Naranja

Brisallan could see the crowded hallways. Looking down at their homeroom number on the slip of paper they held, the symbols on it was loud and clear due to the typeface Director Clavell had chosen; It was a blocky typeface called Impact.

"D-310," They read it out loud. So that mean the D wing, and the third floor was where their assigned homeroom was. That meant they'll have to head to the stairs because it was one floor down. Tottering clumsily through the crowds, Brisallan could see the lively ambience of the school. Two students were arguing over whose sandwiches were better, while two girls were giggling and gossiping about the latest Pokémon coordinating soap opera.

They didn't like these TV shows, it was exaggerated boredom to them. They liked old horror movies better, at least the storylines were better written and there were a lot of interesting twists and lore.

"Mis, Miss!" Their Misdreavus seemed to agree, as he had an annoyed expression on his face. As Brisallan clumsily dodged through the throng of milling people, they tripped, knocking over the person in front of them.

Rummaging for the rectangular glasses that had fallen off in the chaos, they found it and slipped it back on. The blurry figure became clear; it was a girl with auburn brown hair in fine S-shaped curls. Her eyes glowed amber under the hood she donned; it was attached to her autumn Naranja vest.

"S-sorry," Brisallan sputtered out an apology.

"Accepted," the girl replied, patting her Rowlet on her shoulder.

"My homeroom's D-310," Brisallan added, "I'm on my way there. D-wing, third floor."

"It's the same here. We're heading there. My name's Auronaku and my friend and adopted sister is Nanda," The auburnette answered, gesturing to a gray-haired girl with bright blue eyes holding a Popplio.

"I'm Brisallan Mortimer," They answered as they picked up their bag, "My family lives near Montenevera."

"We lived in Alola for a while, then moved here recently. But before that, what little I could remember was that we lived in a village with our parents," Nanda added, "We're orphans. Our biological parents were killed when we were four."

"And what happened afterwards?"

"Alin Aryth was the one who adopted us. From what we know of her, she was part of some order of demon hunters," Auronaku answered.

"My dad and his family claims that their lineage is descended from a Priest of Rathma or something like that. I don't believe him." Brisallan snorted, "He is prone to flight of fancies like that."

"A N-n-necromancer!?" Nanda's eyes widened, "Alin told us about them. These grim summoners are so scary, people often give them a wide berth!"

"I know," Auronaku answered, "She had worked with one. Even had a one-stand night with him. She had admitted that the two of them were in their cups at that moment."

"What was the guy's name?" Brisallan's question was quickly answered.

"Xul," Auronaku shrugged, "I still don't get a bunch of her stories."

"Me neither," Nanda adjusted her ponytail.

The trio could see their homeroom; like all the other wings of Naranja, the classroom had been color-coded by wing; The D-Wing was a hunter green, and so were the doors. Pulling the one numbered 310, they could see the classroom's double desks' legs were painted the same color. The floor was a checkboard pattern in mint green and black, while the LED lights shone with a soft white color. The walls were painted hunter green on the bottom and gray on the upper sections.

At the back were hangers for coats, backpacks and hats, while the black cubicles had names written on them for the students' other possessions.

"We'll take the back row," Brisallan pointed out, "Lesser chances of being interrupted while we wait."

"Yeah, I agree," Auronaku had already picked out her spot in the second row away from the window, while Nanda took the one next to it. Brisallan sat next to her.

"I recall when I was at my grade school, my teachers often seated troublemakers at the front," They sighed.

"Same here. I also ended up in the front row a few times because I had the audacity to stand up to some of the bullies. I often stole back some of the stuff the bullies took. Even then when I got in trouble, other parties were also partially to blame for the problem," Auronaku reminisced.

"Like what?"

"When there was a spate of local laptop thefts, I figured out that it was the science teacher's son who did it. He had a pattern of hacking into things, and it was how I figured he was responsible for these acts. He used his skills to break the digital locks on the storage lockers at the school we went to. Once I tried to confront him with the things he'd done, it led to a scuffle. Fortunately, the adults believed me, and he was expelled.

It was five months after that we found out that he was being pressured into participating in a tech-smuggling ring by his uncle, who lived in Orre. What the criminal powers there wanted to do with these things is a bit of a mystery, though," Auronaku explained, "I was around 10 years old at the time. Looking back at that event I now theorize that they wanted to use the laptops for data storage for their clandestine dealings."

"Not surprising, given Orre's history as the Region of Exile," Brisallan observed, Nanda nodding in agreement.

As the class filled up, the trio could see that it was a mixed cohort of students. Some were on the general studies track, others were on the STEM track, and a few were on the humanities and athletics track.

"Yeah, this is going to get interesting," Nanda mentioned, "I wonder who's our homeroom teacher?"

"I dunno, we didn't get any information on them," Auronaku shrugged.

"ATTENTION!" A pony-tailed fourty-something woman with neon orange and green streaks in her crimson hair yelled. Her pierced nose had two red studs in it, and she was athletic. Auronaku could see she was wearing a gray, red and white tracksuit with black-striped running shoes.

"I'm Mrs. Francensca Saguaro, and I'm one of four gym teachers at your school! Hasta la vida, Let's take the attendance, then I'll lay out my expectation for you guys!"

"Well, that was unexpected. Who knew we'll get Mr. Ricardo Saguro's wife?" Brisallan commented, "I've met her before when she came to my family graveyard for the final deposition of her eldest brother's remains."

As Mrs. Saguro picked up the clipboard and began calling names, she occasionally stopped to confirm a student's surname.

"Maple, Max!"

A bespectacled boy with teal blue hair and a Ralts on the desk raised his hand. He was especially annoyed with his companion sitting next to him, an excitable blonde girl who had a Dedenne on top of her head.

"Mortimer, Brisallan!"

"Here!" Brisallan raised their hand. They could see the amusing scene playing out between Max Maple who was facepalming as the unnamed blonde was virtually bouncing in her seat.

"Sheesh, why do I have to be paired with this person?" he mumbled under his breath.

"Liurmien, Nanda!"

"Here!"

Auronaku and Nanda also found the scene amusing, as the duo began arguing between themselves.

"They argue like an old married couple," The grayette commented simply.

"Reminds me of the senile old neighbours next door," Auronaku added.

"Tesla, Bonnie!"

"HERE!" The excitable girl was LOUD! The trio winced at her volume while Max Maple's veins popped in annoyance, and he bonked her in the head.

"Turn down the volume, please!" he snapped at her.

"Vahalkin, Auronaku!"

"Here!" Auronaku raised her hand, before she lowered it.

"Vahalkin?" Brisallan's question caught her off guard, "That's an odd name."

"It's a long story. I'll explain later." The brunette sighed.

"As some of you guys may know, I have high expectations for you guys this year. This is not my first rodeo, nor it my last one.

First, I expect you to exercise discipline both in the classroom and outside. Don't sulk about things, and procrastinate on your assignments, please. Catch-up is okay if there are extenuating circumstances that require you to postpone your assignments.

Second, I will not tolerate bullying of any kind. Especially homophobic and transphobic behaviour. We do not want a repeat of last year's debacle!

Third, be respectful of each other. Please ask people about their pronouns, it makes things go smoother. Also respect other's boundaries and personal possessions," Francesca wrote out the rules of her class on the chalkboard under the number 1-D.

"Well, that went over well," Nanda sighed a breath of relief.

"Let's look over our schedules, then," Brisallan added as they took out their schedule, "I'm on the general studies track."

"I wanted to go on the same track, but Alin made me take the athletics one. She said something about it being a necessary block for building up my pools of discipline. I still don't understand her reasoning at times," Auronaku snorted, "I was put in gymnastics and archery classes from a young age, and I'm still taking them."

"Why would she do that?" Their question was something to ponder.

"The archery classes were what helped me understand and control my Hunter's Sight. According to her, these who peer into the souls of demons often go mad. The tiny proportion who doesn't are often recruited into the Demon Hunters one way or another," Auronaku's explanation made sense.

"I have magic sight, too. I can see the life essences of everything. It's constantly cycling from one state, from life to death and vice versa. I can tell when somebody is going to die by their essence changing form," Brisallan admitted, "It become paler and compresses. That makes it theoretically easier to extract and manipulate. But I would rather not touch it, the dead are meant to stay dead."

"May I call that Essence Vision?" Nanda's question caught Brisallan and Auronaku off guard.

"That's actually a good name," Brisallan laughed nervously, scratching the back of their head.

"I chose the humanities track. To become a good Pokémon Coordinator, I've realized that I might need a good background in the arts, specially fashion design and Pokémon grooming," Nanda picked up her schedule.

"I have gymnastics class in the morning, followed by archery practice. History class follows next, then lunch. In the afternoon, it's battle classes, followed by math, then art class today. Tomorrow, science class, then archery practice. Gym class with Francesca follow afterwards. After lunch break it's on to biology class, then another battle class. The rest is a study break," Auronaku pointed out, "So it's an alternating day pattern."

"Mine's History, then a study break. Science, then lunch. After that it's Biology, math and then art," Brisallan added, "Tomorrow's gym class, then home economics. After that, another math class, followed up by battle class and languages classes after lunch break.

"Same here, expect art has been swapped with sewing classes, History with science, and home economics with hairdressing classes," Nanda added as she patted her Popplio's head, while Rowlet and Misdreavus flew down from the rafters where they were perched.

"We'll better get ready,"

The gymnastics building that hosted Mesogoza's club was a marvel of modern Paldean architecture. Blending the traditional Paldean talavera tiles with the swooshing bronze ribbons of Donaldo Carillo's trademark style, it was quite a sight to behold.

Nemona had told her that Carillo was the gym leader Larry's late Paldean maternal grandfather, but Auronaku didn't believe her. It was only when Nemona sent her the twelve-year-old obituary of the famed architect that it was indeed confirmed that he did count Larry as one of his twenty-three grandchildren.

And it was a well-known fact that to get to that number of descendants, he probably had quite the brood. But it turned out Carillo only had four legitimate children, from his first and only marriage, and they each had one to three children, for a total of 8 grandchildren. But where did the other 15 grandchildren come from?

It didn't add up in Auronaku's mind. She had suspected that the sons were philandering pieces of shit, and it would explain perfectly well the whole shebang of how he came to have that many grandchildren.

But she pushed these thoughts aside and entered the building. The lobby was painted a neutral taupe color, with a waterfall fountain behind the reception that was tiled in shimmering copper mosaic tiles in a small subway pattern.

"I'm here for the gymnastic classes," She raised her Rotom Rhone while Rowlet rode on her shoulder.

The receptionist scanned the QR code on her phone.

"Auronaku Vahalkin?"

"Yes," She answered.

"Your gender?"

"Female,"

"Then the women's change rooms are behind the red door. The men's the black door," The receptionist explained.

Auronaku walked down the hallway to her right until she stopped at the red door the receptionist described. Pushing it aside the changing room was non-descript; it was in the same color as the reception, save for a few red accents on the countertops and the toilet cubicles.

Plopping her gymnastics bag on the bench, she took out her practice leotard. It was a simplistic biketard that was midnight blue with gray and holographic silver accents. Going through the process of changing from her school uniform to it, she found herself scrutinizing her body in the mirror.

Auronaku could see her lean, muscular body that resembled that of the professional gymnasts that she saw on TV. But while others like her competed in the various gymnastics competitions held all over the Pokémon world, her body was made with evasion and tactics specifically in mind. And the harsh training Alin had put her through was a sobering reminder that she wasn't a normal trainer, although she desperately wanted to be one.

Auronaku turned her mind to the man she had seen in that dream about her old, razed village. He definitely could win a bodybuilding competition with his toned physique, although his interlocking tattoos that reminded her of the Galarian knots often seen on the stones of the Crown Tundra had tribal runes accompanying it. His dark hair was like hers, but it was graying at the temples, and was held in a half-ponytail.

'He couldn't be my father! Most likely it was some Khanduran half-wit who fucked women all over the place!' She thought bitterly. Even then her thoughts were drawn back to Carillo's illegitimate grandchildren, and it was strikingly similar to how her original living situation was to them.

Standing up, Auronaku put on her gymnastic gloves and entered the gymnasium for one of her countless training sessions.

"When Naranja was founded, it was agreed upon by all factions that to prevent another calamity from striking Paldea again, it was agreed that a centre of education would need to be set up. They chose to use the land the previous king had promised the Cathedral of Arceus as the base for this facility of learning. To ensure that the fanatics from that organization would never have any voice in the process, the interim government approached six clans from all over the world and tasked them with building it," Raifort's voice carried through the classroom, "Who were these groups?"

"The Diamond clan from Kanto, the Anshina'nabe clan from Unova, the Sada and Turo clans from Paldea, the Nara clan from Johto and the Kahale clan from Alola," Brisallan answered. They did find Raifort to be an effective teacher, and it was a far cry from the soporific drone of the only history teacher they had known beforehand, a rotund man they could only nickname Mr. Binns because he was garbage at his job.

It was a great relief to the students in his class when he had died in his sleep, and they were inclined to agree. No one bothered to collect his remains, and Brisallan's entire family had chosen to bury him as far away from the ancestral graveyard, which said so much about how much they disliked the man.

It was a year later that the true reasons for Mr. Binns' lonely existence came out. Turned out he was a fugitive on the run from the International Police, and most of his family had turned on him for his numerous crimes, all which Brisallan wouldn't dare think about.

"Now what were each of the clan's specialties?" Raifort's question was quickly answered by Max Maple.

"The Diamond Clan specialized in the study of time and the Ashina'nabe had their breadth of knowledge about the natural world. The Nara clan was proficient in the study of forestry and woodworking. The Turo clan was known for their metallurgy expertise, while the Sada clan specialized in scribing down history as it occurred. The Kahale were experts on human-Pokemon interactions," He answered.

"Excellent, Mr. Maple," she smiled.

"As for the fate of the Cathedral of Arceus, there has been some debate on it. Some people believe they were banished to Orre, while others believe that there was a schism so great, it shattered the Cathedral entirely," Raifort continued her lesson, "I believe that it's the latter, and there has been some historical evidence backing it up. For instance, in the Area 6 plains there is evidence of a half-built monastery to the north of Alfornada, although it has since been taken over by vines and grass. Another now lies in a graveyard."

"I know that one! It's the heart of my ancestral graveyard!" They exclaimed.

"Interesting, Mortimer," Raifort turned to Brisallan, "Why did your family chose that location?"

"It was the isolation; it was possible that my ancestors didn't want to be bothered by the coming and goings of people at first. But as times evolved, they realized the location was a prime location for funerary services in the area," They answered.

"Ah, good explanation," Raifort nodded, "Back to the subject, now,"

"As we know, there are three laws of thermodynamics. They govern every aspect of our lives, from cooking to electricity. It is from them that we acquire a better understanding of the world, even the universe we live in," Mrs. Tyme explained before she wrote down the number one on the whiteboard.

"What is the first law of thermodynamics?" Her question was quickly answered by Nanda.

"Energy cannot be created or destroyed. It can only be transferred," she said.

"Good answer, Miss Liurmien," Tyme nodded, "The total energy always stays constant, even when it is being transferred from one form to another. For instance, on the stovetop when heat is transferred to the pan to cook the food the energy still stays constant, even when the heating element is turned off and the foods cools down."

"Now what is the second law of thermodynamics?" Bonnie Tesla quickly answered that question.

"Heat always moves to a cooler area unless energy is supplied to reverse the process," She answered, "I've seen it in action with my older brother's tinkering. Whenever he needs to cool down a device or machinery, he often opens some vents to let the heat escape."

"Very astute," Tyme answered, "Do your brother happen to be Clemont Tesla, the Luminoise gym leader?"

"Guilty as charged!" Bonnie laughed out loud. Her laughter was contagious; it quickly spread to the rest of the class.

"I've never had this good of a laugh in a long time!" Mrs. Tyme commented, once the laughter died down.

"Yeah, the last time I've laughed this hard was when the class clown of my old school came into class looking like one!" Nanda added, "He was so groggy that day that he put on red plaid pants, an orange and black polka-dot polo shirt, striped black and yellow socks and a multicolored bow tie. He didn't even check the mirror. Guess going under anesthesia could do that to you."

"A similar thing happened with Saguro a few weeks ago. I have the pictures to prove it," Tyme tapped her Rotom phone, and it promptly transformed into a tablet. A tap on the pic app and she scrolled through the album before settling on one picture of the man.

When Nanda saw it, she couldn't help but burst into laughter again. The outfit Saguro had came in was a veritable explosion of colours and patterns that looked positively clownlike. The outfit in question? A rainbow-checkered shirt, striped black-and-white trousers, red, orange, and hot pink argyle socks, and a purple, red and white floral scarf. Tying it all comically together was a pair of bright red patent oxford shoes.

"He was half-asleep at the time. It was the result of a night of hard drinking with Larry that day," Tyme chuckled.

"I can't believe he really did that!" Bonnie was in tears from laughing so hard.

"Back to the lesson now," Tyme spoke up, "As memorable this moment was, we need to focus."

"I thought the cafeteria would be bigger," Auronaku commented as she and her friends scrutinized the room. It was small, even by the standards of the average person. On their right was a buffet, which had limited options of food. In the corner, there was a tiny salad bar that looked like it needed a refill.

"Over here!" Nemona waved from her table in the corner. Arven was sitting next to her.

"It's good to see you guys again!" Auronaku slipped into the chair opposite Nemona, with Brisallan and Nanda following suit.

"Who's the new guy?" Arven asked as he chowed down on his potato salad sandwich.

"Their's name Brisallan. They came from Northern Paldea," Nanda answered.

"Their? I don't get it," Nemona was confused.

"I'm non-binary, which mean I don't identify as male or female. From what I've recalled non-binary identities fall under the transgender umbrella. Some non-binary people undergo sex-affirming surgery, while others don't. I'm one of the latter," Brisallan answered.

"Plus there've been research that implies that suicide rates are higher in non-gender-conforming people," Nanda added.

"I recall one family who suffered the consequences of refusing to affirm their child's gender identity," Brisallan crossed their arms across their chest, "He was originally born a girl, but when he came out and identified as male, his family refused to let him transition. He killed himself by throwing himself off a cliff, and it was the culmination of years of transphobic abuse and misgendering. We buried the person under his preferred pronouns and name; the family was permanently blacklisted for their behaviour toward their own."

"It's not surprising, since some of the most impoverished regions of the world are known for their homophobia and transphobia," Auronaku added, "For instance, Orre is one of the absolutely worst places to be a LGBTQ2+ person."

"Make sense, given the historical context of other regions sending their worst of the worst there," Arven observed.

"Especially when this practice helped create the dynamics that led to Cipher's rise and fall there," Auronaku said.

"How did you know?"

"I've been reading Looker's book on his career in the International Police. He recounted the experience of cleaning up after Cipher's downfall in the years after their crimes went public," she explained, "His report was heavily redacted for the first decade, but it was declassified after it was confirmed that the blasted organization was truly gone."

"Interesting, I think Raifort has a copy of that book," Nemona picked up her sandwich and took a bite of it.

"As for the book I've been reading, it's a fantasy novel about concubinage," Nanda pulled out a book with an illustration of a vaguely Sengoku-era Kantonian woman.

"Oooh, interesting. Who'd thought Morty's niece would dream up such a juicy read?" Nemona pointed to the name of the author on the bottom half of the cover, "Belladonna Dendra is one of her two pen names. The other is Prunella Waters."

"It's quite the romance. Basically, the protagonist is one of the twelve girls chosen to bed the emperor at the start of his reign and bear him his heirs, but she was seeing a boy at the time, and she accepted his engagement proposal. She chose to run away rather than submit to her duties. But the emperor has a creepy obsession with her, and it leads to problems in the couple's life," Nanda explained the plot succinctly.

"Romance is not my thing. I'm sexually attracted to guys, but the stuff related to romance goes over my head," Auronaku admitted in embarrassment. Brisallan's expression changed as the realization dawned upon them, and they turned to the hooded girl.

"You're aromantic, Auronaku. Welcome to the club," they told her.

"I'm A-WHAT!?" Auronaku's shocked reply nearly made the room turn their head in her direction.

"Aromanticism is a romantic orientation where the person feels little to no romantic attraction to others. It has a spectrum. From what I've learned, an aromantic person feels little to no romantic attraction toward others, while greyromantic rarely does; it is only under certain circumstances, or it is rather weak. Demiromantic people only feel romantic attachment to somebody, but only if they share a close non-romantic bond with their partner. And that's just the tip of the iceberg," Brisallan explained.

"Now when I think about it, it does make sense. I was never interested in all the flirting and hand-holding my fellow classmates were up to as we hit puberty. Plus, the fairy tales about beautiful princesses and charming princes never appealed to me." Auronaku recalled as she facepalmed, "I never thought about these things, but you connected the dots for me, Bris."

"Aw, thanks," they blushed.

"I have an aroace uncle up in Galar," Arven added, "He's a bit of an oddball. He likes wearing eye bleeding colors and often hangs out with Piers. He fancies himself a musician, but he's totally tone deaf."

"That's hilarious," Nemona laughed out loud, "That's some old-school comedy there!"

"He has been virtually banned from all family reunions for that fact," Arven gave her a visibly annoyed look.

Auronaku, Nanda and Brisallan sweatdropped at this scene as the two bickered back and forth.

Sitting down on her bed in the evening, Auronaku could see the walls of her newly painted dorm room. Three of the walls had been painted a smoky gray, while the wall where the headboard had been pushed against was painted an austere navy blue. Her room back home had deliberately been made very spartan, another way to reinforce the discipline that Alin Aryth had instilled in her at a young age. The dorm room was much the same way; the only things in her room were her Switch, her small book collection, the bendable desk lamp she had picked up in Mesogoza for it and the dresser that held her clothing. In one corner, Rowlet's nest had been set up. Like her fellows, she was fond of tight spaces; Auronaku had built one out of her old book bag from Alola. Tarountula preferred to hang from the ceiling next to Rowlet.

She had seen Nanda's room, and it was much lusher. The entire room had been painted in amaranth purple, and a dress form stood in one corner. Nanda had fashion sketches from various designers on one wall, and she had hung a shimmering pastel pink bed net from the ceiling. Her comforter in the same color had arabesque designs embroidered on it in shades of turquoise and gold, while pastel pink bed sheets finished off the look. Popplio and Hoppip had been given the royal treatment, with luxurious beds that Nanda had spent hours sewing up from the fabrics in her stash. She had let the two pokemon choose the fabrics that best suited them personality-wise and physiologically.

Laying back on the bed, she sighed. The first day of classes had been interesting, but also exhausting. Not to mention that Nanda and she had made a new friend in Brisallan and their Misdreavus and Greavard. Some of the highlights of the day were Max Maple's unintentional pun in battle class, which was hilarious, and a bored classmate mentioning Nemona being banned from the cafeteria kitchens. Auronaku had wondered at that one.

Her eyes slowly closed as she slowly drifted off into the land of nod.

Meanwhile a mysterious figure stood atop one of Naranja's towers.

"Now it has begun. The journey back home and, thus their destinies must unfold uninterrupted," a masculine voice, grim and forbidding, spoke.