In Their Shadow
Chapter 1, Sweet Hollowness
It was at moments like this that Blair wondered how on Earth Kirill had any friends at all. He had figured the man was going to be a nightmare to live with, but this morning was utterly dreadful! Kirill had smashed Blair's alarm clock, used his toothbrush all the while claiming it an accident, and managed to keep these "accidents" rolling until they were very late for their first day of class. Now the two were in front of the entire class in the large classroom lined with tables and chairs making a very negative impression on their classmates. Needless to say, Blair was fuming while the two were being scolded and being warned about making bad habits. After the last word was said, Kirill rushed off to an open seat beside Bruno, though it took him a minute to sit down, almost as if he were looking for something. By this point Blair could not care less what it was and eagerly took an open seat in the front, hoping to earn a few points back with his homeroom teacher, only to see that the empty seat next to him oddly had a bag in the chair and binders on the side of the shared table next to said chair. He only spared it one passing thought as class began.
"Good morning class, for the sake of our tardy pair, I am Mr. Deron, your homeroom and history teacher. We have already gone through our introductions, and normally I would make you two stand in the front of the class and do yours as well, but your classmates assured me that you two were well known. That being said, it was thankfully all you missed—Ah! Ms. Jones, welcome back. Did you find your way to the office okay?"
There in the doorway stood a lean girl with pale skin and long, black hair. Her lavender eyes shined brightly despite her apathetic facial expression and she nodded to the teacher before crossing the classroom and taking the seat beside Blair. Suddenly the fact that there was stuff there made sense and he nodded a greeting to the girl as she passed him. His main thought was that she was one of the few people that he did not know in this school and he had managed to make a bad first impression—and he simply had to remedy that.
As Mr. Deron went on his merry way with the talk of school regulations and praise for the students that were selected he began writing the girl a message on a scrap piece of paper from one of his various notebooks, "My name is Blair Kirkland, and you are?"
It took a little while for her to respond once he passed the note and he had begun to think that she had chosen to ignore him and focus on their teacher when once more the note was back in front of his face.
"Nikkita D. Jones, at your service." it read in simple, though beautiful handwriting.
He reread this message a couple of times before simply staring at the words. There was no way on Earth that this was the Nikkita Kirill had been talking about, was she? No, that was preposterous. There is no way that it would be that easy for him to meet the hero's heir. As the argument raged in his head he peeked at Nikkita from the corner of his eye. He had to admit that this girl had quite a presence. He could not really name it, though, since it seemed to be a mix of imperialness, mystique, and capability all in one. Maybe this really was the girl.
He took a deep breath and began writing another message, "This is going to sound completely crazy, but are you the hero's heir?"
He held that deep breath the entire time Nikkita had the note. He could hear the movement of her pencil and each stroke made him want to snatch away the paper to read what was already there. At last the scrap of paper was returned to him.
"No," said the beautiful handwriting, "I am Nikkita and the daughter of Alfred F. Jones, who has been referred to as the Hero of Azel, but I am me. Nikkita D. Jones, not just some heir."
Blair winced at the words even as he reread them. Clearly he stepped on a land mine, and now that he thought about it, it made sense. He never liked it when he was always referred to as a gym leader's son or any other title that was a reference to his father and not himself, and here he went doing the same thing to others.
He quickly jotted down a response, "I am sorry, Nikkita. I should know better than anyone the pain of being referred to from my father's position and not my own. It seems I have made two bad impressions on you today. I really hoped to avoid that, especially since we are cousins."
The note was back in his hands before he even realized he passed it, "It is okay, and I thought the name Kirkland sounded familiar. Nice to meet you, Cousin, and 'Nikkita' is hard to say all the time so feel free to call me Nikki. Everyone else does."
Just as he was about to scribble a joyful reply Mr. Deron's voice rang out over everything, "Okay class, now we need to vote on class officers."
Blair was a little caught off guard by this. He had read the handbook twice and it had merely alluded to the subject of class officers. From what he understood from the text it was that they were a part of the student council, but still a separate entity entirely. The only other information that he could come up with was that two were accepted from each class. The method by which the positions were assigned was never discussed so he assumed it was up to the liberty of the teacher of said class.
"You, new students, probably have no clue what class officers are here, which is expected. It is purposely left to the teachers to explain," continued Mr. Deron, almost like he was reading Blair's thoughts, "There are two from each class and they are technically a part of the student council. Nevertheless, the only time they appear for student council services are for formalities and if the president summons them. There is no specific way to really get this position laid out by the school so each teacher has a favorite way of doing things. I, for one, like to see you kids fight for it. You all fought to be here, so this should not be something new… Or should it?"
Mr. Deron suddenly had a smirk the size of Gengar's and it chilled the room, "You are all ten years old and attend a Pokémon academy. You are here to learn to be the next champions, no? So you have to have a Pokémon by now and it is time for you to use it! There you have it, folks, if you want this position you will have to win it through a Pokémon battle. I will not make you all compete, though I should, since I do not want someone who will neglect the position to have it. As for what you will be doing as a class officer, I can honestly say it will be too varied to explain. It will be a lot of work and you will have to take it in stride, but it is worth it. Now, if you wish to participate, raise your hands!"
The first hand Blair saw go up was no other than Nikki's. Blair had planned to go for the position anyway, but the fact that she could be his partner in it made him want it all the more. His hand shot up and he gazed around to survey the others. To his surprise, both Kirill and August had their hands in the air, August with his usual peppy smile and Kirill with put upon scowl. That was not all though. A girl with soft blond hair and shy aura who he recognized to be Florence Bonnefey caught his eye with her hand in the air. He never pictured his nervous cousin to be the leadership type, but there were even more people with their hands up that shocked him: Estelle Bonnefey, Larus Braginski, Junko Wang, even Leo and Conrad Beilschmidt whom had a penchant for mischief.
It took no time at all for the pairs to be matched. Blair found his partner to be Estelle, which he both dreaded and was grateful for. He liked to keep contact with her to the bare minimum, more than Kirill even, but considered her to be an easy victory. He quickly observed the other pairs to see that the Beilschmidt cousins were paired together as well as the Braginski boys. He smirked slightly, seeing Kirill eyeing his cousin haughtily. He knew the winner of that match already, just like the pairing of August and Junko. Nothing against the others, but he knew Kirill and August were good. His vision flittered to the last pair just in time for him to see Florence withdrawing and walking back to her seat, leaving Nikkita to watch all the others. Blair silently cursed not being able to see her fight, but figured the time would come soon enough. With that, his glare was fully placed on his opponent who was bouncing happily at the new attention, her bright blond curls resembling springs.
"Darling!" she called, clutching a red and white sphere which could only be a Pokéball, "I am afraid I cannot lose to you today, so I will take you out on a date to make up for it."
Blair shuddered at the mere thought, "Not if my life depended on it, hag!"
Estelle was about to make another comment, but Mr. Deron cut her off, "Begin!"
With that one word mass chaos began. Each competing student sent out his or her own Pokémon and the brawl began. Although it had not been explained in words, the way the battle worked was that each person would fight with one Pokémon until it fainted. The owner of said fainted Pokémon lost and the victor moved on to another round. Most people only had one Pokémon, so this was to try and keep it fair, but people with more than one could pull out an unused one for another round.
Blair smirked as he sent out his Vulpix, he was one of the latter, "Ember, go!"
Estelle frowned at this, commanding her Petil to dodge in vain. Vulpix was the fastest and landed a direct hit, engulfing the poor plant Pokémon in a fireball. Blair was not sure who cried out more, Estelle or her partner as the Pokémon was left with the burn effect.
"Any last words?" Blair asked, disinterested.
Anyone who knew anything knew that this was what happened when a fire type and a grass type fought. Nevertheless, that seemed to light a fire in Estelle's eyes.
"Yes! Now, Petil, teach my darling a lesson with—Baby, are you alright!?"
Blair blinked in shock as he watched the grass type fall over, fainted, from what had to be the burn effect. Apparently they talked too long. Without another word, but lots of crying and shrieks from Estelle, they both returned their respective partners, leaving Blair the victor. With a grin he quickly surveyed the results of the other matches and found himself quite pleased. Both of his predictions had been spot on, with August and Kirill being victors. The Beilschmidt that prevailed turned out to be Conrad. He took a quick mental note before he was assigned his new partner, Kirill. He had expected the boy to be thrilled about flaunting his bragged about battling prowess, but he looked quite peeved.
"What the heck is wrong with you?" hissed Blair, before he could even consider what he was saying.
That dangerous flash was once more in his eyes as he spoke, "I told you to keep your distance. If you had this would be more enjoyable for the both of us."
With that Mr. Deron called for the second match to begin before he could even see who was paired up with whom. Blair switched to a new Pokéball and sent out a Growlithe. He found his partner staring into the eyes of a Deino. He silently cursed at Kirill's use of a dragon type, but stood firm. All he had to do was focus on normal type attacks and it would all work out. As if reading Blair's thoughts, Kirill smirked.
"Deino," he growled, "Rock Tomb!"
Blair was so shocked by the command that he forgot he was even on the battlefield until the pain filled cry of his Growlithe met his ears.
"Super effective." Kirill added, his smile widening, "August had an extra TM."
Blair shook with rage. How dare he think he has won just because he surprised him. He was better than that, and they both knew it. Of course, that really did not change his situation much. Fire type moves would usually be the best choice for his Growlithe, which had the ability Flash Fire, however, fire moves were hardly effective against dragon types. His best hopes would be in fighting type moves to work against Dieno's dark type, which are hard to find in Growlithes. The best fighting type moves with them were egg moves, and he knew better than to believe his Pokémon had an egg move he did not know about. That left all his normal moves, which he doubted would take out the opponent before the next rock tomb hit. It had already slowed Growlithe down anyway. He needed a new plan, and now because Kirill was tired of waiting.
"Again, Rock Tomb!" came the command.
Deino never got a chance to fulfill it as Blair cried, "Growlithe, Roar!"
The loud cry completely paralyzed Dieno. It did not run away like it should have, but it could not move either. Kirill was slightly stunned himself. Since when did the move Roar ever end a battle?
"When only one Pokémon can come out." Blair explained, "I really did not want to resort to that, but…"
Suddenly Mr. Deron was counting and he counted out, deeming Deino unable to battle. Kirill had not even heard him begin, but now the match was over. Of course, this was only one battle—no, one half the battle. Blair knew this would be continued in their dorm as Kirill withdrew his partner and stalked off. If Kirill's favorite had been on the field, his Sneasel, Blair really doubted he would have gotten away with the last minute intimidation, but that did not matter now. He had, and now he had to face his new opponent. He glanced over at the others to see both August and Nikkita, only then did it occur to him that there had been an odd number so one of them could not have participated last round. He was about to voice his concerns when their teacher began.
"Well, kids, this is drawing to a close, so a quick recap. The last legal contenders are August, Blair, and Nikkita. We had an odd number last round so I participated as Nikkita's partner and she managed to beat me. For such a feat, I think it is fair to say she deserves her position, so the last match is between August and Blair."
Blair was more than shocked to hear this. Nikkita had beaten Mr. Deron, and he had missed it?! Plus now he had to face August, who he was sure had the most experience out of everybody other than Nikkita. His green eyes darted over his tanned cousin, his black hair and indigo eyes shining with glee.
"Sorry, Cuz." August apologized, "I really want to stay close with Nikki and considering how strict they are on dorms here, I will never get to see her. We normally see each other all the time and I refuse to lose that."
Blair nodded in understanding, but it was not like he was going to roll over. Unlike Kirill and August, he genuinely wanted this position. The fact he could get to know his mysterious cousin better was only an added bonus.
"Begin!"
In a flash of light August sent out one of his two main partners, a powerful Zangoose. Blair shuddered slightly as he pulled out another Pokéball, the one of his two main partners, and released a Buneary. Some people may laugh at this combination looking at Zangoose's claws, but Blair had an ace in the hole.
"Buneary, Jump Kick!" commanded Blair, taking the initiative.
August smiled sweetly, though it was obvious that he had expected as much from Blair. It was not all that uncommon for normal types to know fighting type moves. In fact, two could play at that game.
"Block using Crush Claw, Zangoose." instructed August, watching as Buneary was thrown away by the force of the combined moves.
Blair clicked his tongue at this, especially since it seemed that August was in no hurry to move. He was waiting for Blair to use all of his little tricks since that was what had won his last two battles. Blair thought he could wait just as long as August, but the fact that he knew Zangoose was a higher level made him edgy. He needed to be causing it as much damage as he could, but that meant risking damage. Neither option seemed very appealing, so he just went with it and tried to pull out another trick.
"Splash, Buneary!"
All of a sudden the furry Pokémon began hopping around madly, resembling a Magikarp out of water. August assumed that what it was supposed to look like, but he had no clue why Blair was using such a useless move or if it would even fit into a trick. But it did fit, very well actually, as a distraction as Blair quickly ran through his battle plans. Zangoose was stronger than Buneary and also had fighting moves which were super effective. That meant he really had no edge on this Pokémon. He honestly assumed that it was even faster than his partner due to the significant level gap, as well. This was even more hopeless than with Kirill! He took a deep breath as he watched August become less interested in Buneary's little show and decided on what he had to do. It was a long shot, but he did have one option.
"Buneary, use Ice Punch!" demanded Blair with sudden intensity.
The move name startled August as much as Rock Tomb had startled Blair. Ice Punch was something that could only be an egg move to a Buneary, meaning it was hard to know if it had it or not. Yet August quickly saw that this was in no way a bluff as one of the brown Pokémon's ears began to glow bright blue and it approached Zangoose. August quickly spat out for it to dodge, but it was much too late. Although the move itself barely connected, meaning miniscule damage if that, Zangoose's entire body became engulfed in ice. Before Blair even knew what was going on August had withdrawn his partner and congratulated him. Then Mr. Deron began to run through his speech about the importance of the officers and thanked all those who participated before officially giving him and Nikkita the titles. Although Blair was admittedly happy he won the position, he found it a rather hollow victory. He may have won the first battle with skill, and maybe the second with wit, but the third had undoubtedly been with luck. It just did not leave a good taste in his mouth. However, when he looked back at his newly befriended cousin and her mysterious, slight smile he could not taste anything but sweet success.