Disclaimer: same as on Chapter 2


Coach Barkley was reclining in his big leather swivel chair in his office. He was looking on his computer at the preseason rankings once again, snorting at the thought that his team was only ranked #13 of all the regions, they had lost four spots in the rankings between the end of the last year and now. Marshall closed the website, disgusted at the site as he rubbed his forehead. There was a knock at the door and before he could respond, Steven Heigel, the Dean of Students, walked in. Heigel was around the same height as Barkley, but much skinnier, with his dark brown hair gelled back, and sporting one of his countless suits.

"What the hell are you doing in my office, Heigel?" Barkley questioned the dean as he sat down on the other side of his desk. The athletic director, Daniel Bell, entered the office as well, closing the door. "What's going on Bell?"

"Listen f*ckstick, I'm incredibly busy, so why don't you spit it out, instead of marching me around kingdom come," Bell said to Heigel, himself looking furious.

"Well, thank you for the warm welcome, gentlemen. I'd like to speak with you about two of your players and their... actions of last night," Heigel stated, earning a suspicious look from the both of them.

***...***

The members of the team that weren't lost in the woods were slowly gathering at the practice field on the beach for an 'extracurricular' practice hosted by Tyler. It was 2pm, around the time when a few of them were waking up from last night's activities. Tyler, Barry, Megan, Freddie, and Colin were the first four there. Freddie was sporting his usual bag of candy, today it was Swedish Fish.

"How can you eat so much candy Fred?" Megan asked the sophomore.

"I have to, otherwise it's just.. hard to function," he replied with a laugh.

"Have you ever ate too much?"

"Allll the time."

"Then what?"

"Ehhh... Let's just say I'm like a Pokémon using Agility," he laughed again.

"Tyler what is this for again?" the senior, Colin, asked him.

Tyler turned his head to look at Colin quickly, "Just a little friendly, off the field competition," he replied with his usual smirk.

"We're still on the field..." Megan pointed out.

Tyler looked down, they were standing in the center circle of the field. "Well we won't be in a few minutes!" he shot back. His skin was still glistening from his morning workout a few minutes ago.

Freddie began walking away, saying he was going to throw away his now empty bag. "You finished all that just now?" Colin asked, but earning no reply. The rest of the team showed up over the next couple minutes. As the last arrival got into the center circle, Tyler began:

"Ladies and Gentlemen. I'm sure you're all aware that the four freshmen are- Wait a minute... Where's Nyx and Remmy?"

***...***

"Alright, that's the second landmark!" Tommy exclaimed as the four of them came into view of an extremely tall tree that was on the other side of the river as them. Kirk, River, and Karim just glared at him as they continued walking, Tommy looking down after seeing their stares.

Kirk checked his Pokégear, it was 2:15pm. "Alright, I think it's time for some grub. Y'all might be in for a treat... Back before the war broke down I was a saucier down in Vermilion. I bet I could pick up some of them berries, yee... Noodle some Maaaagikarp out the patty, yo. I made us some crabapples, for dessert now, yea! Hell yeah, HAAH!"

The other three stopped, turning to look at Kirk, Tommy and River with a 'what the hell' expression. "Dude... what did you just say?" Tommy asked first.

"What war?" Karim questioned blankly.

"Seriously, just... what?"

"I gets excited about my foods man. So we takin a break or what? I'm sure you guys are starving," Kirk said, sitting down on a large rock.

"Yea I guess we could find something real quick, I kinda want to get back you know... before tomorrow," Tommy replied, beginning to scan the area for something edible.

"What's tomorrow?"

"Really. Really? Monday. School starts? Ring a bell?"

"Oh. That," Kirk shrugged, "Ain't nuthin' but a thang."

***...***

"You've got to be shitting me, Heigel!" Bell protested, slamming his fist down on Barkley's desk.

"Whatever happened to looking the other way when it comes to this kind of stuff?" Barkley asked, rubbing his face with his palms.

"Oh I'm well aware of many of the team's unwritten agreements, but this was the last straw. Especially when it's all over Youtube," Heigel said smugly as he opened the door to leave. "Oh and one more thing... good luck this year," he added with a hint of sarcasm before closing the door behind him, walking out with a smirk.

***...***

Kirk held up his end of the bargain, having 'noodled' up a Magikarp for a snack. After the freshmen had eaten, they kept on trekking, following Tyler's map. "According to this we should be about three-quarters the way there," Tommy said as he looked over Karim's shoulder at the map.

"How you know that how you sure?" Kirk replied, stepping over a very large root.

"I looked at the map..."

"Riight. I wonder how they got us way out here in the middle-of-nowhere, there's no way they could've driven somebody's truck or somethin'."

"Possibly had one of their Flying types fly us out here, I don't really know or care, I just want to relax when we get back," Tommy said as he quickened his pace with Karim's.

Kirk hung back a little bit, until he was walking next to River, "Come on sweet-cheeks, gotta catch up. How're you holdin' up?" A hint of red appeared on her cheeks as she gave him a thumb's-up.

"There's the beach!" Tommy yelled as he looked past the last few trees and saw the blue-green of the ocean. Kirk and River jogged up to catch up with Tommy and Karim, who were now standing on the edge of a very tall dune, looking down to the beaches. Tommy was looking to the left, way off in the distance he could make out the arena. "There's the arena, probably another hour or less walk and we're home."

"This is steep," Karim stated blankly, looking down the dune. It was quite a way's down and had sharp angle.

"Race ya," Kirk said, giving Tommy and Karim slaps on the back. Karim jumped at the force, his heels slipping forward. He began to fall down the dune, yelling profanities at Kirk as he rolled and bounced down the dune. "Nah man, you're doin' it wrong!" Kirk jumped down, sliding down with ease, as he had done this before as a kid back in Vermilion City's beaches. River wasn't so quick to jump down, she was analyzing the situation and her surrounding in her head. Tommy jumped down next after making sure she wasn't frightened.

Kirk skidded to a stop at the bottom, spraying sand at Karim who was currently spitting out sand. Tommy landed next to them a few seconds later, rubbing his back from the friction. Kirk looked up to see where River was and saw her walking down a large flight of stairs that was only a few meters from where they had jumped down, commenting, "Oh."

***...***

"Come on Char, you couldn't hit the ball if your life depended on it!" Tyler yelled at his teammate as she missed the volleyball yet again. His original plan was to have the team work with their Pokémon and potentially get a battle in or two, but instead they wound up playing beach volleyball.

Charlotte glared at the captain through the net, getting ready for Tyler's team's next serve. Megan served the ball, sending it to Colin who bumped it up with ease. Charlotte moved towards the net, getting ready as Shane set it for her. She jumped up, her eyes quickly scanning for Tyler, spiking the ball right at him. It struck him in the chest, and Barry dove for it, hitting the ball with his forearm, sending it flying out of bounds. Charlotte smiled smugly, flipping her light chocolate hair to the side with her hand.

"That was just luck!" Tyler said loudly. Freddie tossed the ball over to Colin, whose turn it was to serve. As he threw it into the air, every single one of their Pokégears beeped. Tyler ignored the ball as it flew past him, being the first to check his. "Oh crap..." he stated, looking at it.

"What is it?" Megan asked, walking next to him to look at his Pokégear. It read: All of you in my office, NOW!

"Let's go, let's go!" Tyler yelled clapping his hands loudly running back and forth to his teammates as they grabbed their belongings they had set down by the net poles.

***...***

"Oh hey, I've got service again," Tommy said the four freshmen's Pokégears beeped. They all checked it and read the same message.

"Heh.. It's time to man up. And I ain't gonna sugar-coat it," Kirk commented, seeing Tommy and River's concerned faces.

The four of them started hustling, jogging in the firmer sand near the water as they neared Tyler's house. A few minutes later they arrived at the arena, entering one the side entrances for 'authorized personnel' only, fitting the label. They were panting and visibly exhausted as they opened the door to the locker room. It was carpeted in navy blue, with the Humilau High logo in the middle of the room. The lockers were wood stations, hosting a cupboard and hanging rack for coats, jerseys and the like with their names imprinted above.

The team was standing in a semi-circle with Coach Barkley, Sanders, and Michaels in front of them. The three coaches turned around as the door opened. "Where the hell... and what the hell, have you four been at and doing?" Barkley commented as the freshmen lined up at then end with the rest of their team.

"It's a long story..." Tommy replied, wiping the sweat from his forehead.

Barkley scowled at them before turning to the rest of the team. "As I was saying, the reason I've called you all here is because of two of your teammates actions from last night. Would any of you care to enlighten me on the matter?"

"Who was it Coach?" Freddie asked, mid-chew of yet another bag of candy, this time M&M's.

"Well gee Fred. Take a look around the room, and tell me who's missing," Barkley sneered in reply. The team looked around to see who was missing, all of them recognizing Nyx and Tyson were gone. "Somebody better tell me, or there'll be extra running come tomorrow's practice... (silence) Anyone?" (more silence)

"Whatever it is, I didn't do it," Kirk commented.

"It was Nyx and Tyson, Coach!" Tyler blurted out.

Marshall nearly face-palmed at his top recruit and captain's remarks, "Yes... Thank you. Tyler... Well since none of you are clearly not going to whistle blow, I'll just tell you about your teammates' actions." Daniel Bell and Steven Heigel came out of Barkley's office right then, Bell looking infuriated as ever.

The athletic director walked up to Marshall, putting his hand on Marshall's shoulder, whispering to him, "This is some bullshit, but I'll see what I can do about the situation." And with that he walked out, closing the door hard behind him. Heigel stopped abruptly at the door being closed in front of him, giving a bow with his arm under his chest as he exited after Bell.

Barkley narrowed his eyes in disgust before turning back to his team, "Anyone want to help me understand why Nyx did a magic trick, setting a student on fire and sending her to the hospital? And why Tyson was found, passed out drunk, naked in the Office of Admissions in a pile of puke? Hmm?!" Everyone in the room's eyes widened, silence yet again. The silence was broken as a small chuckle was heard. "You think something's f*cking funny, Lazarus?!"

Kirk's body went to stone, his face with a very serious expression, "No sir. Nothing at all."

"Damn right nothing is funny. You all do realize that they're kicked off the team? AND the school? Just wait til the press finds out about this one... There goes one of our three seniors and a very promising sophomore. If I find out that any one of you do something this stupid, I'm giving you the broom myself! Is that understood!?"

"Yes Coach!" the team echoed.

"Good. Now we have some serious work to put in this week. Yes, our first game may be against a notoriously bad team, but everyone is going to think it is a trap game for us. We're going to shove that down their throats, and obliterate Aspertia. I want you all to think hard about how you're going to step up from this loss. I'll see you tomorrow after class."


AN: Throwing a wrench into the works of the team with the expels. What's the athletic director Bell have brewing in his mind? What do the freshmen still have in store for the remainder of Hell Week? All this and more in the next update! Special shoutouts to Jarl Josef Windcaller for helping out with some ideas and "being quite the friend, sir" xD , Fizzy Starburst for being awesome , and Jjun, Nightfall00, and Storm229 for constant comments :)

Hit up the review button, I love feedback :D

~Broski