This will be another messy chapter, because I haven't worked it out all the way through. I have the key moments sorted, it's just the bits in between that I'm having trouble with. But hopefully those won't be too bad, and I'll get this right. Don't worry, from chapter 3 onwards I have a proper plan, it's just that I didn't feel like that was a good place to start this fic, which is why I wrote these two chapters first. Something else I must explain is how I'll be doing their school years. I have absolutely no idea how many years they spend in school in Japan, and don't know what their system is like. As a result, I've decided to base this off of the Irish system, since that's the one I went through (so glad that's behind me now). So basically, Uva is like Secondary school, which we go through from ages 13-18, so it's 6 years long. Basically, this chapter is going to be a 6 year montage, and the character are all 13 at the start. Make sense? Cool. Enjoy.

Chapter 2:

Confession and Secret

As Florian had hoped, Juliana got along very well with his other friends. He was a bit worried at first that they'd get annoyed by all of her talking, but he and Arven quickly found a way to get her to shut up. Whenever they felt she was talking too much, they called Nemona over. Seeing her made Juliana shut right up and go quite red in the face. As an added bonus, this trick got Nemona to be quiet if they felt she was getting too loud. Once they managed to get over their bashfulness around each other, the two girls actually ended up becoming great rivals, better than Florian and Nemona were. As soon as the next Treasure hunt rolled around, Juliana was off to challenge the gyms and earn a champion rank title for herself. Nemona decided to accompany her so she could watch. Thanks to Penny's skill with technology, she was able to find a way to spy on the pair, and the group were treated to many hilarious hours of the two going into full gay panic mode when their hands so much as brushed off each other accidentally.

Eventually, Juliana managed to beat all of the gyms and went on to challenge the Elite Four. She breezed through them with ease, and managed to beat La Primera with as much ease as her brother, making her a Champion rank trainer. Once she earned it, Nemona celebrated the only way she knew how, by challenging Juliana to a no-holds-barred battle in Mezagoza Square. Their battle ended in Juliana winning, much to Nemona's delight. As the two shook hands, both Ortega and Giacomo thought it would be very funny to sneak up behind them and push them slightly, causing Juliana to fall forward into Nemona, with her head landing in a rather unfortunate place. The two went scarlet and backed away quickly, then Nemona set her Pawmot on Giacomo while Juliana did the same to Ortega with her Kilowattrel.

After that, the next 5 years of school seemed to breeze by, and a good few changes came over their group. Namely, a few new relationships had sprung up. The first one that did so was between Ortega and Giacomo, which came as a great surprise to everyone. But how it ended up happening was very funny, and well deserved if you asked everyone. it happened during a Christmas in their 3rd year. The pair had watched as the others all developed crushes on each other, and it annoyed them how dense some of them could be. Namely Florian and Penny, and Juliana and Nemona. But they also noticed some romantic tension between Mela and Eri as well. Atticus had recently come out as Aroace to the group, so they knew he didn't like anyone. So, during this Christmas party, they decided to try to play matchmaker. And what way could be easier than tricking their friends into standing under the mistletoe? However, unbeknownst to the other, both boys had grown very fond of each other over the years. In fact, they both pictured themselves standing under the mistletoe together.

Unfortunately for the pair, they had both privately confided their feelings to Penny, who'd told Florian about them. Seeing the two sneakily hand a mistletoe above a door frame in Nemona's house (where their Christmas party was being held that year), the pair decide to give them a hand. Giacomo and Ortega spend ages trying to lure their friends under the mistletoe, but to no avail. Eventually they gave up and reconvened in a corner to discuss strategy. While they did that, Florian and Penny took down the mistletoe and attached it to Florian's fishing rod. Then, Florian dangled it above the pair. The two boys noticed immediately and looked around, seeing what Florian and Penny had done. "This is payback for all our teasing isn't it?" Giacomo asked. Penny nodded devilishly. The pair sighed and looked at each other again. Let's just get this over with" they said together, and agreed to do one peck. That peck ended up being 10 seconds long. Which led to them confessing their feelings for each other 2 days later.

Mela and Eri were the next pair to start going out. But unlike Giacomo and Ortega, neither of them needed any intervention, because Mela had done it herself by mistake. This was during their 4th year of school. Eri's wrestling club was coming along greatly. Mela liked to stop by to watch frequently, just to watch Eri wrestle if nothing else. Every time she came by to watch, she'd always end up thinking the same thing. "I wish she'd end up on top of me." This would inevitably cause her to have her own gay panic to rival Nemona's or Juliana's. However, one day she arrived just as Eri was finishing up. As she climbed out of the ring, Mela had the same thought once more. However this time, Eri froze. With a horrible realisation, Mela realised she'd said that out loud. Eri asked her to repeat that, to which she did with a very red face and tried to run away. But Eri stopped her before she could and admitted that she felt the same. They started going out as well after that.

Arven ended up spending a term as a transfer student in Blueberry academy. While there, he met Crispin, a fellow chef. He quickly fell head-over-heels for the boy, feelings that, as it turned out, Crispin reciprocated. They started dating, however Arven soon had to return to Paldea when the term ended. They tried to keep in touch, but unfortunately for them, their relationship didn't suit being a long-distance one, and they ended up ending it. Fortunately, it was an amicable break up, and the two remained friends. Still, despite it being amicable, Arven was still upset that it ended. So, Florian, Penny, and Nemona took him out on a small camping trip to cheer him up, which he was very grateful for.

The final relationship that blossomed amongst their group was Florian and Penny. The two had been dancing around their feelings for about 5 years at this point. They were both in 5th year, meaning they had one more year left to say something before they may lose their chance. At first, Giacomo and Ortega tried to matchmake them, but stopped after Florian and Penny did it to them. So, they were left to their dancing, blushing, trying to talk to each other but getting flustered mess, as the rest of their friends had grown bored of the whole affair. The years had made their crushes so much worse, as Florian had grown very tall, and was now in fact the tallest in the group. He'd also grown more muscular from working out a lot over the years, something Penny liked to admire when Florin wasn't looking. In turn, Penny's body had also matured, but it was difficult to notice since she wore baggy hoodies. Florian noticed however, and during their last few weeks before 5th year was over, he finally decided to ask her out.

His plan was a simple one. Since they were both from Galar, he decided that he'd give her an Applin. He, with help from Arven, spent an entire day searching through trees to find one. He finally did and caught it. Then, the next day he invited Penny out to the courtyard where they had their battle all those years ago. He nervously watched her approach, before saying, "I... uhm... I-I got you something." Penny looked at him quizzically. Florian took a deep breath, then pulled out the pokéball and released the Applin. Penny gasped as she knelt down to examine the pokémon. Florian watched her, waiting for her reaction. Eventually she stood back up and smiled at him. "Yes!" she said extatically. "I feel the same way!" Florian punched the air at this before enveloping Penny in a hug, feeling like the luckiest person in the world.

This was the relationship status of everyone in the group when their 6th and final year rolled around. Both Nemona and Juliana were conscious of the fact that they were the only two not in a relationship. And they knew that because of this, their friends coaxing was going to get so much worse.

That turned out better than I thought. I wanted to make Arven and Crispin a proper relationship in this fic, but I decided against it since neither of them have any interactions with each other in game. As for the amicable break up, I got the idea from my best friend, who also went through one last month, and me and our other three friends got together to cheer him up. Something I should probably explain as well is the word "Term". That's what we call semesters here in Ireland (and I think they do in the UK as well). Also, while I seem to recall Eri starting a wrestling club, I can't fully remember if that happened or if I made it up. If I did, then let's just say she created it in their second year. Well anyway, next chapter is where the plot actually starts, these 1st two were basically set-up chapters. So look forward to that, and I'll see you then.