it was too similar.

The girl looked at me, before frowning too. And in another action that reminded of She, the girl totally changed faces and lightly scolded Skyla.

"Well Skyla, the class didn't even start and you're already embarrassing yourself." Despite the words being perceived I could see that they weren't mean to hurt, but mostly a banter between friends.

"Elesa, you don't understand." Skyla explained, her bubbly attitude coming back at full swing. "That's Peter."

The light blue eyes turned to me, accompanied by a single light-yellow eyebrow being raised. "You're that Peter?"

I glanced between the two, easing my frown, the girl might somewhat remind me of Nessa, but she did nothing against me. "I guess so."

"My name is Elesa Camille. I'm pleased to make your acquaintance." She offered but not showing any enthusiasm.

I nodded, keeping my tone neutral. "Likewise, my name is Peter Thornham."

As the classes finished, I reflected back on my first day of school. It wasn't bad, people were polite and seemed interested in me, which was something I never felt before. I wandered around the school grounds. Until the end of next week I had four hours of free time, which I decided to put to use. I made my mind on visiting the school's Battle Building, a modern gymnasium-like structure with training facilities and battlefields. Before I could do that however, I was stopped by a male voice.

"Sup my rookie?"

I turned to see a tall man, wearing similar clothes as mine approaching me. The man has dark skin, blue eyes and blue hair, styled after a Sharpedo back, a 'peculiar' hairstyle to say the least, but one which surprisingly worked well for him.

I frowned a bit. "Marlon, I am not your rookie."

"You're younger than me." He pointed out

"Unless you're playing for the foot…" I paused midway, correcting myself; this was going to be hard to get used to. "…soccer team you can't call me that."

"K. You're no fun."

I raised my eyebrow. That was the understatement of the century. Before we could say anything more, we were interrupted once again, this time by a female voice.

I turned to see Skyla, and Elesa approaching us. They stopped, glancing at the figure near me.

"Marlon?" Elesa inquired.

"Do you guys know each other?" Skyla completed.

Before I could even answer I felt Marlon's arm wrapping around my back and drawing me into a brotherly hug. "We're roomies." The blue haired teen said carefreely. He then turned to me. "Hey, Peter, how do you know them?"

"I met Skyla a while ago in Mistralton. Elesa I met today, like Skyla she's my classmate."

"So" Skyla started "what you guys are doing?"

Before I could answer, Marlon did it for me, once again. "Nothing important."

Skyla beamed. "The let's eat at the rooftop."

The rooftop easily provided the best outlook of the academy, the trek up there was a monotonous affair, with Marlon and Skyla taking lead of the conversations with me and Elesa nodding or rarely giving our thoughts when prompted.

From what I heard from the trio, they all belong to the battling team, with Marlon, in his last year of school serving as the captain.

The group conversation may seem nice enough for outsiders, but that wasn't I came here. Every second I spent listening Marlon talk about swimming or Skyla explain airplanes was a second of lost training. I probably was too absorbed in my thoughts, as I soon heard a clear, harsh feminine voice calling my name.

"Thornham!" I looked up, to see Elesa's sky blue eyes glaring at me. "Skyla asked you a question."

I ignored the confrontative blonde, instead looking at Skyla apologetically. "Sorry, I was lost in my thoughts."

"No problem" Skyla said, as upbeat as ever. "I was just wondering if you're going to join the battling team."

I shook my head. "Why?" was the immediately follow up question. "You're a great trainer; you could easily make it."

"You should try, dude. This year's we goin' to need all the help we can get." Marlon added in his peculiar surfer-like speech.

I shook my head. The coach's words were clear, I'd have no place in the team; and even if I did, I'd be acting only as a glorified benchwarmer. "I'm focusing on soccer."

"But it's possible to a trainer to be part of both teams." Marlon argued back. "I'm also into the swimming team."

"Even so." I replied, a bit irked by their insistence. "I don't plan on doing that. Now if you excuse me, I have practice to attend."

The first practice went great for me; my new teammates were a bit wary of me, but soon enough I proved my worth. They were overall good players, but I wasn't considered to be an exciting prospect at Galar for nothing. Soon enough I took control of the practice, being the first one to do the drills and setting a high bar, that has yet to be bested by anyone.

Time truly flies when you're doing something you enjoy, as the head coach's blown whistle signalled the end of today's practice. Before I could head back to the showers however, coach called me to a talk with him in his office.

He offered me a seat, and sat at the opposing chair. "Let me start saying that I was pleased by how well you performed in your training."

I nodded. "Thanks coach."

"I usually don't single out any players in my team, but I'd be stupid not to do so in your case. Most of the last year's team was composed by players who graduated, so the hierarchy here I still a bit shaky, to say the least. It is customary to offer the captain's armband to a player who has been longer on the team, but I decided that I'm going to do different this year. I am nominating you as the captain."

I held up my hands, a bit surprised by the turn of events. "I'm flattered, but you must know that I'm no leader material."

"I wouldn't say so." My raised eyebrow as the sign for him to elaborate further. "You don't have any of the traditional characteristics a coach would look for in a captain. What you have however is a different approach, and if you're anything like you were back in Galar, an immeasurable desire to win. We haven't won a championship in nine years, and I feel like a change of structure is needed. I don't need you to be like the traditional captain, I need you to be a relentless competitor, who leads by actions not words."

Deciding to adopt a frank approach, I voiced my thoughts. "If you're adamant on it, I'll accept the nomination; although I wouldn't do so if I were you."

Coach smirked, before taking a clipboard with a football field background. "Now let's talk tactics. Peter, where you feel most comfortable playing?"

"Right winger." Was my immediate answer. "Since I'm left footed, I can cut towards the middle and exploit the medium and long-range shots."

Coach nodded. "An inverted winger, that can work. But my formations rely a lot on adaptability; you think you can play on other positions?"

I frowned in thought, but then nodded. "I can do the left wing reasonably well; playing as an attacking midfielder might not be out of question either."

"Think you can play as a forward? We could certainly put your sharpshooting skills to use."

"Coach, let me be honest with you, even if wanted me to be the goalkeeper I'd accept; I can't risk losing my scholarship here. But playing as a forward will probably do more harm than good; I'm not strong enough to win long balls against taller defenders; and I feel like I'd be able to contribute more going back to the midfield to receive the ball."

Coach Stokes nodded once again. "And what if I put you as a false nine?"

I blinked. This could work. The false nine would draw out defenders from their box, opening run channels for midfielders and wingers, besides I'd still be close enough to take a few shots at the goal. "This could work." I admitted.

Coach grinned. "Great, I'll have assistant coach Davis making a special training just for you."

Oh fuck.

It took less than two days for the rumours resurface and shit hit the fan. Before that most of the students and the teachers were polite, even friendly, and, even if I made clear that I wasn't looking for friends, I made it in a polite way without any hint of rudeness.

It soon changed, I started to hear whispers behind my back, some stinky eyes made at me, people sneering. It became clear when a particularly bold boy came into my face and called me cheater. Yes, that soon became my moniker here: The Cheater. At some point even the teachers joined in, ignoring me and making snide remarks.

This of course was some sort of setup. There was no reason for information of my past to resurface like this, even more after I took using my father's last name instead of mother's. If I were last year's Peter it would probably have gotten under my skin, but, now, this was simply a sign of success. I pissed someone off, and that someone was taking action.

Obviously, I thought of several culprits: the battle team coach, some higher up from the school council, some football team player disgruntled with coach's decision to nominate me captain, and, obviously, Bruce.

The coach, Isiah, if I'm not mistaken, made clear his disdain for me the first time we spoke. But he did so in a no bullshit and straightforward way. He could be attacking from two fronts, but I find that hardly a possibility, as I made no move to join the team

A high position member of the school council was also a possibility. During our talk, Alder did mention that the council vehemently recommended to dismiss my application. An enemy like that could be a possibility, and would be rather troublesome as I have no way to fight or recognize it.

A player from the football, aka soccer, team sounds like the most likely possibility. I would be reasonably angry if I was cast aside for a newcomer. But this brings another question: how did they even get such information? Maybe it's not a case of a single person targeting me, but a group? This would surely get even more troublesome.

The final option is the endgame target: Bruce. He could easily do so, but the question is: does he consider myself to be such a threat? Last time we spoke he was adamant that he managed to take me down, and, considering his personality, it is likely that he got too arrogant and overconfident. If it is Bruce things are definitively getting interesting. On one hand it was good, since I actually managed to bother him; if he's annoyed it means I'm on the right path. On the other hand, it also means that he manages to reach me all the way from Galar, which complicates things as I'll probably have to be extra cautious to not get caught off guard.

Regardless of who did it, it had the opposite effect. Thinking I'm going to be put down or discouraged by this? No, instead I'll embrace it and wear the villain's mantle with pride. Let the world hate me, so I can hate the world back.

Another perk of this whole Cheater stuff I had going on is that now people are avoiding me like I have the Plague. Which leads to now, where I can safely oversee my pokémon's training with all the solitude and quietness I need. With my busy schedule, proper schedule management is paramount as I have to optimize both mine and my pokémon spare time. A way I found to do so is joint training.

Some time ago I attempted to get Eevee and Braviary to fight each other, but it ended poorly. Without my commands and the environment the evolution pokémon became an easy target for Braviary. Rather than crippling Eevee's morale with successive defeats and risking losing the delicate authority I have over Braviary by having him facing inferior opponents, I've decided to devise a new way to oversee both of their trainings at the same time.

Target practice was a straightforward to describe what I'm doing here. In order to hone Braviary's speed and evasiveness, I have Eevee, firing successive blasts of Shadow Ball, and in doing so, the small pokémon can improve its aim, range and build up. Obviously, the Shadow Ball attack couldn't actually hurt Braviary, as it also has a normal typing, being immune to ghost type attacks, but upon connection it would explode and cause some small purple sparks to emit from the impact.

Even now Eevee can't properly hit Braviary, the valiant pokémon was simply too fast. But it was mutual improvement.

Eevee is right now the weakest, but reasonably so, as Braviary is a fully evolved pokémon with vast experience on the wild. But I'm glad to see my first pokémon making progress. I took upon some concepts of football training and added to Eevee training, namely speed and explosiveness training. Football players aren't expected to run around all game, at professional level the average was 11 kilometres per game, but our physical part was demanded nonetheless as we were required to reach max speed in a few seconds and do sprints in certain situations. The adaptation I found was having Eevee running into a treadmill and, occasionally, drastically increasing the speed, in order to emulate the sprints, at those sprints Eevee would then use Quick Attack in order to keep up. Before the Pokémon Protection Agency can get into my ears about the training, it was cleared with the professor of Care of Pokémon, who praised my methods, but stressed that Eevee must properly rest for two or three days in order to prevent muscular injuries.

With Braviary things were most simple. I'd do some specially designed sessions for him, but I mostly let it to fend for himself. But I could tell that he was getting restless, and if things were left unchecked, he'd once again start questioning my abilities. I planned on having some battles here, but people are still avoiding me and the classes to this point were mostly theory. Sunday, I'll probably have to go to Castelia or Nimbasa to look for some battles.

I probably was too focused into the training, as I didn't even hear the three persons who approached me.

"Peter." The male called out, loud enough for me to turn away from the training and to the trio: Marlon, Skyla and Elesa.

"Marlon," I acknowledged him with a nod and then turned to the females "Skyla, Elesa."

"We were hopin' we could talk to you."

Turning my attention to my pokémon once again I put the session to a halt. "Eevee, Braviary; take five."

I motioned for the group to say what was on their minds, although I had an idea of what this was about.

"We came to talk about the rumors." Elesa coldly said, her tone lacking any type of empathy.

"And by talk we mean to let you know that we trust you." Skyla said, a lot more amiably than her blonde friend.

"You shouldn't." I said, causing everyone's eyes, even Elesa's to widen.

"You did those things?" Skyla choked out; a bit distressed.

"No."

"Then why you said we shouldn't trust you?" Marlon asked

"I didn't necessarily say that you shouldn't trust me. What I meant to say is that you shouldn't trust anyone."

"Even so, you didn't deny those rumors." Elesa pointed out, her tone still hostile.

"Rumours like this don't surface by chance."

"Then there's truth in that?" the blonde pressed on, her sky-blue eyes focused on mine with a glare, a gesture I gladly returned.

"A bit yes."

"Then it's not the whole truth?" the redhead asked.

"No." I frowned in deep thought. With Elesa being the only exception, they weren't being hostile or arbitrary. Maybe I can tell a bit of the truth, maybe they can be of use for me later on. "I won't disclose everything, to put it bluntly I don't trust you enough for that. But I can state two facts. Fact number one: my pokémon was indeed tested positive for forbidden substances; causing me to be expelled from the school I was attending in Galar. Fact number two: I never purchased, produced or came into contact with the beforementioned substance."

It took a bit less than a minute for Elesa to speak once again. "You claim that you did not administer the substance for your pokémon."

I nodded.

"Then you were set up? Marlon asked with a frown.

"I could have been, or it also could be innocent accident." I responded blankly

"What that was supposed to mean?" Skyla pressed on.

"If I were you, I'd listen to my advice. Don't trust anyone."

"Great game Thornham." I nodded at the compliment of another one of my teammates as I left the dressing room.

Despite all the turmoil which surrounded me in my first week, things at the football department were good enough for me. Most of the players respected me, probably due to the armband I was wearing, but it was respect nonetheless. For my debut we travelled to Striaton City, where we faced the Striaton High. The game wasn't easy at the first half, they marked tightly and even I must admit that my game was still adapting to coach's game plan and positioning. At the halftime, down by 1-0, adjustments were made and I was moved back to the midfield position to get more touches on the ball.

It worked like a charm, since they parked the bus, we resorted to long shots. I hit the bar twice before netting one and equalizing the game. A few minutes later, we stole a ball at the midfield and exploited the counterattack, with me scoring my second goal of the match after outpacing their defenders. We would score one more goal, with Evans, the striker finishing off after receiving a through ball. In the end a resounding 3-1 victory with an impressive second half display, being voted man of the match was just the cherry on the top.

I looked around the stadium's lobby. Father, an avid football fan himself, said he'd come watch the match. This made today's match even more special, as it was the first time I played in front of him ever since we had the big fight two years ago.

Instead of father, I was approached by a shady figure. The man has white beard, tanned skin, and wears an orange cap and black sunglasses, making most of his features undiscernible. Why do I feel my organs are in peril?

"That was an average game."

"Ok, thank. WAIT? AVERAGE?" I asked, with surprise raising my voice's tone.

"Yes, perfectly average. I'd rate you a six."

I stared at the man incredulously. "I scored two goals."

"And?"

"And? If I hadn't, we wouldn't have won." I may be calm in most of the situations, but one of the few things that triggers me is saying I don't play football well.

"If you actually passed the ball the match would have been easier."

I frowned. "I'm a soloist; if I have a chance of scoring, I'll take it."

"Even if you have a better positioned teammate?"

"I trust myself not to mess up, more than any of my teammates."

The man chuckled, irking me even further. "And you're the captain?"

"I'm a winner who happens to wear the captain's armband."

"Teamwork trumps individual talent." The man said, turning to leave.

"Victory trumps all." I called back

"Who was he?" father asked, approaching me.

"Some fool." I then smirked. "So, did you like my performance?"

"I did, but you could pass the ball more often." He said as we left the stadium and went to one of the city's many restaurants.

"Not you too." I said in distress

After a week I soon realized that I disliked Elesa. And I'm pretty sure the feeling is mutual too. Marlon once remarked that we are very similar with our glares and frowns, the mad fucker even raised the possibility of us being siblings. I spit out my beverage and almost choked to death, before promptly inquiring father via telephone. Another big mistake, I reckon. instead of simply confirming that me and the blonde weren't related he went into an eight hours long lecture of all hook-ups he had before knowing my mother… I think I'll never look at a pineapple the same way again.

At first, I thought that I could get over the fact that she acted like Nessa. But I couldn't. And, to make things even worse it seemed that the girl always had a bone to pick with me; and to be honest I don't even know why. What irked me the most about Skyla's friend was her ability to shift faces in an instant, one of the many traits she shared with my ex-girlfriend.

To say that things didn't end well between me and Nessa would be the understatement of the century. In the end, as she slapped me in front of the entire school, I saw real hate in her eyes. But when we dated, I could see Nessa easily going through different personas: model Nessa, school council's Nessa, honest Nessa, insecure Nessa, giddy Nessa, and then just the real Nessa. I think she was the real Nessa at least, and to be honest, the idea of falling in love and dating for almost a year with a girl who wasn't even real, it makes me nauseous.

Elesa is the same, she wears mask behind mask, and I can't read her. I don't know why I hate that so much; maybe it's the idea of not knowing a potential enemy, but maybe, just maybe is the fact that I hate lies, and deep down inside I have a fear of being fooled once again.

Since my relationship with the girl was on the rocks, avoiding her would be a good idea. I did try, and I'm sure she did the same. What we had however was two persons attempting to make a friend's circle in Skyla and Marlon; so, I'd often have to eat lunch and spend free periods with her, but the last straw was the Battle Strategies class.

We were studying double battles, a subject I had zero interest on, but that was on the curriculum. Professor Thomas, in all his infinite wisdom, decided to make a special project. For this class, students would be paired and study in pairs until the end of the first exams, to make things worse we had to sit together and devise tag team battle strategies, which would be tested sometime later. Guess who's my duo? Yep, Elesa.

Despite the clear animosity between us, I found myself heading towards the library, where I am supposed to meet her to discuss the project.

As I passed by a somewhat empty area of the complex, I heard several footsteps trailing behind me. I stopped, setting my backpack on the ground and turning to face the stalkers.

I counted five guys, all wearing school clothes, although I only recognized one, Trent, a buffy man who spotted a buzzcut and who happened to be one of my teammates. I sighed; it seems that trouble seem to keep following me around.

"Trent, what do you want?"

"You out of here, trash like you doesn't have place in this school."

I chuckled. "How noble."

Soon enough four of them came forward, with Trent staying behind. I had my fair share of fights back in Galar, but the situation was dire, the key was to face one at time; easier said than done. Thug #1 and Thug #2 came attempting to grab me but I avoided the hit, delivering a right hook at #2. Thugs #3 and 4 came forward, but I knocked them back with a strong front kick, leaving only one. I quickly dashed forward, knocking him down with a left elbow side strike, and quickly headbutted him, causing blood to spill out of his nose and effectively knocking him out.

"One down four to go" I thought as Thugs 2,3 and 4 came forward once again.

As one of them overextended a punch, I committed the most heinous act imaginable; a knee strike right at #4's bollocks. This action caused every male in a mile radius to wince in sympathy, and probably guaranteed me a place in hell; but knocked him out nonetheless.

"Two down, three to go."

With a low leg sweep I downed #3 and then prepared to parry #2's kick but then I felt something grab my leg from behind.

"Fuck!" I cursed as I lost my balance and was downed.

The two remaining opponents quickly capitalized on my fall and rained down kicks, I did what I could using my arms to protect my head and tucking my legs into my belly.

Still, I was punished, hard as they punched me in the head, kicked me in the back and stomped me in the ribs. As I was on the verge of blacking out, I heard Trent call out.

"Break his knee." He commanded. "You will never be able to play again." He mocked

As one of them proceeded to stomp into my knees, a female voice halted us.

"Emolga, use Thunder Shock."

A yellow jolt of electricity stuck the ground between me and the assailants, causing them to halt in their steps.

I managed to turn my head to see Elesa, flanked by her Emolga, glaring at the thugs.

"If you take one more step towards him the next attack won't miss." She warned.

"Tsk." Trent cursed, before turning to me. "It's far from over, you'll get what coming for you." He said as the remaining two helped the ones I knocked down earlier.

After they left, I turned to Elesa. "Thanks for the help. Just give me a minute, I believe we have a work to do."

As I tried to get up, her hand on my shoulder halted me. "That's it? You're simply going to act like nothing happened at all?" the blonde asked incredulously.

"It was nothing serious." That was a blatant lie I was telling, but I'm hoping to keep the girl away from the situation.

"Nothing serious? It seemed pretty serious to me."

"This was not my first fight, and I doubt it'll be the last one."

"This hardly seemed like a fight to me." The blonde pointed out, causing my eye to twitch

I attempted to get up, but still felt dizzy, and soon enough I once again lost my footing.

"Come, I'm going to take you to the nurse's office."

"No, I'm fine."

"You are anything but fine." She said sternly

I nodded. "Please give me a few minutes, I'll be good then."

The girl stared down at me. "I'll take you to the principal, I'll even testify to confirm they assaulted you."

I shook my head. "I won't file any complaint."

"Why?" she demanded harshly.

"Because it won't do nothing good. Bullying exists, and the school staff can't do anything to prevent. Even if I wanted to go there, they would dismiss me. After all it seems like everyone believes that I'm the liar here."

Elesa paused for a second. "I don't trust you; but you don't look like someone who would use doping on pokémon."

"Your opinion doesn't matter. My opinion doesn't matter. They have the public opinion besides them, the only thing I'd be doing is painting an even bigger target on my back." I pointed out, trying to keep the bitterness out of my voice

"I hate it." The girl cursed suddenly. "This feeling of inability."

"Aye." I nodded, finally finding a bit of common ground with the girl. "I hate that too." Testing my footing I stumbled a bit, but managed to stand still. "But you truly helped me out there, I owe you one."

As I stumbled back to the dormitory, I still felt sky blue eyes trained into me.

Coach's loud whistle marked the end of today's training session. Today we worked mostly on physical training, using the school's gym weight training room. Still, I kept doing my reps, my chest felt on flames, but I needed to get stronger, now not only because of football, but also to protect myself.

"Oy. Thornham!" Assistant coach Hugh 'Hammer' Davis called out. "Coach already blew his whistle; you can go now."

"I feel up for a few more sets." I lied, my entire upper body was crying for mercy, but I needed to get my body into peak condition. "Care to join me?"

Hammer smirked. The guy once told the team that he missed on his mother's funeral so he could work out, if he was anybody else, we would call bullshit on that; but knowing his fascination with working out this statement was a concrete possibility.

As the room emptied, Hammer sat down next to me. "Now cut the bullshit what you want?"

I smirked. "Am I that easy to read?"

"I never saw your sorry ass volunteer for extra training."

I nodded. "I need to learn how to fight. Know someplace I can go to?"

Davis frowned. "The big question is why do you want to learn how to fight?"

My expression became grim. "To beat some guys up."

"And why you want to beat those guys up?" the assistant coach asked, more entertained than anything.

"To make sure that they won't beat me up."

"And why I should help you?"

"I'm going to fight them anyway; the thing is that there's a huge chance of me getting my ass handed back to me if I'm not prepared. And, if I get injured, there's a huge ass chance I'll lose my scholarship; and then the team can kiss the winning season goodbye." I explained, making full eye contact with the man who glared at me.

"Are you attempting to blackmail me?"

"No, I'm stating facts."

The man ran a hand through his blonde hair. "I'll teach you some MMA for a few weeks; but don't try me, Thornham, otherwise I'll break your bones myself."

Sunday soon came and I was wandering around the streets of Castelia City. I needed to get a few more wins to boost my standing with Braviary, and I decided to head to Pinwheel Forest.

"Catch the thief!" a desperate voice called out.

As soon as I turned around, I saw a hooded figure running away, carrying a suitcase. A bit startled, I stuck out my foot, causing the thief to fall out face first on the floor, dropping the suitcase. The man glared at me before widening his eyes and promptly running away.

The reason he did so made itself known. Three police officers came rushing, accompanied by a somewhat fat man, with balding blonde hair and dressed into an expensive looking purple suit.

"My suitcase!" the man yelled out, kneeling and checking its contents

I glanced at the cops. "He went that way." I pointed out.

Two of the officers went their way, but one glanced at me and the kneeling man. "I'll need you both to accompany me to the precinct. We'll be needing your testimonies."

"Tall man, whore white hood, average skin, black hair. I'll be taking my leave." I said quickly, turning to leave, but once again I came to a halt as I felt the cop's hand in my shoulder.

"I must insist that you give the testimony at the precinct, don't worry it won't take long."

In the end I lost six hours at the cop shop. Lesson learned, next time I see someone stealing simply turn aside and let them pass. The clock marked a bit more than 3 pm, curfew was 8 pm, so my small act of kindness basically killed my Sunday.

"Wait!" a male voice called out, stopping me in my tracks; I recognized it belonging to the man in purple suit from earlier.

I turned around angrily. "Please don't tell me they asked for another testimony."

The man shook his head. "No, but I'd like to thank you."

I nodded. "You just did."

"My name is Stu Deeoh, and I'd like to pay you for your efforts."

I turned around immediately.

The man took his wallet and my eyes bulged out as I saw the amount of money he had there; at least 1.000.000 PokéDollars. He then handed out bills that totaled out 30.000 PDs.

"The suitcase had a laptop with the script for a movie I had written. If it becomes a success, I'll earn a lot more than what I gave you." I nodded, still eyeing the money in my hands, it almost a third of the money I earned working at the Casteliacone stand all summer long.

"Thank you, a lot." I managed to say, still dumbfounded.

"Want to earn more?"

"For what exactly?" I asked frowning; and praying that the man wasn't some sort of degenerate pervert.

"I'd like for you to read the script and tell what you think of it."

"And you're paying me for that?" I asked incredulously.

"I don't know you, and you seem the type to say what's on your mind; most of my employees wouldn't criticise me fearing some sort of retribution."

I nodded, the man's reasoning kind of made sense. "Okay, how you want to do it?"

"Give me your e-mail. I can send you a protected copy after I make some adjustements, then you give me your thoughts and I give you the money via a courier."

I nodded. "I'll wait for your contact then."

The battlefield, made of concrete was populated by four trainers and four pokémon, I heard some yells and cheers coming from the sidelines as the black-haired professor took its position at the centre of the field.

"The battle may begin." Professor Thomas called out as me and Elesa looked at the opponents in front of us.

Today marked the first battle of the experimental double battle project. Since this was a double battle, we were using rental pokémon; as they had special movesets. We had a week to practice with those pokémon beforehand, so we wouldn't get into the battle not knowing what to expect and not knowing the moves the pokémon had.

I have a Trubbish; Elesa has a Maractus. Our opponents have a Whimsicott and a Palpitoad.

Trubbish, a poison type pokémon, closely resembled a dark green trash bag that came alive, with his 'arms' looking like trash spilling out of the main body.

Maractus, a grass type pokémon, has a light green cactus body, with protrusions forming its arms and large ears, the later adorned with pink flowers.

Whimsicott, a pokémon with both the grass and fairy types, has a big mane of cotton and two green horns decorated its small brown body.

Palpitoad, a dual type pokémon of water and ground, has a blue egg-shaped body with small foots and tail, besides having small light blue spheres around its head and sides.

We had the type advantage, but they could pose a big threat to us.

I glanced at my partner. "Maractus' grass type attacks are four times as effective against Palpitoad; Trubbish's poison type attacks are the same against Whimsicott. Let's focus on that."

Elesa nodded. "Maractus, use Needle Arm at Whimsicott." The single type soon dashed forward; its thorny arm glowing spiky green.

"Whimsicott, use Tailwind." One of the opposing trainers called, with the other soon following suit. "Palpitoad, use Echoed Voice."

A strong stream of wind came from behind the windveiled pokémon, halting Maractus, whilst Palpitoad vibrated the spheres on its body and opened its mouth, causing a wave of sound to spread through our half, making Trubbish and Maractus raise their hands to cover the ears.

"Palpitoad, use Acid on Maractus." The vibration pokémon opened its mouth once again, causing a dark dirty violet liquid to hurl forward towards the grass type.

"Trubbish, step in front of Maractus and use Amnesia." The trash bag pokémon took the spot in front of Maractus and seemed to focus really hard into remembering something glowing red, although just momentarily. As soon as he forgot what he was doing, the attack connected, but Trubbish wasn't bothered at all, barely acknowledging the pain.

"Elesa, focus on Whimsicott." I called out.

"Why?" she asked

"I have a plan."

The blonde's eyes narrowed. "What kind of plan?"

I sighed. "Trust me."

"Why?" she demanded

"Because…" I started only to be interrupted by a strong gust of wind, apparently the opponent took advantage of our discussion to issue a Gust attack, which blew Maractus and Trubbish away.

I glared at the blonde, who returned the gesture; each of us blaming the others.

I glanced around the field, frowning in thought.

"Maractus use Pin Missile on Whimsicott." My duo called out. Maractus spun and raised its arms and firing several rounds of glowing white needles towards the cotton fur pokémon.

"Palpitoad take the front and use Protect."

The amphibious pokémon took the lead spot and crossed its arms, causing a blue protective shield that encompassed itself and Whimsicott.

"Trubbish use Toxic as soon as the shield goes down."

The poison type waited, and as soon as the protection faltered, it opened its mouth, firing a steam of purple poisonous liquid.

"Use Cotton Guard, don't let it get through." The grass/fairy pokémon turned its back to the attack, making its mane of cotton to expand. The attack made contact with the white mane, coating it in poison, but as soon as it stopped, Whimsicott let go of the extra coating in order to prevent itself from being badly poisoned.

"Maractus, use Energy Ball at Palpitoad." Elesa called out.

The cactus pokémon acrobatically leapt forward, materializing an orb of green energy and launching it forwards, towards Palpitoad.

"Whimsicott, protect Palpitoad, launch a Moonblast to intercept the attack." Whimsicott soon started to form a big sphere of pink energy imbued with the moon's power.

By doing so, Whimsicott forgot that Seeing a chance to break the deadlock I soon capitalized. "Trubbish, point blank Sludge Bomb." The poison type soon opened its mouth and unleashed a orb of brown sludge, which connected straight at Whimsicott, causing it to cancel out the Moonblast. At the same time, Maractus' Energy Ball caught Palpitoad by surprise, and landed, causing supper effective damage.

Both of opponents pokémon soon found themselves on the ground, reeling and clearly damaged by the four times effective attacks.

Seeing the change in the tides of the battle I smirked, victory will be mine.

"Trubbish use Sludge Wave."

"WHAT?" Elesa yelled.

Trubbish then yelled out and let go of a wave of purple, poisonous liquid. The attack rose in height and range, and soon covered up the downed opposing pokémon; and Maractus, who couldn't get away from it in time. The opponents pokémon soon were knocked down, both unconscious, while Maractus was heavily battered from the attack.

"Victory goes to Peter Thornham and Elesa Camille."

"HEY. Peter Thornham." I knew shit was about to hit the fan as soon as coach called out the battle. I attempted to leave quietly, and head to the rooftop to chill out, but the girl in front of me wasn't having any of it.

"What do you want Elesa?" I demanded, my patience with the blonde already running thin.

"I want to know what the hell is wrong with you." She yelled. "Who attacks its own team?"

"Maractus was a collateral damage, a price to pay for MY victory."

"YOUR victory?! YOUR victory?!" The blonde was livid, her face red in anger

"I don't remember you doing anything other than attempt to hit Palpitoad repeatedly, even when it wasn't working." My tone was also getting even more aggressive.

"And you hoped me to follow you?"

"Did you even attempted to hear out what I wanted to say?" I asked incredulously. "You're no different than anybody else in here, always looking at me with prejudice."

The girl's expression faltered for a second but she soon restarted her verbal lashing. "So, you thought it would be okay to simply start attacking Maractus, who happened to be on your side?"

"If you attacked Whimsicott like I asked you things would have been different."

"And who do you think you are? Who are you that I must follow your orders?"

"Someone who unlike you cares about winning. And pray tell me, what the fuck you did to help me win this battle? You only hit Palpitoad after I took care of Whimsicott."

"And that's all wining? There's much more to pokémon than that." The schoolgirl pointed out aggravatedly.

"If you want to speak some bullshit about power of friendship or how we all are winners on the end it's better for you to quit being a trainer." I yelled out; my patience finally gone. Maybe I was too harsh on the girl, but I can't back down, not here.

"What did you say?" she demanded, her eyes narrowing dangerously.

Oh well, to hell with it! Might as well say what's on my mind. "Exactly what you heard, if you go into any battle thinking about having fun or anything other than winning, you're doing it wrong. And hurting your pokémon in the process."

The blonde once again displayed her creepy similarity with Nessa by slapping me. Ironically enough this one was on the right cheek, the opposite to the one I was hit by my ex-girlfriend. Combine that with the punches I've received from Trent's gang and I have the complete set.

"Go to hell." The blonde yelled out before storming out angrily.

I frowned, maybe I said things that I shouldn't. Still, like life itself, there's no coming back. And my purpose here is simply to achieve my revenge.

So why I felt so bothered by the tears prickling from her eyes?

I've been practising fighting with Hammer for about a month now, and I did feel stronger. After the fallout with Elesa I've completely distanced myself from Skyla and Marlon too. Maybe out of fear of being judged by them, or feeling their disapproving looks; maybe simply because I've found myself bored of it.

Without a social life, I soon started to work a lot more in preparing for my revenge. I worked out a lot, and then practiced a few forms of combat with Hammer's help, I focused mainly on kickboxing as it would be the best suited for me, but I also picked a few pieces of other martial arts.

And when my body was tire, I worked on my mind, studying and reviewing ahead of class. I filled my schedule with electives: three type specific classes: Dark, Fairy and Flying; Introduction for Archaeology and Advanced Battle Strategies.

Dark and Flying classes were the obvious choices; as I already had Braviary as flying type and planned to evolve Eevee into Umbreon. The only drawback of that was that I had to see Elesa, who still glared at me, and Skyla, who looked pained, at Flying Types Class.

Fairy wasn't something I first considered, but I did have a few open spots in my schedule. If anything, it can serve to prepare on how dealing with them, since the fairy type is a counter of the dark type.

Archaeology followed suit, since I had nothing to do might as well check it out. The professor was Hawes Garnett; who was one of the proctors for my admittance exam; and who also happened to be married with Lenora, the Gym Leader of Nacrene City. The class could be interesting, but obviously was something that wasn't on the top of my priorities.

The Advanced Battle Strategies Class is taught by Isiah Wilson, the battle team coach, who threatened me at my first day. I hated his guts, but I had to admit that the man is brilliant. He adopts a highly theoretical approach, which would make most of the lectures boring, but worked extremely well for him. It is arguably the hardest class in the entire Institute, and one that deserved my full attention.

But tonight, I'm not studying.

Curfew started at 8pm, and you could face suspension if you were found breaking it; still several students did. Today I'm one of them.

Still, in order to not be seen by cameras I'd have to sneak out from the windows, thankfully Marlon is a heavy sleeper, and by 11 he was already snoring.

The makeshift rope I made out of blankets, helped me down to the ground level and I put on my hood. After a quick detour I found the steel pipe I've hidden inside the trash can.

Careful not to cross any of the security guards who patrolled the grounds, I snuck out, suing the trees and buildings as cover until I reached the same alleyway I was attacked earlier. I peeked and my suspicions were correct, Trent and his friends were there, smoking cigarettes and getting drunk. I took out my mobile phone and snapped several pictures displaying their unlawful acts.

I could leave now, and then anonymously hand those pictures to the headmaster, who would surely expel them. I could publish the pictures online in order to humiliate them, and ensure that their parents couldn't buy their way out of it. That would be retribution.

But I thirsted for revenge; and justice. Alas, justice in the society is a vain concept as it is faulty. Justice is based on the retelling on the facts rather than the actual facts themselves, and those who had money, lawyers, or simply are more charismatic can worm their way out of it easily.

That's society's justice. My justice is harsh, relentless and unforgiving.

"Hey." I called out loud enough to draw their attention.

I soon found myself surrounded by the five. Trent smirked. "And the day keeps getting better."

I smirked, enjoying the falter they had in their step as the steel pipe surfaced from its spot hidden in my hood.

They attempted to surround me, but this time I was taking no chances. One of them attempted to tack me to the ground but I quickly stuck him with a swing of the pipe, causing him to falter back. Numbers two and three attempted to attack from the sides, but once again I was prepared, stopping #3 with a swing of the pipe at his gut and smashing #2's face against the walls with a side elbow, effectively knocking him out.

I was ruthless, and before they could even react, I made quick work of #3 who was still reeling from the strike to his gut, with a quick strike to his face. #1 managed to grab the pipe, but that left him open and soon enough I rained down punches at him using my free hand. I saw #4 attempting to get closer and soon sent #1 tumbling back at him.

Leaving no room for recovery I landed a spinning kick at #4's face knocking both him and some of his teeth out. #1, still reeling from the punches was soon sent to unconsciousness, courtesy of a strong kick aimed at his head.

With all of the thugs out, only Trent remained, backed against the wall. I dropped the pipe. "Well not so brave now, aren't you?"

"Please." He begged

"You almost broke my leg when you guys jumped on me." I pointed out.

His black pants had a wet spot in the middle of his crotch. I laughed. "You actually pissed yourself."

"What do you want?"

"You couldn't finish me even with four guys backing you up, but I'm not like you." I said closing out on him. 'I finish what I start."

"Please, what don you want?" he begged once again.

My grin became wider "Justice." A quick knee to the gut and he was on the ground.

"Are you alone in this?" I demanded stepping at his ankle.

"Please, you're hurting me."

"ANSWER ME." I said, putting even more force on my foot

"YES." He yelled out.

"You were responsible for leaking out my secrets?"

"Yes." He said in pain

"And how did you learn about them?"

"Someone called me."

"Someone? WHO?" I demanded

"I don't know, it was from a protected number, I swear."

"What more?"

"It was a male…he…had an accent similar to yours, Galarian."

"You don't say it." I though smirking

I then glanced at the pathetic figure kneeling before me. Showing him the pictures on my phone I soon made my threat known.

"Those were set to my e-mail, and some backup accounts, so don't even think about stealing it. I should break your leg." The man whimpered. "But I won't, simply because I don't want to." Actually, having a broken leg could cause some people to take interest in this case and this wouldn't bode well for me. "Here's what's going to happen: you will leave the football team and leave me the fuck alone. If you or your lackeys ever think about spilling out the beans or simply glancing at me the wrong way, I'll publish this shit. And you not only you'll be expelled, but you'll be seeing the cops getting involved. AM I CLEAR?"

"Yes, sir please; I promise we won't tell anyone."

I nodded.

"And one more thing."

I spun around and delivered an axe kick straight at his face.

The sound of broken bones and spilling blood was sweeter than anything I've ever experienced.

I know this chapter left several holes open, but since they are told from a single character's point of view, they aren't mean to tackle everything, nor approach things with several views. Peter may look like jerk in some parts, and maybe made Elesa look like a jerk at some parts, but it won't last long.

Next chapter will fill the gaps with the first POV change of the story. It'll probably be shorter than the usual 7K I write, but by doing so I can fill the gaps quicker and head back to more action.

Please follow and review if you can, it means a lot to me.