Chapter 4
Ten minutes had passed since the start of the game and Eren was sure he was well concealed in the verdure of Area P. He wasn't sure of his location, not a single person had passed by and there was no sign of scyther either. He took the black ball out of his pocket and examined it. It looked nothing out of the ordinary to him, just a thick ball with an irregular and rough surface. How it expanded into a net was beyond his imagination.
He let his feet dangle over the side of the branch he was sitting on. He needed to think of something before he could move ahead. This wasn't going to be easy at all, he knew that scythers were known to be swift and strong pokemon, so just throwing the ball would be a waste.
His ears perked as a scream echoed through the area. Looks like another person was out. Either scyther was really good or the other students were pretty bad. Probably the former option.
Eren sighed. He wasn't sure how to go about this, it was a really odd game. It would have made much more sense if the use of pokemon was allowed. Maybe working with Brock would have given him more ideas, but that wasn't an option anymore. And sitting in one place for the entire duration of the game wouldn't get him anywhere either.
Eren jumped down from the tree, landing a little awkwardly on the heels of his feet. He decided to head towards where the next scream would originate. Which meant he would most likely just wander until he heard another student get eliminated. He stayed on his guard as he walked through the forest, knowing that scyther could pop up in front of him suddenly and eliminate him.
He walked around aimlessly, the time passing without any scream being heard. Though he hoped someone would.
Eren checked his watch. Another ten minutes had passed, which meant less than half an hour was left now. A shiver ran down his spine all of a sudden, and the chill in the air wasn't responsible. He turned around. There was nothing behind him except for the bushes and trees. He held his breath and strained his ears. Silence.
He let out his breath. The game wasn't as exciting as he thought it would be, there was minimal action and mostly just wandering through Area P. Not to mention there were no pokemon with him, which made him feel a little lonely.
As he rounded another tree, he caught a glimpse of something sparkle from the corner of his eye. Eren quickly ducked to the ground, kneeling beside a bush. He peered over the corner of the bush to see what had caught his eye. From his position on the ground, nothing was visible, all kinds of greenery blocked his vision.
He slipped a hand into his pocket and pulled out his phone. He unlocked it with his fingerprint and turned the front camera on, and zoomed it to maximum. He slowly held his hand up as he put his back up against the bush, and looked at the screen. Luckily his phone had a good camera and everything was clear. He slowly kept turning the phone to completely scan his surroundings. He paused as a shadow moved, only to see that it was just a large branch. He sighed and lowered the phone, putting it back into his pocket.
He was slowly getting up when someone beside him shouted, startling him.
"I've got you now Scyth-Eh!"
Eren was halfway through turning around when he was struck in his side by...a head? Both he and the person lost their balance and crashed into the grass.
A grunt escaped his lips as his head hit the ground, his 'attackers' weight knocking the air out of him. He laid on his back, his head spinning. The people in Affinitive Academy definitely had something against him, no doubt about it.
"Ugh, who was that?" he croaked, bringing a hand to his forehead. He felt the weight on his body shift and fall off of him. Eren focused his eyes on the person, and saw that it was a girl, the same girl with the honey blonde hair whom he had seen in the clearing just before the game had started.
"I'm so sorry! I thought you were scyther and I jumped at you! Sorry!" she squeaked, her hands frantically moving in front of her face. "H-here, I'll help you sit up." She held out a small hand, which Eren grabbed a hold of and sat up.
He shook his hair clear of any grass. "I'm surprised you found any kind of similarities between me and a scyther."
The girl looked at the grass, her round cheeks burning a light red tinge. "Well I didn't exactly see you, just a shadow, which looked a lot like scyther's arm," she mumbled.
Eren realized that this girl must have seen his shadow when he was holding his phone up at an angle, and the folds of his sweatshirt sleeve probably didn't make his arm look normal either.
"Well I guess I can't completely blame you, but maybe double check next time?" Eren said, facing the girl. The girl bobbed her head up and down, her ponytailed hair moving strangely well along with her action. He noticed the freckles on her button nose and her round, black eyes.
"So have you actually seen scyther yet?"
The girl nodded. "I did, but before I could do anything it eliminated someone and ran off into this part of the forest. I tried following it but it was too fast and I lost it then."
"And then you found a human scyther and attempted to catch it." Eren deadpanned, standing up and dusting off his sweatshirt.
"S-sorry," the girl mumbled, not meeting Eren's gaze.
Eren smiled amusedly at the girl's apologetic behavior. If Reyna had been there at the moment she would have definitely rebuked him for teasing the girl. His mom probably would have too, speaking of whom, he had forgotten to call her the day before, he was sure to hear something from her side as well…
He shook his head. This wasn't the time to think about that, he was in a game.
"Well, don't dwell on that matter, let's try to find scyther together," Eren suggested. "What do you say?"
The girl looked up curiously at Eren. "Together?" she said, uncertainty in her voice. Eren nodded.
"Yeah why not, it would be better if we tried to trap scyther as a team, the odds are better. Obviously though, there's no guarantee that we can really do anything."
The girl pondered over the offer for a few seconds before standing up and extending her hand out to Eren. "Alright, let's work together to win!" she exclaimed.
"Deal!" Eren said as she shook her hand. "I'm Eren by the way."
"I'm Tanya." The girl said, giving him a small smile. The two freshman began heading in the direction which Tanya pointed out, stating that scyther had most probably gone in that direction. Eren glanced at his watch. Just under twenty minutes left. In the end he probably was better off working with another person.
As Tanya tried to remember the exact location where she had last seen scyther, Eren quickly glanced over the girl. Her clothes were baggy and loosely covered her thin body. She wore grey sweatpants and had a faded red, almost pink jacket slipped on over a tee which wasn't visible from the black side. For some reason her clothes looked slightly worn out and had minuscule holes running along erratic lengths on the fabric, but they weren't exactly tattered.
As Eren thought of the possibilities why the holes were present, he nearly crashed into Tanya as she came to an abrupt stop.
"Something wro-"
"Shh!" she harshly whispered.
Eren was silenced by Tanya's hand in front his mouth. She turned to him with a finger on her lip.
"Did you hear that?" she whispered, her eyes darting from side to side. Eren shook his head. He strained his ears in an attempt to try to listen to what Tanya was talking about. But except for the slight rustling of the leaves on the trees, he couldn't hear anything. He was about to ask Tanya what exactly she had heard when another sound reached his ears. Buzzing. The buzzing of wings.
His gaze met Tanya's. Both of them were thinking the same thing. Scyther. Eren slowly turned his head up to look at the looming branches, but there was nothing in sight. They didn't have any time to formulate a plan of any kind, what were they going to do? He hadn't really even expected to find scyther, much less scyther find them.
"It doesn't look like we can actually work out a plan right now, so maybe it's best if we hide for the moment," Eren said, keeping an eye out behind Tanya's back in case scyther decided to play peek-a-boo.
"I guess we have no choice then." Tanya pointed to the row of bushes behind her. "I'll hide there and you take the opposite side. Maybe we can somehow get scyther into the net."
"Alright, make sure to play safe." Eren gave Tanya a brisk nod before sprinting to the bushes behind him, and laid stomach down, elbows propped up on the grass. He peered through a gap between the twigs to see that Tanya had hidden herself and there was nothing else to be seen.
Once again the sound of buzzing reached his ears, this time resonating throughout the entire area. The branches overhead cracked and Eren gulped, silently hoping he hadn't been found. Luckily he hadn't, but the buzzing had grown even stronger and a figure jumped down into the clearing, cracking the ground beneath its feet. It was undoubtedly scyther, but something made Eren feel very uneasy the moment he saw the bipedal bug type. A shiver ran down his spine, as if there was a chill in the air.
The beating of scyther's wings was so powerful that Eren could feel the air vibrating around him. Something was different, but he just couldn't put a finger on what it was. A low snarl emanated from the bug pokemon's throat. It roared and swung its arms around, black energy in the form of crescents flying out in centrifugal motion, and cutting through the air and any dangling branches. A few of the attacks were lower than Eren liked and he was glad he wasn't sitting up.
Scyther swung its head around, looking almost disappointed that it hadn't hit anything, but that quickly changed to more rage. By the looks of it, neither Eren nor Tanya had been found out, yet. Pokemon were smart creatures, and Eren knew that it wouldn't be too long before an attack would be aimed at them.
But once again, Eren felt that something was different, was this really the same scyther from half an hour ago? He pushed his head a little deeper into the leaves and twigs, trying to get a better view without being discovered. He paused when scyther's head turned to look at the bush he was hiding behind, only to sigh in relief when it looked away.
Now the question was how he could throw the ball, without making a sound and before scyther fished him out. The bipedal bug let out another barrage of attacks around itself and Eren was lucky enough none of them were even close to him, but one of them slashed too close for comfort next to the bush Tanya was behind and she let out a small shriek, which did not go unheard and scyther stopped for a moment, before stalking towards where Tanya was.
"Shit," Eren murmured, his brain rushing through the things that he could do to avoid scyther reaching the bush. At that time, scyther's wings had stopped buzzing and Eren caught a glimpse of them. His eyes widened when he saw that the wings were ripped at many places. So he was right. This was a different scyther! But was it a part of the habitat? Or did it belong to someone?
As these questions played in his head, scyther inched closer and closer to where Tanya was, and she had no way to run away without being found. Seeing no other option to help her, Eren slid back and stood up from his own hiding spot, and took aim at scyther's back.
'Here goes nothing,' he thought. He chucked the ball with his right hand, with enough force as he would throw a baseball. The ball flew straight at scyther, perfectly aimed. Just as it was about to hit though, scyther whirled around, its scythe-arm cutting through the ball as if it was butter. The two halves fell to the ground. That shifted scyther's attention to Eren, and it was visibly glowering at him. Eren gulped.
"Well shit."
The bug type pokemon let out a bloodcurdling snarl and it leaped towards Eren. Well, disappeared was the right word because as soon as Eren blinked scyther was no longer in his vision. The next moment Eren was clutching his left arm as scyther's attack ripped through his sweatshirt and cut his arm.
"Gah!" he grunted as he fell to the ground, blood soaking his sleeve. He looked up to see scyther's arm stuck in the trunk of a tree. It growled and pulled it back out, shredding the bark of the tree.
This scyther up close looked quite menacing, it was bigger and bulkier than the one that Hawkcrest had called, and definitely not as nice apparently. It seemed furious for some reason, and in pain. He wondered who it belonged to.
"Eren look out!" Tanya, who had emerged from her hiding spot, cried, breaking him out of his momentary trance. He rolled out of the way as another cut was aimed at him, slicing the grass where he was barely a second ago. He pushed himself up, wincing as his left arm felt hot with the blood still flowing, albeit lesser now. He staggered into the clearing as fast as he could. Tanya ran up to him.
"Oh my god you're hurt!" she said, as she saw his arm. Eren looked to see if the bug type had come to attack again, and was momentarily relieved to see it was distracted. With his right hand he pulled out his phone, unlocked it, and handed it to Tanya.
"Call the contact named Brock and tell him to find Professor Hawkcrest as soon as he can. Tell him that there's another scyther loose here and it's not a friendly one." Eren said, glancing between Tanya and the angry pokemon. "Hurry!"
"But what about you?" Tanya asked, pointing at his soaked sleeve. "You're hurt!"
"I'll try to fend it off as much as I can while you call Brock. It won't be enough and I'll need your help if I want to do anything. There's no guarantee even the both of us together can do anything against a strong opponent like that without our own pokemon."
Eren rolled his sleeves up and tightened the left one especially, to try and stop the blood. He looked around on the ground and picked up a branch that was thicker than the average metal rod.
"Stay back and call him, I don't want you getting hurt. I got lucky, it won't always be like that." He told Tanya, who seemed ready to argue with him, but kept quiet.
"Alright I'll call him," she finally decided. She pressed the contact and brought the phone up to her ear.
Eren turned to look at scyther, who was looking intently back at him, wings fluttering erratically and impatiently. Eren had to just act as a decoy until help showed up, which was also not going to be easy. He wiped the sweat and grass from his forehead with his right arm. He tested his left arm. He could move it, but it was throbbing a lot.
"Well big guy, let's play tag, catch me if you can!" Eren shouted, following up with a sharp whistle. That seemed to stir scyther up, and it snarled and lunged towards him. Eren did what he could do best at the moment. Run.
He dashed off into the part of the forest opposite of where Tanya was, hoping to lead scyther away from her as she called for help. Eren swerved through the trees without looking back to see if he was being followed, there was no need, he could hear fallen branches crunching loudly as scyther gained on him quickly. He hoped help came quickly, he wasn't going to last long against a pokemon of this much caliber.
Eren rounded a corner suddenly, in an attempt to slightly throw scyther off, but came face to face against another tree, which was the biggest he had seen in Area P so far. He turned, but his momentum made him stumble and he fell down, his back hitting the trunk. He gasped as the wind get knocked out of his chest.
"Scyther!"
The bug type pokemon cried out, bringiing its arm down in a clean arc, and Eren moved out of the way just in time. The force of the attack lodged the scythe-arm in the bark of the tree and scyther growled in pain. Eren scooted away as quickly as possible, trying to catch his breath. The branch had fallen out of his hand when he fell, and now he was empty handed. The scyther began groaning in agony and jerked its head back and forth violently, swinging its free arm around haphazardly.
Eren looked on, confused at the bug type's antics.
"Who's your trainer?' he called out, hoping to get an answer in one way or another. But scyther didn't seem to have heard what he said, instead falling to its knees as it freed its arm. Eren inched closer to scyther. Maybe he had a chance of soothing him down, he had to try in the very least.
"Are you okay?" he gently asked scyther from a safe distance. Scyther was now breathing hard, its body heaving with each breath it took. He winced when he saw that the scars on its body were etched a deep green compared to its light green skin, and caught the sun's rays as they permeated through the branches and leaves of the trees, and its wings looked as thin as membranous material. But it didn't respond to Eren's words in any way.
Eren reached out with his hand, looking to pat its head. As he expected, scyther reeled back, bristling with caution and alarm in its eyes. Eren put his hands behind his head, in an attempt to make scyther realize he didn't mean any harm. But it didn't work, and scyther moved in to attack once again, its scythe glowing black as it prepared another night slash.
Eren took off without so much as a glance behind him, an idea finally forming in his head. He was going to go back to where Tanya was. Naturally, scyther followed after him, bounding through the thick roots on the ground. By now Eren was sure he would've been cut down, but scyther's speed had significantly dropped since its first attack, a good thing for Eren.
But Eren was getting tired too, he was used to running, but an intense situation like this only made him tire faster. He hoped his plan would work, then he could sit in peace.
He somehow made his way back to the clearing, where he saw Tanya restlessly pacing on the other side. She noticed him as he came out through the trees, and started to run towards him.
"They're almost here!" she shouted.
"Wait stop there! Don't come closer!" he yelled back, and she skidded to a stop suddenly, a confused look on her face. Scyther emerged from the trees behind Eren and gained on him quickly. Eren felt the wind hit his neck as scyther slashed at him from behind, dangerously close.
"Throw the black ball at me!" he instructed Tanya.
"B-but why?" She asked, a hand on the pocket of her sweatpants.
"No time! Just do it! Throw it as hard as you can!"
"Fine!" Tanya brought the black ball out of her pocket and took aim, her hand wavering slightly, before chucking it straight at Eren. It was perfect, just how he had wanted her to throw it. He barely dodged another deadly strike from scyther, who was literally on his back by now, as he was eyeing the incoming ball.
'Come on, gotta wait for it…now!'
As the ball was about a couple feet away from his face, he quickly dived to the ground, the ball finding its mark in scyther instead of him. As they had seen before the game started, as soon as the ball hit scyther's body, it instantaneously expanded into a net and encompassed the bug type pokemon.
"Scyther!?" It cried out in surprise as in was blown away by the expanding net's momentum, and fell to the ground. Eren laid still on the ground, panting. He pumped his left fist in the air in victory, before the throbbing made him let it fall back down. He craned his head to see that scyther was struggling in the net, but it wasn't able to cut through the net at all, it was unexpectedly durable.
Eren closed his eyes and took deeper breaths, his pounding heart slowly beating at its usual pace again.
"You okay?" Tanya asked from beside him. He opened his eyes to see her seated next to him a hand over a knee while the other was on the ground as support.
"Yeah, nice throw there," he said, sitting up again.
"Risky move you played there, I feel like I didn't help you at all," she replied, a frown on her face.
Eren waved his hand at the remark. "Nonsense, if you weren't here there was no way I could have stalled scyther for this long, not to mention capture it in the net. I should be thanking you," he said.
"Glad I could help, but if this was the same scyther we would have won the game," Tanya mused aloud. She stood up and walked towards where scyther was lying under the net. It had stopped wriggling around and just stared blankly up at the sky, unmoving.
"I wonder whose scyther this is," Tanya said, observing the pokemon at her feet.
"I wish I knew too, it looked like it was in a lot of pain, even when it attacked me, and not exactly physical pain, I think it was more of mental pain or stress." Eren moved his left sleeve above his elbow to prevent it from brushing against the cut. "How long did Brock say he would take?"
"He said he hadn't wandered too far from the starting point, so it wouldn't take him long to contact the Professor. I'm assuming they should be here soon." She answered. "Oh and here's your phone."
She brought the phone out of her pocket and handed to him. Eren reached out with his left hand to grab it. "Doesn't it hurt?" Tanya asked, glancing over the dried blood and dirt that coated his arm.
"I'm starting to feel it now, it stings a lot, but it doesn't look like scyther cut in too deep, I got lucky," he said, stopping as he saw flash of white across the black screen.
He turned around and saw a man standing in the trees behind the two of them, wearing an assistants white lab coat. But on closer inspection, it was more like a trench coat instead of a lab coat. The man was tall, but his wide frame made him look even bigger then he already was. His face was hidden by a slightly tipped wide hat, which shadowed out his features. As strange as he seemed, Eren was glad someone had found them.
"Hey!" he called out, standing up and waving his hand above his head. "We're lucky you got here soon, is Professor Hawkcrest with you?"
The man had heard what he said, but responded unexpectedly to it. He turned around and walked back into the forest, completely ignoring Eren. His white clothes soon disappeared amidst the shadows of the forest.
Eren scowled in his direction. "What's his problem?" he mumbled. He didn't seem like an assistive assistant at all. Was he even an assistant?
"Eren! You alright?" a voice shouted. Eren tore his gaze from the shroud of trees and branches to the familiar faces of Brock and Hawkcest coming in through the other side of the trees. "Yeah, perfect," he replied, standing next to Tanya. Two more assistants appeared from behind Hawkcrest as he walked up to Eren.
"Good to see you're okay son," Hawkcrest looked at his arm. "Most of you at least." Eren grinned and rubbed the back of his head. He narrated the events that had happened since he and Tanya had stopped in the clearing, Tanya piping in once in a while to tell it from her point of view. Once Eren was done, Hawkcrest looked down at scyther, who was still unmoving. He squatted and examined the body of the bug type. Eren and Tanya stepped out of the way as Hawkcrest circled around, his stoic eyes absorbing all the details of the pokemon in his vision.
Brock nudged Eren from behind. "Glad to see you're okay, buddy."
"Thanks, glad to be alive I'd say." He directed his attention to teacher, "What do you think, Professor?"
Hawkcrest looked up from his examination to the three students. "No doubt that this scyther is different from the one residing in the Habitat Dome. In fact, I haven't seen a scyther like this anywhere on campus in the recent years. It's very suspicious indeed. And you mentioned that it looked like it was mentally unstable?"
Eren nodded. "It didn't seem to know what it was doing when it attacked me, I'm sure it could've cut my arm off easily, if it wanted to. And it was crying out and shaking its head a lot, it positively looked as if it was in pain. And actually if you don't mind, I have a selfish request, sir."
"Hmm?"
"I was hoping you could take scyther to the pokemon center and treat it. I think it was somehow just forced to dance to someone's tunes, believe me, it's innocent."
Eren's words seemed to linger as all the pair of eyes in the clearing went to look at scyther. Hawkcrest put his arm on Eren's shoulder and slightly squeezed it. "I'll take your word for it young man, we'll take scyther to the pokemon center and get it all healed."
"Thank you Professor."
Hawkcrest gestured to the two assistants to carry scyther off, which wasn't as much work since scyther wasn't resisting in any manner. They carefully grabbed the ends of the net and walked off. Eren didn't take his eyes off the bug pokemon until it had left his sight.
"Now let's get back to the situation at hand." Hawcrest looked over the three students. "The game is going to end in a few minutes and no one has managed to capture scyther, or even come close according to the assistants stationed around the area. For now, Eren I'd like you to go the clinic we have here on campus and get patched up. It's not the biggest building but you'll find it on the other side of the Ignus dorm. Tanya, since you're not injured, and Brock, I'd like you to come with me for the remaining part of the class."
Eren decided against arguing with Hawkcrest to let him stay too, the burly teacher wouldn't listen to him anyway. It was better to just listen to his advice.
"I'm very impressed with the fact you both actually managed to capture a scyther even stronger than the one in the Dome, you seem to be quick on your feet and minds. As you can see, anything can happen, so this is the stuff I'll be preparing you for." Hawkcrest frowned and sighed. "Though I suppose as a teacher I should make sure nothing like this should happen. You have my apologies Eren and Tanya."
Tanya shook her head as she beamed at the praise she had gotten. "It's not your fault Professor, we were just unlucky." Eren nodded in agreement.
"I'll make sure it doesn't happen next time, until next class Eren." Hawkcrest beckoned Tanya and Brock to follow him as he left the clearing. Brock turned to Eren.
"I'll meet you up at the cafeteria after class ends. And I'll get your backpack too, don't worry."
"Thanks a lot buddy. See you soon Tanya, it was nice to meet you. I owe you one!"
Tanya smiled. "It was nice to meet you too Eren, see you soon. And take care of your hand too."
Outside the Dome, Eren could see more students than he had even yesterday. Groups of girls and boys walked past him as he casually strolled to the clinic. He had asked for directions around and one of the students told him that he could use the inbuilt map in the school's app. It was pretty convenient really. He was near the Ignis dorm by now, and according to the map, the clinic wasn't too far off. But it would prove a little far for the students of the Aqua dorm as they were on the opposite side of the main road. Thinking of the Aqua dorm reminded him of Adelaide. He hadn't heard from her since the morning. Maybe he would text her some time later…
A notification popped up at the top of his screen, a text from Reyna. He first saw the reply to his text about the cafeteria food.
Yeah yeah, we know you love the food, it's obvious.
The other message was the recent one.
Where are you? We've got a small break right now, this class is fun so far honestly.
Eren sharply exhaled through his nose, he never understood how a class like Pokemon History could be fun to someone. It could be interesting admittedly, but fun didn't seem to mix well. He typed in his reply with his right hand.
Only you would think it's 'fun'. And to answer your question, I'm on my way to the Clinic because some stuff happened in the past twenty minutes of class. I'm feeling pretty good about this first year.
He put the phone back into his pocket and looked up at the building in front of him. It wasn't very large, at least compared to the other buildings he had seen so far. It was only about three stories high, and he couldn't see how long it was from the frontal view he had. He walked up the steps and through the automatic glass doors. The smell of fresh antibiotics and various other medicine that came with the air conditioning made him wrinkle his nose in disgust. He had never found the smells that wafted through hospitals and clinics very appealing.
His phone vibrated in his pocket, probably a reply from Reyna. Eren didn't dare reply, he was sure there would be a string of, 'How stupid and careless are you!' messages, or even 'Why are you always getting injured for one reason or another!'
It wasn't like he did it on purpose, at least not this time. Eren considered himself as someone who never really cared for the consequences of any action he took. It was luck which would decide that for him, and so far, he wasn't really lucky in the 'no injury' department.
The Clinic was quiet enough that you could clear your throat and all other heads would look up at you. He walked up to the main reception area, where a woman sat, filling out forms in the blink of an eye.
"Uh, excuse me," he whispered, not wanting to disrupt the silence. The woman looked up at him, her pen still moving as she wrote a few words, before putting the pen down.
"Yes?"
"I'd like to get my arm checked up, or bandaged or whatever," he said, holding up his left arm for the woman to see. The blood had dried completely by now and was a dull red, black in some places closer to the cut. There was also dirt and bits of grass stuck to the dry blood.
The lady eyed the arm and sighed. "I haven't seen you around, which means you're probably a first year. I don't think coming to the clinic on your first day of the school year is a nice way to start the year kid."
"My luck doesn't agree with you I guess."
The lady chuckled. "Alright, follow me. Let's get your arm checked." She stood up from her comfortable looking chair and walked to where the hallway started. Eren followed her as she led him through the hall, which was definitely longer then he had expected. The area was very clean and everything looked symmetrically satisfying. The doors, blinds and tiles, everything was combined properly for each room.
The lady stopped at a door which was labeled 109, and opened it. She gestured towards the cot in the middle and Eren proceeded to plop down on it. It was soft, just like the bed back at the dorm.
"Wait here while I call Nurse Thorne," the lady said as she closed the door behind her. Eren sat on the bed in silence, taking in the contents of the room. It was a very orderly room, as expected of a medical facility. Next to the cot there was a steel trolley on which the surgical instruments were arranged in descending order of size, along with a few cotton swabs. A trash can sat at the corner of the room right next to an open door which led to the bathroom. He felt the cot vibrate suddenly as his phone rang. He removed it from the pocket of his shorts and pursed his lips as he saw the caller. He took a deep breath and tapped on the green circle.
"Hey mom, what are you doing?" he said nervously, knowing very well what she would say next.
"Hey mom. Is that all you have to say young man? I told you to call me the moment you reached Quake Island, does that mean you haven't gotten there yet? That's some awfully slow transportation, I don't remember it being this slow." His mother said, a sharp edge in her voice.
Eren winced at her tone and mentally cursed himself for forgetting to call her. It wasn't the first time this had happened, but he never got used to the way his mom scolded him. Though he supposed he couldn't blame her.
"No it was fast, I uh, forgot to call you. Everything's fine, my roommate is cool, I've already made a few other friends too. It's all good mom." He reassured her, careful not to mention anything about what had recently happened.
"You better watch out if you 'forget' again Eren. It's nice to see that you've adapted to your new home so fast, and how's Reyna?"
"Same as ever mom."
His mother's laughter rang through the phone. "Make sure to take care of each other and tell her I said hi. Study hard Eren, but remember to enjoy yourself. And don't forget to call your mother once in a while, she worries about you, okay?"
Eren smiled. "Yeah, she worries too much honestly. I'll call you later, class is starting," he lied.
"Bye dear, I love you."
"Love you too mom."
The door to the room opened not a second after he hung up and a woman walked in. She was a little on the shorter side, and wore a white coat with the label 'Nurse' on the breast pocket. Her black hair was tied in a messy bun and she had a clipboard in her hand and a pencil over her ear.
"I didn't expect a visitor in my clinic so soon, that too a freshman. What made you be the first?" she said, amusement in her voice.
"Some stuff happened in Professor Hawkcrest's class today, and so I became the first patient of this school year," Eren replied as he held his arm out for Nurse Thorne to observe. She let out a sigh as she rolled up his sleeve and dabbed at the wound with a wet cloth. Her nimble hand quickly cleaned the dried blood and dirt surrounding the cut.
"Jonathan sends me most of the patients each year, his courses are honestly so reckless sometimes. When he takes his semester examinations we usually have to send extra nurses to the island so that they can help the students."
Eren winced as she dabbed over the clean cut with some disinfectant. She then proceeded to wrap the cut with some bandages and made a knot to make sure it didn't slip. Eren tested his arm, moving it back and forth. It was tight enough to stay put and at the same time, not hinder movement.
"Thank you Nurse Thorne."
The nurse waved her arm in front of her face. "It's my job to make sure you kids are safe. Would you mind telling me how this happened though? As far as I remember even in the first class Jonathan doesn't tell the students to do anything extreme."
"Honestly I'd rather not say. Maybe if you meet Professor Hawkcrest, he'll tell you," Eren said, not wanting to tell her how he'd nearly been mauled by a random scyther. Maybe she'd find out once scyther was treated at the Pokemon Center.
"Alright, if you don't want to that's fine. The cut wasn't very deep so it'll heal completely in about two weeks time, our medicine is advanced nowadays, so it's more effective too. Just make sure not to overexert your left arm, and if the cut starts bleeding a lot again, I'll fix it up for you."
Eren stood up from the cot and stretched his arm slowly. "Thanks again Nurse Thorne." He walked out the door, "Bye."
Nurse Thorne waved at him as he strolled down the corridor to the exit. He stopped along the way at the reception desk to sign a form which had details about his checkup. After filling the main details he left the Clinic and headed back to the dorms. There was still some time before Brock would come with his backpack, so he decided to change his ripped sweater for another one.
Eren sat in the garden next to the Ignis dorm, sipping the chilled apple juice he had bought from a vendor, as he watched the other students walk by. Brock had called him and told him to wait near the dorm so it would be easier to find him. In the time that he had waited, Eren had researched the campus more properly, memorizing the roads to each of the buildings. The southern part of the campus was where the shops and markets were situated. Apparently even people residing nearby Quake Island could stop by and shop in Southern Square. Close to Southern Square was the Affinitive Academy Bank, where the students could manage their money.
The Champion's Stadium (the one from yesterday) and the Habitat Dome were near the heart of the Island. He hadn't completely seen the maps for the eastern and western parts of the island, but he knew that they held docks, where boats could leave for the neighboring islands. The neighboring islands intrigued him a lot, maybe he would ask someone else if they knew more about them.
A few minutes later, Brock showed up with his backpack and two of them sat in the garden, basking in the sun and the cool air. Brock told him about what had happened after he had left, stating that no one had been able to capture scyther but a few people had come close. Hawkcrest had told the students about the other scyther and told them to be careful regarding such situations.
The time passed quickly as they played a few battle simulations as well as breeding simulations on their phones, each of them helping the other understand things better. It was nearly a quarter past eleven by now, so they both set off for the cafeteria. It was too early for lunch, but the cafeteria was always open for students to have as a study place or a place for meetings.
Seated in one of the middle benches, Reyna spotted the two of them before they could spot her. She glared at him as he and Brock walked towards the bench, Terra waving enthusiastically from beside her.
"So you'll just ignore all my texts after casually saying that you're headed to the Clinic? And how can you be so careless and stupid?" she hissed as he sat down across from her. Eren gave himself a mental pat on the back for his 'divination'.
"Relax, it wasn't anything major. Just a cut," he said.
"A big cut," Brock piped in, pointing to Eren's left arm. Eren passed him a look and he shrugged. Eren quickly narrated the events of Survival class to Terra and Reyna, both intently listening to his words. When he had finished, Terra spoke up first.
"I'm glad you're okay, that sounded like a really bad situation. I have no idea whose scyther that could've been, I don't know anyone here besides you guys."
"I'll check up on in later after it's been treated, to see if it remembers anything. Oh and my mom said hi Reyna," Eren said.
"I doubt you told her about your arm, though I guess it's better if you didn't. I'm glad you're okay too."
"So what do you guys want to do now? Have lunch here or go south and have lunch there?" Brock asked. The other three spent a moment in silence, thinking about what to do. Reyna voiced her opinion first.
"Lunch won't be served for an hour at least, so why don't we explore the square in the remaining time and then enjoy lunch afterwards. We have the entire day to ourselves so let's make the best of it."
The other three slowly nodded in agreement, it sounded like a good idea. Someone caught Eren's eye as he looked around. "I think we might have someone else who could join us," he said, getting up from his seat and walking further down their table.
He peered over the person's shoulder after he stopped behind her. "Morning Adelaide, what are you doing?" he asked, focusing on the screen of the laptop she was typing furiously on. She had probably not heard what he had said, because she didn't stop typing. He tapped her on the shoulder.
"What are you writing?" he asked again, hoping to get a response this time.
Adelaide's hand whipped out and she shut the laptop in a flash, before turning around, flustered.
"Wha? Don't look! Oh, it's just you Eren," she exclaimed, following up with a sigh of relief. Eren noticed that she was wearing casual clothes, at least probably by her standards. She was wearing a white blouse and had a pleated skirt on, despite the chill outside. She maintained her looks positively well, putting effort into looking good.
"Yeah, calm down it's just me, morning," he pointed to the laptop, "What were you writing there?"
"Uh well I'd rather not say honestly… don't feel bad! It's that I don't share or tell anyone what I write about," she replied apologetically. Eren waved her off.
"Alright I won't pry for details. Say, we were just planning to head on down to Southern Square, want to come with us?" he asked, jerking a thumb back to where the other three were sitting. Reyna enthusiastically waved at Adelaide, who happily waved back.
"You've already made new friends so quickly Eren, I'm kind of jealous."
"I'm sure you've made a lot of friends too, so what do you say, want to hang out with us?"
Adelaide didn't ponder on the suggestion and immediately nodded her affirmation. She properly shut her laptop down and followed Eren back to their seat. She sat down in between him and Brock.
"Hi Reyna, good to see you again!" she piped. Reyna smiled in reply.
"Terra, Brock, this Adelaide. We met her yesterday before the exhibition battle." She introduced.
Terra put a hand on her chin. "Oh I know Adelaide, we're in the same appeal class, I didn't get to talk to you in class, but it's nice to meet you formally, I'm Terra."
Eren clapped his hands. "Well, now that we're done with introductions, how about we get going?"
They were lucky that there were transportation options on the campus itself, it took less time to move around the island. The local tram made rounds of the entire island. With small stations at each significant place. By foot Southern Square was about half an hour away, but the tram could get them there in a little less than ten minutes. Eren had to reiterate earlier events when Adelaide asked about his arm, and then conversed with her and Terra on the previous days exhibition match. She had been rooting for Jake because she considered him very cool, which amused Eren.
It wasn't long before they were standing inside the open gates of Southern Square, which was bigger than Eren had expected. Shops and cafes stood next to each other, each filled with customers who weren't only students. It looked it was a hangout for other people too. Kids ran through the main square while some marveled at street magicians who were performing. It was a very lively place and it made Eren feel happy on the inside.
"So who wants to go where?" Reyna asked. Terra was the first to raise her hand, excitement plastered on her face.
"Ooh ooh! I've heard there's this place that sells some great ice cream and I want to check it out!" she squealed. Everyone burst out laughing at her excitement, and her cheeks flushed a light pink as she pouted.
"I'll come with you then, I'm always down to eat," Eren flashed Terra a thumbs up, "What about the rest of you?"
"I think I'll hit the market area for groceries, we'll need some ingredients in the dorm room to make extra food, we can't always go to the cafeteria, it'd be a waste of time sometimes." Brock said, brandishing a list from his pocket.
"Seriously, you can cook too?" Eren patted him on the back, "You're a valuable roommate my friend."
"Guess we'll see after I make something for you guys."
Adelaide was quick to latch onto Reyna's arm. "I'm taking Reyna to some clothing stores, no buts!" she said, jabbing a finger under Reyna's chin, who was about to protest. She sighed in defeat.
"Alright, if you insist."
"Well then let's meet in an hour or something," Eren decided. "The central fountain or this place is good enough." The others nodded in affirmation.
After they parted, Eren walked beside Terra, marveling at how lively the square was, even though the sun was barely at its highest point. There were quite a few students too, which wasn't a surprise since it was a student hotspot. A few of them even had their pokemon , which made Eren want to call out his. The academy had set a rule which stated that only pokemon smaller than the trainer could be kept outside their ball. Other larger pokemon could only be released at the instructions of a teacher or a place where pokemon could roam freely, like a stadium. Eren was suddenly grateful that Autumns hadn't told him for releasing Delta yesterday, who was definitely bigger than him.
"Want to release our pokemon?" he asked Terra. He was sure his pokemon wanted to walk under the sun after a while.
"Great idea! Aquater would love it." She tossed a pokeball from the side of her denim overalls. "Come on out Aquater!" A momentary flash of light presented them with a slender pokemon with an inflatable tube around its neck.
"Bui!" it cried out as it stretched its limbs. Terra bent down and patted her pokemon on the head, who seemed to enjoy it.
"Oooh a buizel, how cool!" Eren said, extending a hand forward. Aquater allowed it and Eren ran his fingers just above the inflatable tube. Eren smiled as Aquater's tail flapped around, a sign that he enjoyed it. "Aww Aquater loves it, how'd you know where he likes to be scratched?" Terra asked, putting the pokeball back.
"I practically spent my entire spare time with the pokemon in the daycare that Reyna's parents run. I've picked up a few things related to certain pokemon I guess."
"That sounds so fun. Show me your pokemon, I'm interested to see what kind of pokemon you have."
Eren had already decided which pokemon he wanted out, since Delta was definitely out of the question. "I'm warning you, he'll jump on you so be careful. Come out, Laxer!" The bright light from the pokeball materialized in to a round figure. His pokemon shook its head and looked around, before hugging Eren's legs with a happy cry. He bent down and hugged Laxer.
"It's nice to see you too buddy," he chuckled as Laxer's ears tickled his face.
"Aww your munchlax is so cute!" Terra cooed. Eren laughed as Laxer let go of him and hugged onto Terra's legs, causing her to nearly trip. "And so friendly!" she added as she returned the hug.
"He's always been like that, he makes new friends pretty fast. Now let's go get some ice cream!" Eren pumped his fist in the air. Terra laughed at his antics, but she looked even more eager than him.
They walked on, talking more about the exhibition battle and the academy. Eren found chatting with Terra pleasing, she was simple and down to earth, and so far he enjoyed being with her. He smiled to himself when he imagined Reyna's situation with Adelaide dragging her around. In a short time that he had got to know her, he had the feeling that Adelaide was into the fashion industry. On the other hand Reyna had never really cared much about that kind of stuff, so it would've been a sight to see her being dragged around like that.
Aquater and Laxer followed their trainers and communicated in their local tongues, occasionally playing small rounds of tag and just running around through their trainers' feet. It wasn't long before they reached their destination. Eren looked up at the sign, which said 'Cream Works' and followed Terra inside. The shop wasn't the largest, nor the most crowded, but it had a soothing atmosphere. The few other students sat on the tables, eating ice cream or sipping some cold beverage. It was a pokemon friendly café by the looks of it, since they could be seen wandering about.
After a quick look at the menu, Eren handed Terra the money for his order along with some special ice cream for Laxer, and she went to order on the counter. Eren found a seat in the middle and sat down, Aquater and Laxer following suit. As he waited for Terra to come back, he played around with the two pokemon who seemed to enjoy the atmosphere too.
"Are both of these your pokemon?" a voice next to him said. He turned to see a girl sitting at the adjacent table, intently staring at the two pokemon with him. For a moment Eren was taken aback by her mesmerizing grey eyes. She had flowing black hair which had an eye-catching sheen to it, and weaved through her shoulders.
"Only the munchlax, the buizel belongs to my friend," he replied. Laxer curiously looked at her as she looked back at him. She brought her hand down in between his ears and lightly rubbed back and forth. Laxer's face adopted an expression of comfort and he closed his eyes. Eren eyed the girl curiously as she caressed Laxer as if he were her own pokemon.
"You've raised him really well, he's in his best health thanks to you," she said.
"Thanks, but how did you determine something like his health just from that?" he queried, fascinated by the girl.
"I'm aiming to be nutritionist for both pokemon and people, so I've learned quite a few th-"
She stopped midsentence as she directed her attention from Laxer to Eren. She suddenly moved in close, very close. Eren backed up on his seat, but the girl moved her face along with his, their noses almost touching. Her grey eyes seemed even more beautiful up close, and they darted around looking at his face. She backed up a little and cupped his cheeks in her hands and lightly gasped.
"You have beautiful blue eyes," she breathed. "And wow look at those amazing eyelashes!" Eren was admittedly a little startled by her actions and their proximity sent a shiver down his spine.
"U-uh thanks," he managed to blurt out, not quite sure what to make of the situation.
"Am I interrupting something here?" Terra's voice asked from across the table. Eren's head snapped to the side where Terra was standing with their orders in a tray, Aquater and Laxer stared at him too.
"No! I mean, I don't know this person," he clarified, hoping Terra would understand.
"Eren the player? I didn't expect that you know," she huffed. Eren shook his hand furiously in front of his face in denial.
"You've got it wrong, I didn't do anything," He tried to defend himself.
"Yeah don't worry, it's her fault anyway," a new voice said from behind the grey-eyed girl. Eren and Terra's jaws slacked and they pointed at the new person.
"You're Jake!" they exclaimed simultaneously. The top tier battle smiled at the recognition.
"I see you know me, I'd like to apologize on my friend's behalf here. She's a little eccentric, in nicer words," he said, pointing to the girl who backed up and pointed at Eren.
"But look at how amazing his eyes are and-" she stopped and this time jumped to Terra. "These eyelashes oh my god, you kids are so cute!" she squealed, while Terra looked a little terrified of the other girl.
"They're not kids Lily, they're freshmen, only two years younger than you. You might as well be calling yourself 'old' when you say that," Jake said. The third year was dressed in casual jeans and a striped t-shirt, combined with sneakers. Up closer he looked really mature and composed. He had sandy blond hair that was combed back, but tampered with his fingers or so. His t-shirt had a breast pocket where his glasses were kept.
Lily was dressed in a similar fashion, just that her jeans being ripped. Eren suddenly remembered that Calloway had mentioned the name Lily yesterday at the stadium, and had even mentioned that she was very pretty.
"Oh so you're Lily, it's nice to meet you. I heard about you from someone I met yesterday. You have really nice eyes too by the way." Eren said, smiling at the third year student.
Lily pulled on Eren's cheeks from both sides. "Aren't you just the sweetest, thank you so much! What's your name?"
"Eren. Oh and that's my friend Terra. Aquater is Terra's pokemon and Laxer is mine." He pointed at each respectively. "I really thought your battle was amazing yesterday Jake, too bad you lost, but it looked like you really enjoyed it."
"That guy is on a different level sometimes, it's a little frustrating sometimes honestly. But as you said, I always enjoy my battles with him." Jake stated.
"Zac isn't with you guys today?" Terra asked, setting down the tray in her hand and taking a seat in front of Eren. Lily shook her head.
"I told him to come with us, but Zac being Zac, he wanted to skip classes today and just stay in the dorm room the entire time."
Eren and Terra laughed at her exasperation. Jake scoffed, but had a smile on his face nonetheless.
"If someone ever asked you for a battle, would you accept?" Eren asked, his question directed to Jake.
"Honestly, I wouldn't most of the time, it's too much effort. If I'm really bored, I'd probably accept though. On the other hand, Zac battles nearly anyone who challenges him. God knows why." He sighed. "Were you about to ask me for a battle Eren?"
"Of course not, you'd wipe the floor with me as I am now. Maybe one day if I feel a bit more confident then I'll try asking," Eren said, positive that he didn't want to face an opponent that strong so early into the year.
"Whenever Eren asks for a battle, you have to accept, Jake," Lily instructed.
"And why is that?"
"Because he's cute and I said so."
Jake groaned. "What kind of a reason is that? And what are you, some freshmen predator or something? Lay off the poor guy."
"You don't have to accept or anything," Eren said, waving his hand. "It's your choice."
Jake shook his head. "You don't know Lily, if she's says something like that, she won't let you off the hook." Lily proudly nodded at the statement. "Of course."
Jake brought his phone out of his pocket as it started to ring. "Looks like we have to go Lily, it's Autumns," he said.
"Oh right, for that thing she mentioned. Sorry but we've gotta run. Bye Eren! Bye Terra! I hope I see you around," Lily exclaimed as she gathered her stuff.
"Ithinkyou'rereallycoolJake!" Terra blurted out suddenly. Despite her words being slightly incoherent, Jake understood what she had said and flashed her toothy smile.
He waved at them both. "It was nice to meet you, take care of your pokemon." He said as he walked towards the exit. Lily petted Laxer and Aquater one last time before following Jake out the door.
Terra sighed as they left. "Jake really is so cool. Who would've thought we'd meet them here. I wish Zac had been with them too, I wanted to congratulate him."
Eren grabbed his Triple Chocolate Cookies and Cream Sundae Plus Milkshake from the tray and handed Laxer his special ice cream. Terra just stared at Eren's choice.
"Are you sure you can finish that?" she asked, dubious and oblivious of his appetite. She had gotten a normal cup of ice cream with two scoops of strawberry.
"You're about to witness the insatiable hunger of Eren Fenrir," he stated as he dug into his treat. Terra slowly savored her ice cream, and watched as the trainer in front of her and his pokemon both wolfed down their desserts with a smile on her face.
"Calm down, you'll choke," she said, in between laughs. Eren looked up with a scowl on his face and the spoon still in his mouth.
"Jeej Tewwa, youb shound like Weyna and my mwom," he managed to say without the milk and ice cream dripping from his mouth. Terra burst into laughter along with Aquater.
"D-did you just say Weyna and mwom? Oh damn." Her laughter only intensified as he squinted at her.
"I wish I would've recorded that somehow, that was hilarious," she said, wiping a tear from the corner from the corner of her eye, her lips spread apart to form a grin.
Eren swallowed the big chunk of ice cream he had stuffed his mouth with. "If you had, I would've told you to be alert. I'm a pro at capturing embarrassing moments for your information."
"Ooh I'm scared," she said. Eren smirked.
"Maybe you will be if I eat your ice cream!" he exclaimed, reaching out with his spoon and a faux evil expression on his face. That seemed to do the trick. Terra's hands shot out to grab her cup Eren could touch. "Nope!" she yelled.
This time it was Eren's turn to laugh. "Oh you should have seen your face!" he howled, Aquater and Laxer laughing along with him. Both of them were clueless to the fact that the other people in the shop were staring at them, with expressions of both annoyance and amusement. The group of four were certainly enjoying their time.
Eren had completely forgotten the events that had happened earlier that day, but someone hadn't.
The tall man dug his phone out of the white coat he was wearing, a bilious expression coating his bony features. He quickly selected the desired contact and held the phone up to his ear, taking in a deep breath. He licked his lips as if trying to get rid of the bad taste of disappointing news in his mouth. A few rings later, the person answered the call. "Hello?"
"Yeah it's me. Experiment SC13 failed as well," he stated, his free hand curling into a fist.
"What happened?" came the question.
"Its mind couldn't handle it, it was it pain. It broke like some toy you turn with a key. And there was some kid who interfered as well, he was close to dying at SC13's hands but somehow came through."
The man gritted his teeth as his superior remained silent. He hated it when he couldn't live up to his superior's expectations, it was agonizing. He knew his superior wouldn't rebuke him, he never did, but it was a personal standard he had set for himself, and he didn't like it when it was broken.
"Send me a copy of the analytical details, till then you can standby."
"Yes sir." He threw the phone on the bed in frustration, flexing his fingers to hold his anger back. Next time would be different. Next time, he would succeed.
I apologize for the very long wait for this chapter, I've been quite busy in the past few months and it prevented me from writing. I hope you all enjoyed the chapter and to those who have submitted characters who haven't appeared yet, I hope you bear with me as I need to plan out when each character should come in.
Question of the chapter: What do you think will happen to Scyther?