Chapter 13: The Rise of the Rebellion
With class done for the day, I decided to wander around the castle some more. I Calem had agreed to watch Uxie, Azelf, and Mesprit for an hour or two, so I took advantage of his offer and left him in charge of the rambunctious trio.
It felt different without any of my Pokémon, having spent so much time with them. Without really noticing, I had managed to wonder to the seventh floor of the castle. As I walked down one of the many halls, I noticed Neville and his young Bulbasaur, along with Harry, Hermione, Ron, Fred, and George walk past a wall a few times. As they did so, a door began to form from the wall.
I quickly made my way over to them as they walked through the newly formed door. I slipped behind them, making sure that the door closed carefully behind me. Hermione explained the concept of the Room of Requirement to her fellow Gryffindors.
"It's brilliant," Harry said, "it's like Hogwarts wants us to fight back."
"So what's this about fighting back?"
The six of them whirled around to face me, which felt funny since the majority of the boys present had to look down in order to look me in the eye.
Hermione stared at me before attempting to stammer an excuse. "Professor, I can-"
"It's alright Hermione," I interrupted. I placed my right hand on my hip, smirking. "I'm not gonna stop you...just don't get caught."
"So will you help us," Harry asked hopefully.
"I never said that," I responded, shaking my head, "but does this have to do with what you all were talking about at the Hog's Head?"
Fred nodded, "Umbridge isn't teaching us anything."
"So we've decided to take it upon ourselves to learn," George finished.
"So there aren't any Slytherins in this group of yours?"
They all looked at me, some with scowls on their faces, giving me a clear answer. "I would suggest seeing if any Slytherin's are willing to join…perhaps from our class?" I sighed, "then you'll have more people to back you up if anything goes wrong."
And then I turned around and left. I didn't bother to see their reactions to my suggestion. What is it with the Houses that Gryffindors and Slytherins refused to work together on anything?
I wandered through the halls, observing how different students interacted. With all of the rules that Umbridge was implementing, there wasn't as many interactions between students as I had hoped. But I was still able to get a general idea of the social scene at Hogwarts.
Each House seemed to have a problem with another House, one family had a problem with another family that had wronged them a hundred years ago, most Slytherin Pure-bloods didn't like Half-bloods or Muggle-born students…the list went on for miles.
But what could I do about it…
By the time class rolled around the next day, I couldn't contain my excitement. Mesprit seemed to be feeding off of my excitement, seeing as how he decided to greet every single student as they walked in. Thankfully, everyone was used to the Trio and their antics by now.
"Alright guys, we're gonna get started here," I called over the buzz of various conversations.
"Calem and I," I began, glancing at Calem out of the corner of my eye, "have a proposition for you."
"Since you all received your own Pokémon, and some of you caught additional Pokémon," some of the students smiled at their accomplishment during the last class, "we've decided to take this class to the next level."
"Of course, this chance will be optional, more like an academic club really. You will all have the chance to compete in Gym battles or contests if you so choose."
The students immediately started talking amongst each other, only to quiet down when Calem held up a hand. "We've had this planned for a while now, but now that everything's already planned and ready to go it's time to let you guys in on the surprise. Each of you will have a chance to battle "Gym Leaders," which we have chosen from the various Professors."
"Eventually," I continued, "you will get a chance to battle for the title of Elite Four Champion. This offer is open to anyone, no matter what path that they chose to follow. In addition to the Gyms, there will also be Contests and there will be a Grand Festival at the end of the school year."
"The Gym battles can occur in any order," Calem added, "unlike our world where Gyms badges are earned in a certain order. We have prepared your professors to battle you all at some point, no matter what level you are at."
"We will have a signup sheet on our office door for each category, so feel free to sign up for either group." I sighed, before looking back at the class, "if you could please take out a sheet of paper and write down any Pokémon that you caught during the last class, if you caught any Pokémon. Then you guys can leave, but I need to see Neville, Luna, and Draco after class."
Neville looked nervous, but pulled out a piece of parchment to write down his Pokémon. Luna and Draco remained unfazed, also pulling out pieces of parchment. Some students left after the announcements, having not caught any Pokémon during the trip into the Forest.
Slowly, students walked up to Calem or myself, handing in their parchment. Within a few minutes, the rest class had left with Neville, Luna, and Draco being the only other people in the room.
"How's Snivy doing," I asked Draco, looking through the papers that I had received.
"Well, thank you Professor."
"Please, we're not in class Draco, and I'm not that much older than you," I looked up from the papers with a smile, "when we're not in class, you can call us by our first names."
"Alright, I'll remember that Prof- … Serena."
"W-what did you need from us," Neville asked nervously.
"I was also wondering why you asked for the three of us," Luna said dreamily, looking at the posters on the walls.
"Well," Calem began, leaning against the desk at the front of the room, "I'm betting that you all have heard of the rules that Umbridge is making?"
The three nodded. "But what does this have to do with us," Draco asked.
I smirked, "before Umbridge does anything, Calem and I have decided to act. We've mentioned Pokémon Rangers in class before, but no one has seemed to take an interest and we haven't had a need for them. However, with the rate that Umbridge is going, we're going to need people to protect the Pokémon. After going over all of the choices, we have decided that the three of you would be perfect choices for the job.
Luna stood with a small smile on her face. Neville was completely floored that we had chosen him for the position out of everyone in the class. Draco seemed to be hiding his shock better than Neville, but he still seemed surprised.
"As weird as it sounds, there's something that we saw in you guys that gave us some confidence to say that you guys could get the job done," Calem explained. He went behind the desk and took out three capture stylers from one of the desk drawers before handing them to Luna, Neville, and Draco. "These are capture stylers. These temporarily capture Pokémon so that you can use them to help you on missions. Don't let us down guys."
"Congratulations and good luck," I said, smiling.
As the three walked out of the room, their new capture stylus' in their hands, I couldn't shake the feeling that it won't be long before they have to step up and fulfill their duties.
So there's Chapter 13! Thank you to all of my supporters! I'm glad that people are enjoying this so far! :)
The results for the poll (for the Hogwarts Elite Four & Champion) are as follows
Red Kawaguchi: 4
Silver Yamada: 3
Leaf Nakahara: 2
Brendan Birch: 2
Mad-Eye: 1
Tonks: 1
Charlie Weasley: 1
Serena Bellamy: 1
Calem Mercier: 1
May Takahashi: 1
Dawn Hamasaki: 1
Cheren Williams: 1
Firenze: 1
Thanks for all of those who have voted up to this point! Please keep it up!
There is also a poll concerning Umbridge receiving her own Pokémon if you all could also vote on that.
And here are the teams at this point (the un-bolded Pokémon are future Pokémon that the characters will catch). If you would like to make additions and your opinion to the various teams:
Serena Bellamy: Kitsune (Delphox, Female), Ty (Tyrantrum, Male), Mojave (Meowstic, Female), Uxie, Genderless ("Male")), Azelf, Genderless ("Male")), Mesprit, Genderless ("Male")), Rai (Heliolisk, Male)
Calem Mercier: Greninja (Male), Aurorus (Female), Noivern (Male)
Harry Potter (Trainer): Charmander (Male), Poochyena (Male), Kangaskhan (Female), Zorua (Female), Deerling (Male), Bagon (Male)
Hermione Granger (Researcher): Beldum (Genderless), Eevee (Female), Psyduck (Female), Fletchling (Female), Abra (Male), Venipede (Male)
Ron Weasley (Trainer): Shinx (Male), Litleo (Female), Larvitar (Female)
Ginny Weasley (Trainer): Torchic (Female)
Fred Weasley (Trainer): Plusle (Female)
George Weasley (Trainer): Minun (Male)
Neville Longbottom (Ranger): Bulbasaur (Female), Bonsly (Male)
Dean Thomas (Breeder): Smeargle (Female)
Seamus Finnigan (Trainer): Vulpix (Male)
Parvati Patil (Coordinator): Petilil (Female)
Lavender Brown (Coordinator): Skitty (Female), Spritzee (Female)
Luna Lovegood (Ranger): Lunatone (Genderless), Spoink (Male), Munna (Female), Litwick (Female)
Cho Chang (Coordinator): Ducklett (Female), Wurmple (Female), Eevee (Female)
Padma Patil (Coordinator): Natu (Female)
Terry Boot (Researcher): Murkrow (Male)
Michael Corner (Trainer): Spearow (Male)
Anthony Goldstein (Breeder): Hoothoot (Female)
Ernire Macmillan (Researcher): Aipom (Male)
Hannah Abbott (Coordinator): Sentret (Female)
Justin Finch-Fletchley (Coordinator): Chatot (Female)
Susan Bones (Breeder): Zigzagoon (Male)
Zacharias Smith (Trainer): Whismer (Male)
Draco Malfoy (Ranger): Snivy (Male), Eevee (Female), Duskull (Female), Tirtouga (Male), Honedge (Male), Nidoran (Male)
Vincent Crabbe (Trainer): Geodude (Male)
Gregory Goyle (Trainer): Mankey (Male)
Pansy Parkinson (Coordinator): Misdreavus (Female)
Blaise Zabini (Trainer): Ekans (Male)
Madam Rolanda Hooch (Flying Gym Leader): Pidgiott (Female), Braviary (Male)
Rubeus Hagrid (Dragon Gym Leader): Druddigon (Male), Zweilous (Female)
Sybill Trelawney (Psychic Gym Leader):
Pamona Sprout (Grass Gym Leader): Gourgeist (Female), Trevenant (Male)
Filius Flitwick (Electric Gym Leader): Dedenne (Female), Electrode (Genderless)
Severus Snape (Poison Gym Leader): Crobat (Male), Seviper (Female)
Minerva McGinagall (Normal Gym Leader): Ditto (Genderless), Eevee (Female), Zangoose (Male), Delcatty (Female)
Albus Dumbledore (? Gym Leader):