Unova Academy! Where Opportunities Await!
Chapter 10: Finding a Stone or Finding your Fears?
Recap:
"I forget to mention, you can all use one Pokémon to help you in this challenge! So, trainers, release them now!" Headmaster Juniper called out, willing to wait patiently for the challenge entries to choose.
"I guess I'll be counting on you, Flare," Collin smiled down at his Charmelon, who smirked back at him. He was his partner, after all.
Briana was bent down, petting her Quilava who was already out of his Pokeball, purring with the pleasure of being petted. "I'm counting you, buddy,"
"Quil!"
A little ways away from them, Chase was patting his released Ghastly. "Alright, Gengore, you're gonna lead the way, right?"
Mel smiled at Chase, her Houndoom obediently at her side. "Let's win this, 'kay, Chase? And Gengore and Houndoom?"
Houndoom howled in agreement, nuzzling Mel's hand as Ghastly snickered. Chase gave Mel a thumbs-up. "Count on it, Melly-Mel!"
Melissa shook her head, glancing at the Cobalion competition.
Sammy was giving a pep talk to Ombra, who had just jumped on her and knocked her back a little ways. Black held her steady, laughing it off as his Charmander, Blow Torch, blinked curiously at them.
Headmaster Juniper, who saw everyone was ready, raised her megaphone to her lips to speak. "Alright, I'm guessing everyone's ready. Get ready to start! The dorm leaders have decided which pairs will get which cave! You won't know which stone you'll be searching for, though!"
Maikee stepped next to Headmaster Juniper, gently taking the megaphone to speak. "Cobalion's Black and Sammy will be heading towards the Eastern cave, while Virizion's Chase and Melissa shall get the Western cave. Last but not least, Terrakion's Collin and Brianna will get the Southern Cave. Is everyone ready?"
The three pairs nodded, focused on leaving the line.
"Ready?" Dougan called out from his spot on the other side of the headmaster, grinning.
"You betcha!" Replied Briana, also grinning.
"Then get set," Archer glanced at Black and Sammy one more time before Maikee said the trigger word.
"Go!"
And they were off once more, Pokemon and trainers.
The sun was midway through the sky now – not quite sunset yet. Just before the pairs had left, their dorm leaders had given them each flash lights. Of course, the flash lights were color coded.
Black and Sammy were given blue flash lights, while Chase and Melissa were given green flash lights. Terrakion's Collin and Briana were handed brown flash lights, being last to leave the 'Start' line.
No one was in a particular rush, actually. The trio of pairs had already split up, heading their separate routes to get to their assigned caves.
Everyone was pretty mellow – except Chase as he was talking animatedly to Melissa next to him.
"Alright! I already have a game plan! I say we split up and meet at a certain point in the cave," Despite being so outgoing, Chase kept his voice low. It wasn't like anyone was listening on them, though. They were the only ones heading to the Western Cave, after all.
Melissa rubbed her temples again – she could've sworn she was getting a headache. She sighed before replying to her partner. "I say we stick together.. we don't know what'll happen in that cave. Plus, two is better than one."
The energetic brunette stayed quiet for a few seconds, a blank look on his face. Chase suddenly grinned, poking Mel in the arm multiple times. "Aw! Don't tell me Melissa's afwaid of the dark! Don't worry, Mel-Melly can hold my hand,"
Melissa sputtered, a light blush coming onto her face. She narrowed her eyes at the male next to her. "W-what? That's stupid. I'm not afraid of the dark and I don't need to hold your hand!" She began walking faster than Chase, her Houndoom in hot pursuit.
"No, Melly! Wait up," Chase jogged ahead to catch up, Gengore poofing here and there, a bored expression on his face. Chase, on the other hand, just wouldn't let up, still poking Melissa. "I'm sowwy. But, you can still hold my hand if you do get scared," He smiled at her – not a joking one, but a genuine one.
She simply turned her head away, eyes focused on the cave ahead of them. Once there, she turned on her flash light without another word to Chase. The only notice she gave to him was motioning with her hand to follow, as to not wake the snoozing Woobats above them.
Chase put his index finger to his lips to do the recognizable 'be-quiet' signal before turning on his own flashlight and shining it ahead.
To their oh-so pleasant surprise, there were two paths, leading different directions. And, here, we have two different people with two different senses of direction.
Melissa was pointing to the right path while Chase pointed to the left. Their Pokémon stood in the middle of both paths, looking confused.
Houndoom cocked his head, gazing at his trainer when she spoke. "We're going right, Chase..," Mel kept her voice down, the Woobats not stirring.
"No! Left!" Chase's lips frowned in a usual pout, his arms crossed as he took a step towards to the left path.
His female companion let out an impatient sigh, arms crossed. Melissa took a step towards the path to the right, flashlight pointed in that direction. "Look, I'm going right. You just.. stick to your left path then. If something happens.. just yell, I guess." She began walking down the path, Houndoom following.
Chase 'hmph'ed, heading down his chosen left path. That is, for at least five seconds before sprinting back and heading to the right path. He wouldn't admit it himself, but he had a feeling Mel was right. Plus, there was something creepy down that path that sent an ominous shiver up his spine. Chase didn't want to go back down that path at any cost.
"Is it just me or is this cave a little too..," Briana was going to finish her sentence, but Collin was nice enough to finish it for her.
"Murky? Depressing? Eerie? Creepy?" He smiled at her when she raised an eyebrow at his list of words to describe how a cave should generally be described as.
Briana shook her head, her Quilava providing light for the two as they walked straight through the cave. "I was going to say 'damp and too quiet', but gee, thanks Collin."
He waved her off, a lazy smile playing over his lips as he bowed. "My pleasure, m'lady." His Charmeleon, Flare, cocked an eyebrow while staring at his trainer as if he was hit on the head a little too hard.
Quilava, who saw the Fire-type's reaction snickered, the flames on his head still blazing brightly. Flare's tail was kept on a moderate brightness, so he wouldn't get too tired.
"Alright, on a serious note, keep your eyes out for anything shiny," Briana, after saying that, immediately kept her eyes trained on the cave walls around them.
Collin couldn't help but chuckle a bit at her determination – she looked like a curious Pikachu to him, a Pokémon native to Kanto, where he lived before traveling the distance to get to Unova Academy.
Hearing his little laugh, the brunette female stopped walking, shining her flashlight in Collin's face. The sudden burst of light made him wince, shielding his blue eyes. "Um, is there a problem, Ms. Briana?"
"Why'd you chuckle at me? Is there something on my back or something?" She'd shove the flashlight further into his face until she got her answer. Right now, the flashlight stayed trained on Collin, moving with him when he tried to move away from the light's beam.
He squinted his already sleepy blue eyes, only opening one to peek at her behind his arm. "Ah, no. You just reminded me of a Pokémon back in Kanto..., so, can you please remove the evil beam of doom from my face? Much appreciated," Collin smiled when Briana lowered the flashlight.
When Briana placed her free hand on her hip, Collin suspected she didn't believe him. Thus, he frowned, holding a hand to his heart, pretending to be hurt. "Ouch, still don't believe me? Your glare feels like a stab in the heart, dear Briana,"
She simply huffed, turning around and continuing to walk again as her companion slowly smiled. He followed her, Flare walking in front of the two along with Quilava.
The duo gradually got to where it seemed there were not two paths in the Southern Cave they were in, but four.
Collin cocked his head to the side, juggling is options to which path to go to. Houndoom, who was standing next to his trainer lifted his nose to the air, sniffing once, then twice before letting out a low howl.
The Fire- and Dark-type hound trotted over to the left path that was second to the last on the left side, looking over his shoulder at the two trainers and the other Fire-type before scampering down that path.
"Ah, Houndoom!" That set Briana off to jog after her Pokémon, leaving Collin and Flare behind. Unfortunately, she had dropped her flashlight while scrambling to follow Houndoom.
With a sigh, Collin picked up the brown colored light and with Flare leading, followed Briana down the dark tunnel, deeper into the cave.
"Do you like music, Black?" was the first question Sammy asked Black when they entered the cave that laid in the eastern direction.
He blinked his dark brown eyes, stretching his arms behind his neck. Blow Torch blinked up at him with his cute little eyes before continuing to walk. "I.., guess I do. Why ask?"
She shrugged, Ombra bounding up ahead of them by a few feet, happily exploring the cave. "I find it easier to get to know people at first by asking them if they like music or not. Music's always been a favorite thing of mine, after all,"
Black nodded, brushing his dark brown hair out of his eyes. While walking through the cave, he noted some details about it. The cave's ceiling is high, occasional stalagmites easily spotted above. Woobats, Zubats and Golbats were fast asleep, perched on said stalagmites.
His Charmander nuzzled his leg, inching him forward when he suddenly noticed Sammy and Ombra had moved farther ahead – when did that happen?
Black shook his head, jogging to catch up, his little Fire-type following. Sammy and Ombra meanwhile had reason to run ahead. The reason? Out of the corner of her eye, she had spotted a Joltik – not that she knew what that was, since she was more familiar with Hoenn region Pokemon. It freaked her out nonetheless, causing her to panic and run far away from it.
Of course, her Cobalion partner knew almost nothing about her yet, so he probably thought she just left him behind because she saw the stone they were supposed to find.
When he got tired of jogging after the retreating Sammy and felt it was fine, he called out to her. "Hey, Sammy, slow down.."
He didn't receive a reply, though, when she made a sudden sharp turn to the right, disappearing down the path. Black let out a loud sigh, stretching himself again before running down the path.
Blow Torch let out a surprised 'Char!', doing his best to catch up with his trainer. When he was in reach, he simply jumped onto Black's back, claws digging into his shoulders out of the fear of falling.
He wouldn't admit that Blow Torch's sudden grip hurt, but it did sting. Black reached behind his back, patting his Charmander on the back in a reassuring gesture before once again running after Sammy.
It'd be a long cave exploration..
By now, the sun had already set on the horizon. The Unova Academy students were engrossed in conversations, side battles and little poker games or such, since they had nothing better to do., since everyone was supposed to stay behind and wait for the others to get back. Headmaster Juniper did the liberty of thinking of something so they wouldn't get too bored in the mean time. And we all know what the wicked brain of our dear headmaster could think up.
Thankfully, what she thought of was quite sane – at least, for the time being. Maikee, Guill and Lessly took notice when their headmaster picked up her megaphone, twisting the knob on 'super loud' so everyone could hear.
Guill leaned over to his dorm leader and Lessly, whispering. "This isn't going to go well.. remember to cover your ears..-"
The glasses wearing teenager was cut off when the headmaster's energetic voice blasted through the device held up to her mouth, an ear splitting sound erupting from it rather than her voice.
Guill covered his ears practically a millisecond before it went off, anticipating it. Lessly and Maikee however, were less fortunate for the first few seconds before shrieking and covering their own ears.
Above the loud sound, Lessly shouted at Guill. "Yeah, thanks for the heads up!" Maikee, who was beside her, narrowed her eyes as 'thanks' to Guill.
He simply nodded, eye twitching slightly when the sound seemed to be getting louder every passing second.
Ty, who was playing the card game 'Thirteen' [1] with Alistar let out a very.., you could say manly scream of surprise, dropping his cards completely when his opponent slapped down the two of hearts, winning the game with a grin. Since Alistar was from Virizion, of course he offered they both put down a bet.. involving gummy bears.
"What the cra-"
"Crackers!" Midori had strolled over to see the card game, totally and practically immune to the shrill sound from Headmaster Juniper's defected megaphone. She was, again, on her job to censor out any dirty word that left Ty's mouth. Maybe she'd scrub his mouth out with soap one da- I mean, teach him proper, appropriate speech, despite him being a year older than her.
He let out an agitated huff, crossing his arms and mumbling profanities under his breath when Alistar smirked, taking Ty's last packet of 'Jelly Jellicent' brand gummy bears. "Ha, good game, Ty. Good game,"
"Pft. Whatever," He turned away, muttering a 'cheater' under his breath when Midori plucked the packet of sweets from Alistar's gummy bears and skipping off with it. Was she a skilled ninja or what?
While only a chunk of the hysteria was going on, both the headmaster and Rosalie were trying to fix the blasted megaphone. Unfortunately, they weren't having much luck.
"You two seem like you need some help, yeah?" Much to their luck left, thankfully, Adam had spotted their struggling and walked over, a teasing grin on his face.
Glad she didn't have to deal with the stupid thing anymore, Rosalie gladly shoved it at Adam, clearly fed up with the loud, absurd noise coming from it. "Just, please shut the thing up before I blow it up.."
Adam held up his right hand, letting Rosalie look at it for a few confusing seconds before he sat down cross-legged in the sand, popping open part of the megaphone.
"What was that all about?" Rosalie sat down on her knees on the sand next to him as he began digging his fingers through the inside of the device. Juniper had gone off to get some lemonade, happy to be rid of the noisy contraption.., that or she was just happy she had someone to fix it for her.
"Five minutes. Give me five minutes and I'll have it fixed for you," was his reply before his mouth turned into a frown of concentration, pressing a few buttons on the megaphone's handle to test it out. To Rosalie's surprise, it clicked to silence with a 'chk'.
Adam smiled with pride, handing it back to her after he put it back together, dusting his hands off. "I beat my own record – that was three minutes."
She placed the megaphone on the sand next to her, eyebrows raised in surprise – or was it admiration? "I never knew you were good with fixing electronics..,"
"There're a few things you don't know about me right now – don't worry, you will," He got up, brushing his swim trunks off. Smiling down at her, he offered Rosalie his hand.
Taking the offered hand, she half brushed herself off. "What? Are you also a thief? Or do you deal drugs? Maybe y-"
"None. Just.., none of those," Adam shook his head at her skeptical ideas, shoving a hand into the pockets of his swim trubks. ".. or do I? Maybe I'm a thief who deals drugs for a living," He bent down to grab the megaphone Rosalie didn't bother picking up, only to raise his head to the comforting pat of a small mallet whacking him above the head. The result was, of course, not very pleasant for dear Adam.
He let out a sharp yelp, dropping the megaphone completely. His hands flew to the throbbing area of pain on top of his black hair, checking for any signs of brain damage or blood. Adam sniffled once, glaring at Rosalie. "What was that for? That freaking hurt! And wait, where in the name of Arceus did you get a freaking mallet?"
Rosalie held up her hand, imitating what Adam did before. "Five minutes. In five minutes I shall tell you," She turned around, walking off with Adam gaping. In truth, she did it for the heck of it. And boy, it was fun.
"Yenno, it's getting kind of too dark in here..," Chase trailed off, his eyes darting from wall to wall to the ceiling. True to the fact, it was getting dark and their flashlights seemed a bit dimmer, but he still had to remember that Mel's Houndoom was still there. Mel disregarded his comment though, more focused on shining her flashlight around to spot a stone anywhere.
Speaking of her Houndoom, he glanced at Chase with narrowed eyes. One could say he was offended. I mean, he was offering them some sort of light occasionally with an Ember.
Gengore, who noticed his sour mood, snickered, floating past Houndoom now and then. "Ghastly, ghaaaast..,"
The Fire-type narrowed his eyes again, snapping at the Ghost-type before huffing and trotting beside his trainer. He wasn't in the mood to start a fight.
The Ghastly shrugged it off, floating beside Chase for a while – well, he couldn't actually shrug because he didn't have shoulders, but you get the point.
Chase, who was getting fidgety, poked Melissa to get her attention. She glanced at him once before talking. ".. Are you okay? You're getting kind of shaky,"
He pointed behind him, a frown on his normally smiling face. "I.., I thought I heard a growl down the tunnel..,"
The ravenette blinked. She shined her flashlight behind them for a few seconds, only to prove nothing was there. "Well, there's nothing there.., it's probably your imagination running wild," She shrugged, turning around to continue walking before Chase poked her again.
She turned around, her eye twitching. "Something wrong again, Chase?"
Chase nodded slowly, pointing behind them again, shaking more visibly before. Melissa's eyes followed where he was pointing, only to narrow her eyes at him after. "Are you serious? There's nothing t-"
A low, almost menacing growl cut her off. It gradually got louder each passing second. Melissa's eye twitched even more when Chase slowly turned around, both of them staring at a large male Ursaring that emerged from the darkness of the tunnel.
Houndoom had hopped in front of the two, growling and barking – there was no way he'd let his trainer get hurt.
Too bad they resorted to 'plan B'.
Chase had suddenly started screaming his head off, yelling something about bears when Mel grabbed his wrist and began running down the same path. Gengore was laughing hysterically at the misfortune, floating after them. "Houndoom, RUN!"
Houndoom had a shocked expression on his face, but tackled the Ursaring before running after the trio. Sadly, being knocked down only pissed the bear off more, roaring before stomping after them.
Unfortunately, bears were always a fear for Chase, which meant this cave exploration won't end too well..
"I can't help but feel there's something creeping up behind me..," Collin was talking to Briana previously about his life back in Kanto in Celadon City. He was surprised to found out she lived in Viridian City, easily finding similar things to talk about.
During their talk though, a cold wind had blew past and sent an uneasy feeling up his spine – one that paranoid him to think it wasn't done by the wind, but by a supernatural entity.
Briana blinked, curiously staring at him for a bit before looking behind them. They had just gone down a path that slowly descended downhill, deeper into the cavern. "Well, maybe it's the ocean winds.., they do reach far down here, after all."
He shrugged, letting out a long sigh. "I suppose you're right – let's keep going, shall we?"
Briana smiled at him slightly before continuing down the path, occasionally shining her flashlight here and there. Unfortunately, she hadn't found anything yet.
It was eerily quiet as they walked, the only sounds made when they walked or when Flare or Quilava sneezed. Briana was slowly getting tired, but she didn't show it. As for Collin, he was trying hard not to sleep on the cave floor. To prevent himself from doing that, he would lean against the cold cave wall for a few seconds before continuing on.
Alas, that was a bad idea to do when Briana was farther ahead than him, walking with Quilava and Flare when he decided to lean against a rather dark colored wall. In fact, it wasn't a wall at all.
Collin let out a relieved sigh when he leaned against it – it was particularly colder than the others, which kept him relaxed. He smiled, shutting his ears for a moment, leaning into the wall even more, falling towards empty sp- wait ,what?
The green hair fifteen-year-old's eyes shot open when he noticed himself sinking into the rocky surface, letting out a loud shriek before plummeting into it.
Briana, unfortunately, was too far ahead to hear.
The last of what was left behind as Collin's flashlight and an ominous laugh that sounded all too like a Mismagius..
Even after all the jogging Black and his Charmander did, they couldn't catch up to Sammy. Maybe it was because she had a serious arachnophobia issue? Oh well, he didn't know. He did call out to her many times before, only to have Ombra bark in reply.
Blow Torch was still riding on his trainer's back, having gotten used to the feeling of being carried. He even liked it, smiling now and then.
Black was getting tired of jogging, though, having to slow down to a walk before jogging again. It was only a matter of minutes before he couldn't see Sammy anymore.
"Dang, this bites," He let out a cough, slowing down once more. Black wiped his the slight perspiration off of his forehead. Blow Torch stared at him curiously before nipping his ear as a signal to continue.
"Gah, fine," The brunette rubbed his ear, glancing behind at his petite Fire-type Pokémon before starting up a jog again.
Up ahead, Sammy was keeping up a steady job, Ombra next to her. She was used to the nightly jogs she used to take in Mossdeep City, since it was a relaxing habit of hers to go running.
The real reason she was still jogging was because every time she turned a corner or went down another path, it always seemed as if an Ariados or Spinarak or Joltik was creeping up on the ceiling or wall and it freaked her out completely.
Ombra let out a soft bark, nudging her legs to signal that they had to make a turn. She paused, letting her hand drop to her Mightyena's head in an affectionate pat before making a sharp right turn.
A turn to fall into a hole, that is.
"Oh CR-" Sammy wasn't even able to finish her sentence before dropping into a large hole into a lower area of the cave, Ombra tumbling down with her.
They both landed on a large mound of rock and dirt – probably from when the hole was dug, since anyone could of known the hole wasn't made naturally. Maybe from a machine? Who knows, maybe Headmaster Juniper dug it for the 'fun' of the challenge. But anyone would've known the headmaster wasn't that cruel.
Sammy suspected it was naturally dug by a Dugtrio though, groaning when she sat up on the pile of earth and rock. She glanced around her, relieved to see Ombra on his feet, tail wagging.
"I'm glad you're okay..," She hugged her Pokémon around the neck before hearing Black above. To his surprise, he had stopped before seeing the hole, peering down to see his partner and her Pokémon down there.
Black leaned down to see if she and Ombra were alright. From what he could see, they were fine, besides being covered in some dirt. "You guys alright down there?"
Sammy nodded, standing up to dust herself off before calling up to him. "No worries! Why don't you keep going? I think I can find another way up there and meet you!"
He had an uncertain look on his face but nodded nonetheless, continuing on.
"Well, that's that then. Let's go buddy," She patted Ombra on the head before sliding down the pile, waiting for Ombra to follow before walking down the damp path.
Sadly, she had left her flashlight back up there with Black and could barely see anything. It may take a while before she could get back to the upper level of the cave..
"Good job you three," A familiar figure was leaning against a tree atop a hill, not too far away from the beach behind Unova Academy's large walls.
A Mismagius floated beside the figure, a satisfied smirk on it's face while a Gurrdurr stood beside the figure, playing with a rock. A Gliscor was perched on top of a branch above it's trainer, snickering.
The figure looked up at the Ground- and Flying-type, a smirk on his face. "I take it you provoked the Ursaring enough to send it chasing after those Virizion fools?"
The Gliscor nodded, hopping up and down on the branch. "Gliscor, Gli!"
The Mismagius however glared at the Gliscor, unhappy he took all the credit. Her trainer didn't forget about her, of course.
"Mismagius.., you successfully placed that Terrakion boy somewhere in the cave, far away from his partner, correct?"
Happy to get some recognition, she nodded, floating closer to her trainer before the Gurrdurr took notice, nonchalantly tossing the rock up and knocking Gliscor off of the branch before his trainer spoke to him.
"Gurrdurr, you made the hole and one of them fell into it, right?" Was the trainer's final question to their Pokémon.
Gurrdurr nodded, smirking behind his trainer's back when Gliscor sent him a pissed off look.
"Good," The figure stopped leaning on the tree, dusting their coat off before yawning. They stretched their arms, turning around to head back to the academy. "I'll call it a night, then. Those idiots won't know what'll hit them when they find the stones..,"
Christopher glanced behind him one last time as the sun set far below the horizon, smirking one last time before continuing down the path, his Pokémon following.
A/N: Diiiiiiiiiid you guys expect that, did you? :3
A cookie to anyone who did~ anyways, thanks for still staying with the story you guys, :)
Special thanks to imabeeme for encouraging me to keep writing – she made me update faster xD be sure to see another update by this weekend, probably~
Lessly, are you happy I made the chapter a tad longer now? ARE YOUUU? :D
Anyways, what'd you guys think? I'm really open to critiques, seeing as I want to improve.
Stay tuned to see what happens next, ;)
Oh, and I promise, everyone WILL get to UA and start classes and such, don't worry. The story's not all going to revolve around the Water Wars. =D
Alright, CoffeeTarts is going to go take some rest time now, bye~
PS;
http:/www . /watch?v=2VF4nh7hEeg&feature=channel_ video _title {just remove the spaces and put 'youtube' infront of the www . }
Have you guys seen this video and his music? They're awesome~
Okay, now I'm gone. xD