"Hey, Juliana you thinking about something?" Nemona asked Juliana was lost in her own, train of thought about everything that had happened the other day and she had been consumed by it well she was walking down the hallway.

"Oh, uh, ya just thinking about what happened yesterday with Don, Arven Team Star"

"Team Star?" Director Clavell suddenly appeared out of nowhere as if he had a sixth sense for people talking about Team Star.

"Tell me, Ms. Juliana did those ruffians cause you any problems?"

"Ya' you know that if I can always go and straighten them out for you I hate it when they beat down on other people," Nemona said cheerfully cracking her knuckles excited about the prospect of battling someone.

"Oh, no no Nemona it's fine two of them were trying to bully this girl and I stepped in to help her the girl fought me with her Shroodle but I bested her with my Quaxly"

"Well, that's excellent Ms. Juliana I am very appreciative of your efforts. Can I ask if you know the name of the girl you saved?"

"I didn't get her name she just said thanks and ran off. she had red and blue hair glasses gray hoodie I think she had an Eevee backpack" Juliana went over the girl's physical description.

"Oh, that sounds like Penny" Nemona exclaimed.

"Yes student Penny very shy girl good to her she's coming to class at least"

"Ms. Nemona as the head of the student council make sure that you report this to Mr. Jacq when you get to his class"

"Yes Mr. Clavell"

"Very well then all be on my way then" Clavell strode off leaving Nemona and Juliana alone.

"That's not fair that you got to battle team Star and I didn't" Nemona complained "I've been training my Sprigatito and Pawmi and I'd love to give them their first taste of battle they would have ringed those two out real good"

Nemona's eyes suddenly lit up "You know how you could make it up for me why don't we have a battle?"

"Oh I'm flattered Nemona but it's fine"

"Aw please you seemed like a really strong battler against Arven and I would love to see your skills for myself"

"You're not going to give this up are you?"

"Pretty please Juliana?"

"Fine"

"Aw thank you, thank you, thank you, Jul I can't wait for Thursday night after dinner in front of the academy I can't wait we can just battle our hearts out!"

"Then you can we can battle every day after that until you're strong enough to reach champion rank"

"You do know about champion rank right"

"Ya, that's what I want to do when we're on the treasure hunt"

"Awww, I have a whole speech ready for this" Nemona began to explain how the gym system worked in Paldea Juliana just tuned her out.

"Well, here it is Mr. Jacq's classroom" Nemona and Juliana walked into the classroom ready to start the day. The classroom was blue its walls strung with books and posters of the various phyla of the Pokémon world.

"Hey, Nemona Juliana over here" Florian signaled with his hands towards an empty table.

"Alright silence you, little ragamuffins" Jacq walked into the room with a mountain of books in his arms.

"I'm Mr. Jacq I will be your Biology teacher for the semester" Jacq then went on about the expectations and the grading system and handed out the course outline.

"Now I think that my new students must get to know each other and get familiar with one another it's a new school for many of you and I want everyone to feel welcome" Juliana looked over to see Florian's face go white.

"So everyone please go to another table and talk to someone you haven't met yet"

Florian froze why did Mr. Jacq have to pull the old "please go to another table and talk to someone you haven't met yet" speech this had been happening since kindergarten more childhood memories came flooding back to his mind memories of him standing in the corner of his elementary school classes like a lost child too scared to go and talk to anyone else and just standing waiting for it to be over.

That had happened to him year after year he was so thankful to be leaving elementary school and finally having that stop.

And now his least favorite thing about the entire school year he was happening live.

He looked at Juliana and Nemona hoping he could just stay with them but to his horror, they were both already gone conversing within the sea of students.

Florian stood heart beginning to race he could get away with standing in place at elementary school but if he stood like this the whole time he would look like a complete Square.

He had to think of some way to get out here but what?

A lightbulb went off in his head.

Florian walked over to Mr. Jacq

"Excuse me Mr. Jacq can I use the washroom"

"I don't know can you?"

"Very funny Mr. Jacq"

"Yes, you can" Florian stumbled out of the room hoping no one noticed.

He didn't know how long it would take he decided that one lap around the hallway would suffice.

When Florian turned one of the corners he heard a strange noise coming from somewhere nearby.

As he got closer he could make out it was a song with whistling whatever it was Florian like the beat.

Then when he got to a stairwell lyrics started playing

"no se que te dijeron"

"Pero el tiempo se acaba, no hay necesidad de tomarlo con calma"

"Estoy caminando hacia ti de pies a cabeza"

"Debería estar asustado, nena, tal vez así"

"pero no estoy preocupado por eso ahora mismo (ahora mismo)"

"manteniendo vivos los sueños 1999 héroes"

"No estoy preocupado por eso ahora mismo (ahora mismo)"

"Nadando en las inundaciones, bailando en las nubes debajo"

Florian peaked down the stairwell to see what the music was coming from. Florian froze a group of 3 Team Star grunts was sitting in the Stairwell listening to the music on a boombox.

"Florian what are you doing just standing there get moving before they notice you!" Florian snapped to himself as he forced his legs to move away from the stairwell.

"Oye mi Amor Quiero un beso" one of the guys puckered his lips at Florian as the other two laughed.

To late.

The guy ran up the stairs cutting off Florian's escape route.

"¿Donde Esta mi beso?"

"Not interested" Florian replied voice quivering

"Oh, no kiss's for Oort?"

"Wait I know you" one of the girls exclaimed "Your friends with Ms. head of the student council and that little rat Juliana she beat me in a Pokémon battle and snitched on us" Florian was starting to panic he was seriously going to die on his second day because of his friend played the hero.

"Aww, what's wrong your little friends aren't here to help your sorry ass"

"Word on the grapevine is that you and Jul sucked up to Nemona and you've got special privilege" the other girl added in.

"You know that Team Star doesn't like people who suck up to those fancy-ass prep students, especially Ms. Nemona"

" I don't care I didn't ask to be her friend you know"

"Wrong answer" Oort picked up Florian by the tie and shoved him against the wall.

"I'm gonna enjoy this" Oort cracked his knuckles Florian closed his eyes getting ready for the inevitable.

"Forget it Oort"

"Aww come on Kuiper let me have this one"

"This little pipsqueak isn't worth the effort" Kuiper sneered "Look at him he's almost pitiable"

"you better not tell anyone about this understood Florian" Oort yelled in his face.

"Understood" Florian crooked out.

"Your lucky punk" Oort shoved Florian to the ground he quickly got up whipping the dust and tears from his eyes and running down the halls.

"Go back to sucking off Nemona" Oort shouted.

Florian ran down the hallway wiping the tears from his eyes.

Before going to class he made sure that any sign that he was crying was removed.

He couldn't be seen crying.

Even if he wanted to cry to cower in the corner with Waddles balling and dribbling like a baby, well his mother hugged him and reassured him that everything was okay. Memories came rushing back again him balling his eyes out for nearly an hour at a time about not wanting to leave elementary school not wanting things to change. Why would he not want things to change? why would he want things to stay like that why would he want to stay like that and not change and be the same blabbering loser he always was?

Florian snapped back to reality he just had to push all of those emotions down.

For once he was thankful for being Autistic at least it let him keep his emotions less obvious.

"So what do you think your gonna have for lunch," Florian asked as he picked out a Peanut Butter and Jam sandwich from the lunch table.

"Oh, I think I'm gonna have this one" Juliana resounded choosing a ham sandwich.

"So I heard about how Nemona challenged you to a battle good for you"

"Well I didn't have much of a choice I don't think that she was going to take no for an answer"

"Did she threaten to wring you out like she did with Arven?"

"No, I think she just wouldn't stop asking"

"Makes sense she's already tried to challenge a least 5 people since lunch started"

"Hey speaking of Arven isn't that him over there" Florian pointed to Arven who was standing by the lunch line.

"Oh, hay so we meet again" Arven ran over to greet the two.

"You remember me Arven the one who gave you Koraidon"

"How could we forget" Florian replied.

"Yeah exactly that's my little know-it-all buddies got a mind like a steal trap"

"Florian and Juliana right everyone's been talking about you two the new kids who show up and become friends with the president of the student council on the first day" Juliana felt a bit flustered by the idea everybody was talking about her.

"Normally I wouldn't bother showing up to class but I dragged myself all the way here to talk to our school's new celebrities"

"You want to talk to us?" Juliana asked confused.

"I need to talk to you guys about accomplishing my ultimate dream"

"Well, what is this ultimate dream of yours?" Florian raised an eyebrow.

"Caught your attention didn't I want to hear all about my dream don't you"

"Well this might come as a surprise to you but I'm all about that picnic life the great outdoors the perfectly prepared sandwiches all of it. Not have bad at cooking either I'll tell you"

"Right now I'm researching new recipes that make Pokémon real better real health food all tell you"

"I found this book the other day and it had this section about these Herba Mystica things"

"Basically, they're some kind of special herbs that help a Pokémon as soon as it eats them"

"There are five different types of Herba Mystica and just taking a like them once there powdered really gets the blood flowing. I can prevent aging provide antibody's even boost the immune system"

"These herbs seem like the real deal there only found in Paldea and rare to boot"

"However all of these herbs are guarded by titan Pokémon so we'd be lucky to even get a sprig I think Titan Pokémon look something like this" Arven handed Juliana a strange book with a red cover called The Scarlet Book on the page was a drawing of a strange looking Pokémon that vaguely resembled Donphan.

"The hell is that it looks like a Donphan that was given a bunch of bath salts" Florian questioned.

"It's called a Paradox Pokémon there said to live in the great crater of Paldea although no one knows if they're real or not"

"Anyway I don't have strong Pokémon to fight the Titans myself don't have any friends with strong Pokémon either and I would never hear the end of it from Nemona if I asked her"

"So I was wondering if you guys could help me with taking down the Titans and finding the Herba Mystica"

"I don't need an answer right away all just put the Titan's locations onto your phones if you want to help me later" Arven sent them the links for the Titan's locations.

"Will think about it" Juliana replied.

"Thanks let it stew for a bit we can discuss details later see you around" Arven smiled as he walked away and out the doors.

"Juliana are you crazy?" Florian yelled.

"What it's fine I was just trying to be nice to him"

"Did you not hear what he was saying? he wants us to get him herbs by fighting dangerous giant Pokémon"

"Oh come on Florian its not as if I said yes to him"

Juliana's phone started ringing she pulled it out expecting it to be her mother but to her bewilderment the caller was unknown.

"Hello who is this"

"This is Juliana correct?"

"Yes, how did you get my number?"

"I hacked your smartphone so I could talk to you. Hope you don't mind"

"You what!"

"Well as far as you two are concerned, it means I'm basically in control of your phone right now"

"How did you know there's two of us and who are you anyway"

"My name is Cassiopeia"

"But never mind that it's you I want to talk to. I hear you two are trainers with some serious potential"

"If that description is accurate then there's something I'd like to ask of you two"

"Tell me Juliana Florian you both know about Team Star right"

"Of course" both of them answered.

"They were formed by a group of trouble-making students a while back. They cause headaches for the staff and try to bring other students down to their level"

"I refuse to sit by and watch them get away with this. So I've come up with a plan to take Team Star Down for good I call it Operation Starfall. But all need allies to carry out this operation and I would like you two to be a part of it"

"Yes will do it!" before Juliana could say anything Florian responded with a resounding yes.

"Very well will discuss more of the details at a later time"

"Until then bye" Cassiopeia hung up leaving the pair alone again.

"Master Florian, Master Juliana" Clavell appeared behind them out of nowhere.

"Would you please try to keep your voice down on phone calls when you're on school property?"

"Yes sir" both of them responded.

"We don't want sensitive information getting out don't know who you can trust these days"

"Anyway I came here to inform you that I want to meet with both of you in my office after school"

"What why did we do something wrong?" Florian asked in a panic

"No, Master Florian there's just something that I need to talk to the two of you with"

That conversation with Mr. Clavell had sent Florian into a panic for the rest of the day.

He wasn't able to focus in any of his other classes even when Mrs. Miriam was giving the introduction to the contest class something he would normally pay close attention to he could only think about meeting with Mr. Clavell.

Florian stepped into the office with Juliana the office was immaculately put together the walls lined with many trophies and metals.

"Hey, there you two are " Florian was surprised to see Ash standing with Mr. Clavell at his desk.

"So what did you want to talk with us about?" Juliana asked.

"Well Someone I know wants to talk with you two and Master Ash here. Now just let me get this here screen connected then we're good to go"

"The screen flickered to life revealing who was on the other side.

"Hello Florian and Arven"

"My name is Professor Sada I conduct research in The Great Crater of Paldea commonly known as area Zero"

"Professor Sada actually graduated from our fine academy"

"Sorry for asking but can I ask what is Area Zero?" Ash asked.

"Area Zero is the giant hole in the center of Paldea its said to be where Terastallizeing comes from it used to only be possible there until Professor Sada invented the Tera Orb"

"Let's get straight to what I wanted to talk to you about"

"Florian, student Id number 1231373, and Juliana, student Id number 3459828 is it true that you two travel with the unique Pokemon Koraidon?"

"Yes"

"Yes mam"

"I assume that you got it from a young man named Arven"

"Yes, they did I can confirm I watched them beat Arven in a battle to get him" Ash interjected.

"Am not mad in fact I wanted to reach out to you three for assistance"

"Assistance?" Ash asked curiously.

"A long time ago that Pokémon used to be mine. I cannot look after Koraidon myself I'm far too busy but if you guys can hold onto Koraidon then that way I can monitor him"

Without warning Don burst out of his Pokeball letting out a curious cry as he recognized Professor Sada.

"Koraidon is unable to battle in this state but it can specialize for transport in this mode you can use him as a way of fast traveling around the region"

"I've been researching Koraidon for some time now I believe that it has something to do with Area Zero"

"I would like to get your contact information so If you three could get out your phones, please" Florian, Juliana, and Ash got out their phones letting Sada get their contact information.

"Until next time all see you later" the tv screen went blank.

"Dose this Pokémon come from Area Zero?" Mr. Clavell asked.

"Professor Sada you didn't"

Florian was taken aback by that he looked over to Ash and Juliana to see they were also puzzled by what Clavell had said.

What had Professor Sada done?

Night had fallen over Paldea the night was quite say for the occasional cry of some Nocturnal Pokémon. The night's peace was disturbed by the flapping of wings.

A Noivern and Pidgeot sored across the sky only outlined by the faint glow of the quarter moon,

Flying over the coast they swooped down and landed on a rocky cliff overlooking the sea where an Espathra and Persian were waiting for them.

"Espathra we've scouted out the Great Crater as you wished" the Pidgeot spoke.

"Excellent what did you two find"

"There appears to be an entirely self-sufficient ecosystem unaffected by the outside world in there" The Noivern Spoke.

"Did you see any of the great beasts that the old legends speak of?" Persian asked.

"No sir we only did a fly over we didn't get any good views of what was down there we did see movement so there's clearly life down there" Noivern replied.

"As well we heard loud roars coming from the deeper parts of the crater although it was very dark and full of jagged crystals" Pidgeot added.

"It will likely require a full expedition down there to see those parts of the crater"

"Very well" Espathra replied.

"Persian tell Houndoom to get his pack ready we're going down there tomorrow"

"Yes, boss" Persian dipped his head before running down the cliff.

"You two fly to that laboratory that just opened up down at the Poco Path Flamigo is there make sure to relay all of this over to her we need to make sure Rotom can get in there to forward all of this to the big boss back in Sinnoh.

"Yes madam"

"You got it Espathra" both Pokémon took off into the sky leaving Espathra staring into the night sky psychedelic eyes shining with confidence.

And cue the end credit song I Ain't worried by OneRepublic that was what the Team Star students were listening to.

This chapter was mostly setting up the different paths in the story and fleshing out Florian Juliana and Nemona a bit more next chapter is when things start to get interesting : )

Also, what do think of Espathra and who do you think the big boss in Sinnoh is? I know it is a bit weird to have a Pokémon as the main villain but it will make sense just give it a bit.