Unova Academy! : Where Opportunities Await!
Chapter 8;
"GOT IT! H-hey wait, GIVE IT BACK!"
Recap;
Headmaster Juniper was standing in front of the starting line, waiting for everyone to arrive. She had a black and white patterned flag – almost like a drag race flag – in her hand, a smile on her usually bright face.
Everyone who participated interested her – oh, she knew what Pokémon everyone had, so she would guess the outcome.
"Everyone ready?" She called out as the hooded trainer arrived, last.
Shouts of "Yeah!" confirmed everything.
"Then," She raised the flag, ever so slowly. Even the Pokémon were anticipating the moment.
"Get ready.." And slower the flag raised.
Kenneth was crouched on the line – like a track runner about to shoot out from the line.
"Set,.."
Daniel grinned, confident. His Blastoise had the same grin on his face, on the far right of the line.
"GO!" And the flag was brought down, in a sweeping, fast motion.
And they were off, let out from the cage that contained them for only a matter of minutes.
Dougan was left back on the beach, as his Terrakion dorm members raced off, cheering quite energetically for his dormies. So energetically that he even almost socked Archer in the face.
"Go! Go! Go!" He cried, a large confident grin plastered on his face while observing Rosalie.
Rosalie was one of the first to bolt past the 'START' ribbon, releasing her Milotic from her Pokeball with speed. Now, she was seated on Milotic, her blonde ponytail flapping behind her. The salty sea waves didn't phase her as she and Milotic rode against the currents.
Her towel was long forgotten on the beach and it was now seen that Rosalie was dressed in a pink two-piece bikini.
"No need to tell us twice, Dougan!" Adam shouted back at him, sliding down a long ice path he had created moments before. His Glaceon slid with him she looked like she was having fun. "Gla!"
He grinned at Rosalie, who was currently swimming beside the icy path, waving. "Having fun down there?"
She rolled her blue eyes at him, smiling. "I suppose you could say so – gah, HEY!" Rosalie clung to Milotic for a few seconds as Daniel, who was currently standing on Blastoise's back, sped by.
Daniel sent her a peace sign, smirking over his shoulder. "We're not losing to you guys!"
"And who're you referring to, eh, Daniel?" Noah grinned at the brunette below him, his Alataria just above the Virizion dorm member.
He raised an eyebrow, leaning down to whisper something to Blastoise before quickly speeding up. "Ha, both of the dorms!"
"Mhm, we'll see," Rosalie's smile grew as her Milotic and Daniel's Blastoise were easily getting head to head, one never outdoing the other. It was just a matter of who would outpace who.
The ocean's currents were starting to get a little rougher, for some reason. Such strong currents could only be caused by – "Holy cow! Those are two huge Gyarados!" Leave it to Noah to create a sort of scene.
He stayed true to his words, though –two Gyarados were faring quite well against each other. Both were swimming neck to neck, although they were also trying to knock each other out of the way.
One Gyarados was carrying Midori, who was trying to calm Doaburu down. "E-eh! It's not nice to hurt others, Doaburu! Even if they're from the other dorm!"
The other Gyarados was carrying Brooke, who was calm and unfazed by the sudden lashing at all. In fact, her reply was even calmer than Midori's panicked one. "Don't worry about it – worry about what's up ahead," she nodded in front of them, making a quick turn to avoid a sudden pop-up pole. Wait, what?
"G-gah! D-Daoburu, turn! TURN!" The Gyarados obliged, swerving to the right quickly. She sighed in relief, her expression turning from worried to one of confusion. "Okay, who the heck puts up a pole in the middle of the ocean?"
"Apparently our dear headmaster," replied Guill as he swam by with Poseidon. "It's probably one of her new tricks or challenges this year. We just need to watch out."
Lessly happened to be holding onto Wartortle as they were racing past Guill and Midori before calling out, "understood!"
Guill shook his head, his black hair dripping from the water. "I wonder how everyone else is doing?"
Back on land, Headmaster Juniper smiled deviously to herself. "It was a good idea to install those new triggers, am I right, Christopher?" She nodded over her shoulder at a teenager behind her.
A boy, about the age of 16 nodded, his gaze more focused on the ground rather than the headmaster. There was something odd about Christopher, though – he wasn't dressed in regular Unova Academy uniform. Instead, he was wearing a sort of Japanese like outfit often called a Gakuran: black uniform pants, a black button-up coat and spotless black shoes. Aside from that, a black and white 'UA' arm band was on his right arm, as was a black service cap was placed on his head, covering his eyes for a moment.
The headmaster sighed to herself. "Don't worry. You'll get to participate at the next event, so don't be so gloomy, Christopher."
"Yes, ma'am," He muttered, raising his head. His brown eyes glanced at her once before his dark green bangs swept over his eyes once more. Christopher's dark green hair was long and braided into a single ponytail, reaching his mid-back. What was unique about him was his authority – but, we'll find that out later.
He turned around, planning to head back to the academy, ponytail swishing behind him. Christopher's mouth slowly stretched into a smirk as his shoes tapped melodically when he walked. "Don't worry, Headmaster Juniper, I'll make the next event interesting."
"Woah, this is starting to get epic!" Chase commented, holding up binoculars to his eyes (where he got them, we'll never know).
Melissa smiled at him – or well, up at him – as she was seated on the warm sand of the beach. "It is. What's going on right now?"
He lowered his binoculars to grin at her before raising it to his brown eyes again. "Well, Mel-Mel,"
"Mel-Mel?" She raised an eyebrow.
Chase didn't answer her question. "right now, in the sky, it looks like Georgie and this other trainer are trying to out due each other, even though they're in the same dorm, while down below, Adam's realllllly sliding on the ice – it looks like a fun Slip-N-Slide!" He sucked in a breath, continuing. "Daniel and Rosalie are still neck and neck –Bri-Bri's joining in with that, too, so that makes three! Ty's swimming behind them, next to Skyler who's on his Milotic and –woah, what's that?"
"What?" Mel jumped up, yanking the binoculars from Chase. The fact that they were around his neck caused him to choke slightly.
A sudden explosion in the water probably scared everyone who was on the beach, running to the beach's shore to see what had happened.
"What in the world..?" Alexis walked towards the two, obvious shock on her face. "W-what just hap-"
She was cut off when an announcement was made by Headmaster Juniper, using her megaphone again. "Not to worry, students! Everyone is fine. It was just part of the challenge! Resume your watching!"
"Phew," Alexis sighed, a hand to her heart. "I thought something really bad did happen."
Melissa frowned, leaning in closer to the binoculars. "Well, we never know." Because to her, it didn't look like a minor explosion. Not at all.
The explosion didn't really bother anyone. It was only triggered when Brooke passed over it with her Gyarados, avoiding it with graceful ease and everyone took note to avoid it. It especially didn't bother Kenneth, who was currently riding on Blaze.
"Yeah, almost there!" Kenneth grinned to himself as he and his Charizard were zooming towards the flag. As far as he could tell, he was slightly ahead of everyone else – or so he thought.
Adam, who was sliding down the ice path with his Glaceon was also speeding towards the little island. It didn't look like he'd slow down anytime soon, but he grinned at Kenneth, who was soaring above him. "Ready to lose, eh, Kenny?"
"Don't count me out of this so early, Adam!" Kenneth called out, his Charizard smirking down at Adam and his Glaceon, suddenly flapping his wings and flying faster.
"Tch! C'mon Glaceon!"
"Glace!" She nodded, hurrying to make a longer ice path.
Meanwhile, behind them, Riley was trying to catch up with her Oshawott. She wasn't just a regular Oshawott, either. She sure was speedy!
"We can do it, Oshy!" She was encouraging her friend, smiling down at her as she held onto the otter-like Pokémon.
"Osha!" And her encouraging sure worked, because she was speeding up.
Yards away from Riley and her Oshawott was Ty, still swimming with his Wooper – he sure looked like he was having fun!
"We're almost there, Wooper."
"Woopah! Woopah!" It cheered, ever-so cutely.
"Almost there."
"Woopahhhh!"
"Ye-woah." Ty ceased talking to his Wooper when they were knocked backwards due to two speeding Milotics – neck and neck.
"Argh. You're not beating me, Skyler!" Rosalie's voice was dripping with determination as she held onto her Milotic, glancing now and then at the Cobalion male.
Skyler smiled at her. "Quite confident, aren't you? Don't think we'll be letting you down easy, though," He looked down at his Milotic, still smiling. "Let's keep at it, Milotic!"
"Lotic!" It nodded, its sleek body easing through the ocean's waves.
The blonde shook her head, signaling for her Milotic to go faster – which it did.
It looked like nobody wanted to lose. Everyone almost seemed tied for whoever would capture the flag first and all equally seemed determined.
It was only a matter of time before someonecaptured the f-
"GOT IT!" A feminine voice cheered, jumping up and down from the small island. That caught everyone's attention, along with headmaster Juniper's.
Guess who it was?
That's right, it was Midori. Daoburu smirked, swimming around the perimeter of the island as she continued with her victory dance.
Lessly called out from afar, her Wartortle stopping for a moment to let her rest and talk. "Ah, but Midori, on the way back, you need to make sure nobody snatches the flag!"
Everyone had grown quiet. Oh. Nobody knew that was another rule..
Midori gulped, clutching the flag to her chest as everyone stared at her. Daoburu glanced at her, stopping so she could climb back on.
"W-we're not going to let you get it, count on that!" Midori's fear was replaced with confidence as she climbed back onto her Gyarados.
Daniel grinned, pumping his fist into the air. "Alright, that's the spirit! Your Virizion dormies are gonna help you. Don't worry."
Guill nodded, swimming next to his friend. "So, hurry, Midori,"
The 13-year-old nodded, soon swimming off. Of course, Daoburu wouldn't let her get hurt either.
"Sheesh, this'll be harder than I thought," Noah shook his head, flying a bit lower with his Altaria. He was quietly trailing Midori from above. It wasn't like he wanted to hurt her or anything – he'd just try to surprise her and capture the flag.
But as he was reaching down to try to snag the flag, the trainer on the Pelipper had knocked him out of the way, with the use of a bit of too much force, snagging the flag themselves.
"H-hey!" Midori looked up, trying to snag the flag back, but the trainer was already flying back to the beach.
Noah winced, both himself and his Altaria plummeting a few feet out of the air before regaining their balance. "Gah, that jerk! Get back here!" Now he was really mad – both him and his Flying-type Pokémon. Altaria let out a shriek of rage and started flapping after them.
Kenneth noticed his dorm member's rage, frowning. "That isn't the right way to play a game –c'mon Blaze, we need to catch up."
Blaze nodded, letting out a roar and huffing out a puff of smoke for a second or two before flapping his large wings and flying after the Terrakion member.
Briana glanced after the trio, shaking her head. Her Marshtomp patted her on the leg, trying to keep her smiling. "Marsh!"
The brunette looked at her Pokémon, smiling back. "You're right, Marshy. Even if he or she played a little dirty, they're still our ally. Oh, well. We'll talk to them when they get back. We just need to worry about getting that point for our dorm!"
"Marsh! Marshtomp!"
And so, they joined in the chase.
Brady Lemmings sighed, currently sitting cross-legged under a palm tree on the beach. His Houndoom, Hooper, was curled up and asleep next to him.
He was sitting away from his other Virizion dorm members, not liking the fact that Midori had just gotten the flag stolen from her. How did he know, you ask? Dougan was happy and yelling about the fact one of his dormies had taken the flag.
"Jeesh, he's way too over excited," Brady shook his head, his shaggy green bangs getting in his left eye.
"No kidding," commented a voice walking towards him.
Brady looked up to see a male walking towards him, a Squirtle waddling with him cheerfully. From what Brady could see, the teenager seemed about 15, with dark brown hair that reached his ears and equally dark brown eyes.
He walked up, holding out a hand to the Virizion member. "Nice to meet'cha, I'm Black." Black smiled as Brady took his hand, shaking it.
"Brady," He returned the smile. "Brady Lemmings."
"Cool," Black released his hand, stuffing a hand in the pocket of his black swim trunks, which were decorated with flames on the bottom. "Do you know where the Cobalion dorm leader is? I just came sort of late and I have no clue where he is."
Brady stood up, dusting himself off. The sudden movement woke Hooper up, his ears twitching. "Oh, you mean Archer? He's over there," He pointed in the direction of the aforementioned dorm leader, who was currently talking to Sammy, Evelyn and Felicia about the next event.
His sister, Alexis, was talking to Maikee, the Virizion dorm leader.
Black nodded, slowly beginning to walk over there. "Thanks, Brady!"
"No prob!" Brady smiled before sitting back down, just as Black's Squirtle waddled after him again. Now, all he had to do was wait for the right moment before he could talk to his sister.
"So, that's the game plan," Archer finished up, smiling at the trio.
Evelyn nodded, energized for the next event. "Gotcha! Seems easy enough. We'll find it easy!"
Felicia hooked her arm with Evelyn's, smiling. "Cobalion's going to win the next event for sure!"
Sammy simply nodded, her headphones on again. She did put her opinion in, of course. Just not as frequently as Evelyn or Felicia. It wasn't because she was a party pooper, she just had a headache and was feeling slightly queasy. Her eyes were closed and her head was absentmindedly focused on the sandy floor when Archer lifted one of the headphones, to talk her.
"Yoo-hoo, Ms. Headphones," He waved a tanned hand in her face as she opened one eye.
"Yes?" Was her reply.
Archer smiled brightly. "You need to say hi to our Cobalion dormie who just got here," He pointed over his shoulder at Black, who was being tackle hugged/glomped/choked to death by Evelyn.
She sighed, shaking her head and leaving her headphones on her neck. Sammy raised an eyebrow. "Shouldn't you, I don't know, save him or something?"
He shrugged his shoulders, watching the scene play out, before Black broke himself free of Eva, and jogged over to the dorm leader.
Black was bent over on his knees, panting for a moment or two. His Squirtle patted him on the knees before he regained his composure. "Okay, hi. I'm sorry, I came kind of late," He huffed, smiling at his dorm leader. "I'm Black. Thanks for letting me come by so late."
Archer Pyre nodded, crossing his arms. "No problem. Did you check in with the headmaster yet?"
"I'm pretty sure he did," replied Felicia who walked over. Her Espeon trailing behind her, her tail swishing behind her. Felicia's pink/red hair also swished behind her as she walked.
"Well, he should anyways," Archer patted Black on the back, grinning. "Welcome to the Cobalion dorm, dude. The girl who was… hugging you in a non-violent way was Evelyn,"
As if on cue, Evelyn waved, along with her Snivy, Naga, except he was less energetic.
"The intelligent 13-year-old here is Felicia," he gestured towards Felicia, who smiled at Black.
She held out her hand to him. "Nice to meet you, Black."
He shook it gratefully. "My pleasure,"
Archer smiled proudly before pointing at Sammy, who was rubbing her temples. "And this here, is our height challenged brunette, Samanth-"
Sammy cut him off with narrowed eyes. "I'm Sammy," She let out a sigh, waving. "Hi. And I'm not height challenged, I'm fun-sized."
Archer smirked, patting Black on the back again. "You should go check back in with Headmaster Juniper again before coming back. Evelyn will fill you in on our game plan for our next event for the Water Wars," He yawned before smiling again, "and Sammy would love to show you around – right, Sammy?"
She narrowed her caramel colored eyes even more at her 'dear' dorm leader before sighing. Clearly, she was frustrated. "Fine," was her blunt reply.
Black blinked, nudging Archer before whispering to him. "Is she alright?"
He nodded. "Just a headache. Oh well, don't let her sour attitude bother you too much."
He blinked before nodding. Black wouldn't mind, at least until he found out how cruelly sarcastic she could be when she grew irritated.
"Are you serious?" Chase frowned, his shoulders slumped as he kept looking through his binoculars. Apparently, the Pelipper trainer was still in the lead and getting closer and closer to the finish line.
Collin, Luna and Alistar had joined Chase and Melissa earlier. All were bored, as Alistar was asleep and Luna talking with Mel quietly.
Mel glanced at him before turning her focus to where he was looking. "Darn, are they still in the lead?"
He nodded, his frown growing. Foxy noticed, nudging him slightly.
"At least Midori and Daniel are trying to chase after the person." Chase put down his binoculars, plopping down on the sand, just as Headmaster Juniper made yet another announcement.
"And the winner is..!" Okay, she pretty much caught everyone's attention now.
Collin blinked, staring at the headmaster who was now standing on the platform from earlier, megaphone out once more.
All eyes were focused on the finish line – heck, Dougan was practically standing smack dab in the middle of it, ready to congratulate the Pelipper trainer if they crossed it.
Evelyn held her breath, clinging onto Felicia for dear life. Felicia was completely unfazed, even squeezing Evelyn's hand back.
Sammy watched with some interest, along with Archer. At least the two weren't hurting each other yet.
Alexis was standing next to them, reading another book, but had closed it when the headmaster made the announcement.
It surely came to a surprise to everyone when Kenneth happened to make the last-minute attempt of capturing the flag – accidentally falling off of Blaze and landing on the trainer, causing them to both land on the sand and skid a few inches. No worries, they weren't hurt.. badly.
"Kenneth Strife and Daniel Riverdale?" Headmaster Juniper seemed confused, blinking her eyes and lowering her megaphone.
Now she really got Sammy's attention as she snapped her neck in the direction of the two fallen trainers. "Danny?"
Well, it seems like I'm updating every week now, huh? :'D /shot/ I'm so sorry for the slow updates.
Things are really starting to get interesting now, now that Danny's at UA. And who's Christopher? Mwahha. He'll play a good role later on. :3 Yes, he's one of my OCs.
And thanks to 3rdbase101 soooo much for betaing my chapters lately. She's awesome.
Of course, thanks to you guys for still following, too ;D