I am so so so so so so so sorry that I didn't update again this past weekend. It turned out to be a lot busier than I expected, but I'm back! Enjoy the chapter and review if you have any suggestions or constructive criticism!
Chapter 8 - After Hours
As Penny and I walked to the Nurse's office, I learned a lot about her. She really opens up once you get to know her. I never knew she was so good at coding either! That's what she was gonna do instead of training with me and Dendra.
"So is your favorite pokemon Eevee then? I know that you have the cool Eevee bag and have an Eevee."
"Yeah, Eevee's great! I love them!" She seems really passionate about it.
"Yeah, well, I'm more of a Pikachu guy but Eevee's great too." She stopped in her tracks and looked up at me slowly. She looked at me like I just committed a war crime. Terrifying!
"Haha...ummm...never mind Eevee's much better now that I actually think about it haha." I laughed nervously.
"Yeah...I thought so." I looked on as she walked ahead. I guess I like Eevee now.
As we reached Miriam's office, we saw Nemona about to walk in. "Hey Nemona!" She turned around and waved at us.
"Getting Pawmi checked out?" I asked. She nodded.
"Who's this Jake?" Nemona asked. I introduced Penny to Nemona and vice versa as Nemona got excited.
"Penny! Dendra told us that you were a great battler! Let's battle!" She demanded. Penny looked a little nervous.
"Sorry, but maybe another time," She squeaked out awkwardly. Nemona backed off, but I knew she would get that battle eventually. She's very persistent haha.
We stood in line as we waited for everyone to be done getting help for their pokemon. We were finally up as we went up to a stressed Miriam.
"Hey Miriam! You're busy today," I remarked. She nodded wiping some sweat from her forehead.
"Yeah. The first week of school is always busy from battle studies. Everyone eventually just turns to potions instead after realizing how much time it takes to get the proper attention from me, which sucks," She replied. I nodded my head in sympathy.
"Let me help you all out! I bet you had some great battles!" She took back Pawmi, Charcadet, and Eevee.
"Did you end up making it to math on time Jake?" Miriam asked as she checked out the tired pokemon.
I laughed in response. "Yeah, barely though. Ms. Tyme didn't let me off easy. I'm sure you wouldn't be surprised at that." Miriam laughed knowing how strict Ms. Tyme is. Just like Sophia. Ugh I gotta get her out of my head.
She finished healing our pokemon after we chatted a bit and went to take the next student. "Hey Miriam one more thing!" She turned back around ready to listen. "I'm training with Dendra today, and I'll keep my promise." I smirked at her as she blushed and went back to healing the pokemon.
"I'll see you guys later, I'm gonna go code," Penny remarked as she walked away. Nemona and I waved her off.
"I gotta go too Jake. Got a student council meeting. Bye!" Nemona ran off before I could even say bye. I shook my head at her enthusiasm while smiling. "Well, time to go train, right Quaxly?" Quaxly nodded, determined at getting better.
I changed into some normal afterschool clothes in my room and left to go to the courtyard. I brought out Charcadet to tell her about training, and she perked up immediately. She already forgot the loss due to the prospect of training. I smiled at her enthusiasm.
As we were walking, Charcadet and Quaxly chatted getting to know each other. They hit it off well, not surprisingly since they both love battling so much, and were getting close. Happy to see it!
We finally reached the courtyard as I saw Dendra stretching off in the distance. She noticed me and waved as I ran over with Charcadet and Quaxly in tow.
"That's what you're wearing for training? I recommend something a little more ready for exercise," Dendra remarked. I looked down at my clothes. I was wearing a black crew neck sweatshirt with a Naranja Academy orange on it and some white khaki shorts.
"I thought we were just training the pokemon," I assumed. Dendra smiled.
"In training, you can't truly sync and train your pokemon without training yourself! Now let's run 5 miles as a warm-up!" I gaped at the prospect of running 5 straight miles. I haven't run more than 3 miles in years!
"You're joking right?" Dendra shook her head and started running: "C'mon Jake hurry up!" She released a Medicham, and they ran away with some pep in their steps. I looked down at Charcadet and Quaxly hoping they felt my pain, but they just had determined looks on their faces as they started running. I sighed as I took off after them trying to catch up. "Wait for me!"
"Oh Arceus...oh Arceus." I was grabbing at any breath I could muster as I fell to the comfy grass out of exhaustion next to Charcadet and Quaxly. We didn't even run 5 miles. We ran 8! Charcadet and Quaxly both gave up at mile 3 since their tiny legs couldn't get them any farther, but Dendra and Medicham were still going strong! They stopped for us though in sympathy.
"Maybe we worked you all a little too hard haha," Dendra laughed awkwardly as Medicham stood there emotionless. I looked at her like she was crazy as I went back to resting on the grass.
"Alright, I'll give you a 10 minute rest instead of a 5 minute one, and then we'll start doing some strength exercises!" Dendra exclaimed excitedly. This was gonna be a long day...
I fell back to my second home, the grass of the courtyard, after all the strength workouts. Quaxly, Charcadet, and I have done push-ups, sit-ups, squats, burpies, you name it for the past 2 hours! I am dead!
"Alright, great job you three! Now it's time to battle!" Dendra exclaimed excitedly. "I'll give you a fair fight with one of my students." She brought out a Mankey that looked like it was about to tear everything apart. I knew that Mankey's were crazy angry but I didn't think one could be this angry. I could literally see the steam coming out of his ears, and nothing even prompted his anger!
"We'll have Mankey battle Quaxly, and then we can finish training for today!" Dendra exclaimed. That got me and Quaxly excited as we jumped up and ran to the battlefield with energy we didn't think we had. Charcadet just shrugged and continued to rest in the grass.
"Let's go Quaxly! Let's finish her off quick so we can get some food!" Quaxly agreed immediately and got ready for battle. I scanned Mankey with my pokedex really quick just in case there was anything I needed to know. I learned that the hard way against Team Star.
"Mankey, the Pig Monkey Pokemon. It lives in groups in the treetops. If it loses sight of its group, it becomes infuriated by its loneliness."
Shit, maybe Mankey's mad because he's lonely. Awww that's sad.
"You ready Jake! Mankey's no pushover! Mankey, use Fury Swipes!" I had to get back to my senses as Mankey sped over to Quaxly too fast for even Quaxly to react! Mankey just kept scratching, punching, and kicking Quaxly as much as he could with all his anger. Considering Quaxly just exercised harder than he ever has, he was unsurprisingly a lot less quick to react, leading to Mankey getting some good hits on him. Mankey jumped back as Quaxly barely rose to his feet.
"You ok Quaxly?" Quaxly nodded looking mad himself. I smiled letting him fester his anger: "Use Work Up!" Quaxly got even madder as he gained some much needed power.
"Mankey get back in there with more Fury Swipes!" Once again, Mankey sped too fast for Quaxly to dodge, but he was ready with a counter.
Quaxly was suddenly surrounded by water as he shot forward with a burst of speed into Mankey sending her back into the ground and hitting her hard with the added power from Work Up.
"Wow Quaxly! You just learned Aqua Jet buddy!" Quaxly gave a thumbs up as he was barely standing from all the damage and hard work he's put in today.
It also looked like it hit Mankey's weakness since she was struggling to keep standing. Wait, it looks like it's even stronger from it though! How?
"Haha Jake! I guess you missed Mankey's ability! She has Defiant, which means any critical hit will max out her attack stat!" Dendra explained. Uh oh.
"Don't worry Quaxly! Let's finish her off quick! Use Aqua Jet again!" Quaxly sped forward once again with a burst of speed from the priority Aqua Jet, but Mankey was seething at the damage he took and wanted revenge with her newfound power.
Right as Quaxly was about to hit, Dendra yelled, "Grab Quaxly!" Mankey grabbed Quaxly through the Aqua Jet! Even though she took some damage, she was too angry to even acknowledge it. She held him in her hands not letting her get an attack off.
"Alright Mankey! Let's use your favorite move! Use Seismic Toss!" My face went pale.
"Quaxly get out of there! Use Wing Attack!" Quaxly tried to hit Mankey, but to no avail as she held a tight grip on him. She jumped up high into the sky with a surprising amount of grace. I'm surprised that angry of a Mankey could have that grace. Quaxly and I accepted our fate as she fell down at high speed toward the ground and threw Quaxly to the floor. Mankey jumped back as Quaxly remained unconscious on the floor. I lost.
"Quaxly!" I ran over to Quaxly to make sure he was alright. Charcadet came running too after spectating the battle shortly after she finished her nap. Quaxly looked tired and sad as it lost.
"Hey buddy. You did great don't worry. I'm sorry I'm not doing as well as you probably hoped." I was honestly feeling pretty emo from my little losing streak, but Charcadet and Quaxly yelled at me angrily for even questioning my skill.
"You guys are right haha! We'll keep fighting and training like today to become the strongest in Paldea!" Charcadet and Quaxly fist bumped as I joined my fist in the middle. We then called, on three, a team cheer and raised our fists to the sky! It was corny, but we didn't care after all our hard work and growth today.
"Your bond with your pokemon is really inspiring Jake," Dendra observed. I looked up and smiled. I then remembered a particular promise I made that I needed to carry out.
"Hey Dendra? I feel really sore, and I'm sure Charcadet and Quaxly are both feeling pretty hurt themselves. We should go see Miriam! I bet you'll wanna see her too right?" I asked slyly.
Dendra smiled wide. "I'd love to see her! She's always there for me when I need her and get hurt!" I smirked as I thought of my next question.
"She really means a lot to you huh?"
"Yeah! She's definitely important to my training and my pokemon!" I face palmed at her focus on training. Miriam was right about her hyperfixation on exercise.
"But is she important to you in particular? Just you," I forced trying to get something from her.
"Yeah of course! I just said that she is important to my training!" I sighed exasperated at trying to get her to figure her feelings out. We then walked toward the elevator with our pokemon to get to Miriam's office. In the elevator, I finally thought of something genius. I smirked.
"So Dendra, you mentioned that she helps you when you're hurt. What if she was about to get hurt? What woul-"
"She'll never get hurt. I will never let anyone hurt her. Never," Dendra interrupted with an angry glare. I looked up surprised, and then I smirked.
"She must mean more to you than just someone who helps you with training if you would go to such lengths to protect her huh?" I asked. She looked down in thought. I could tell she was mulling over her feelings and rethinking their dynamic, so I let her be. My job was done. It was her turn to take the final steps and get the girl. I wasn't going to force it upon them; rather, I'm going to let them get together when they feel right.
"Oh hey you two! Don't tell me you pushed yourself too hard again Dendra, or pushed poor Jake too hard!" Miriam accused. Dendra laughed.
"You know me Miriam! I always push myself to my limit!" Miriam sweatdropped.
"That isn't healthy Dendra! But I know I won't change your mind. It's admirable how hard you work if I'm being honest," Miriam stated while blushing. Dendra blushed too at the compliment. I smirked at their dynamic.
"Miriam, my pokemon need some rest. Could you help them?" I asked. Miriam immediately remembered her job as she frantically took care of my pokemon as well as Dendra's pokemon.
As she was going to work, I mentioned, "Miriam, I took care of the promise. It's all on you now." She blushed and nodded with a determined glance as she went back to the pokemon. Thank Arceus Dendra was so dense that she completely disregarded my statement.
We shared a comfortable silence as Miriam eventually finished with my pokemon and then went to Dendra's pokemon. I took that as my cue to leave as I said goodbye to the two lovebirds and left the office. They'll figure it out on their own I hope. They better! They also give me a front row seat at their wedding since I got them together!
"We're gonna go get dinner you two. I could eat a Mudsdale!" Quaxly and Charcadet both agreed as our stomachs rubbled at the same time. We laughed until I suddenly smelled something amazing. I followed the smell like a dog to a bone until I got outside to a random outdoor seating area with a grill cooking up some beautiful steak. My mouth watered at the sight of such amazing food. Charcadet and Quaxly felt the same sentiment as we walked over.
Turns out Arven was there! "Hey Arven! Whatcha cooking?" He jumped a bit since I kinda snuck up on him. He simply said, "Steaks" as he kept cooking.
"Can we pleeeeeaaaaaaase have some? We just trained like crazy, and we are starving!" We all looked up at Arven pleading him to grant our request. "Ugh fine." We all fist bumped in excitement. I guess that's our new team thing!
He added a few more steaks and kept cooking as I let him and the grill stay acquainted. I went over to a table with a cute Skwovet.
"Hey buddy!" The Skwovet looked up and smiled as it ran up to meet us. He was the cutest Skwovet ever! He was very friendly and hung out with us as we waited for Arven. He finally came back with the brilliant steaks, and I immediately grabbed one and dug right in. Charcadet and Quaxly did the same, trying the unusual food that they weren't used to, but they immediately enjoyed it and dug in. Arven and Skwovet laughed at our excitement.
"So you met Skwovet huh? I just caught him recently," Arven mentioned.
In between bites, I gushed over Skwovet: "He is just the cutest thing! He's so friendly. Unlike someone I know." I smirked at him as he rolled his eyes and just told me to eat. We finished our food as Arven ate less like a starving lion compared to us.
"Thanks so much Arven! This was great!" Charcadet and Quaxly also thanked him in their own languages as well as Skwovet.
"Don't get used to all this. I don't cook outside and to this extent very often," Arven mentioned. I nodded and saluted jokingly. We talked for a little bit about our passions and lives before we came to Naranja until the sun began to set.
"I should probably go Arven. I have to get some training clothes for tomorrow! I'll see you at Home Ec buddy!"
I returned Charcadet since she was feeling sluggish and let Quaxly rest on my hat due to the same exhaustion. Arven and Skwovet both waved goodbye as I walked off toward the campus store. I'm glad I got to know Arven a lot better!
"Ugh it's you. We're about to close you know." Not her again! It was the same blonde haired psycho in the same outfit but with a school cap on showing she was working for the campus store.
"Whatever. I'll be quick. Just getting some training clothes." Sophia went back to her book as I went to check out everything I needed. I eventually found a blue dri-fit long sleeve T-shirt and some black athletic shorts that looked like it would match pretty well. I kept my shoes since they would be fine for exercising, and I probably didn't have the money for new shoes. Wait! I have no money!
"Uhhh Sophia?" She looked up from her book with an exasperated glare. "I have no money." She face palmed at me.
"It's your lucky day. Every student's first purchase at the store will be free," Sophia said acting like she's said it constantly today. She probably has. I smiled at my luck.
"How are you so smart in classes but so dumb in real life?" Sophia retorted.
"So you admit I'm smart?" I teased.
"Not as smart as me! I'm getting that tera orb and those free rooms Jake if it's the last thing I do!" She glared at me with those evergreen eyes as I glared back.
"Wait...free rooms?" I wondered.
"Yeah, whoever gets the tera orb can go to any town and get a free room at a local hotel," Sophia explained. That's a fun bonus too! Nemona probably didn't mention it because she's so rich she doesn't have to worry.
I went back to the fitting rooms as I tried on the outfit and thought I looked good, but I needed some outside input. I reluctantly went back outside to the cash register.
"Hey does this look good? I need some outside input on it since Quaxly's sleepin," I asked Sophia. She stared at me for a little while with a blank stare and a light pink on her cheeks. I smirked a little at the look she was giving me. I had grown some muscle over the years from all the jobs I have taken to help my mom stay afloat. I had lots of construction jobs over that time period since I didn't cost much wage wise, so that physical labor gave me some nice muscle and a lean frame. She realized she had been staring for a little while and snapped out of it.
"It looks ok I guess. So are you buying it or are you going to continue to waste my time?" Damn she's mean.
"Yeah I'll get these. Thanks for the input and being such a good role model for the school!" I exclaimed sarcastically. She groaned as she put the numbers into the register as I quickly went back to the fitting room to get in my original clothes on and went back out.
"Hey watcha readin?" I asked. I looked at the cover and saw "The History of Paldea and the Swords of Ruin."
"Oh you're so jealous! I crushed it in history and now you want some of that action huh? Haha," I laughed as she glared at me for probably the twentieth time today. She huffed and told me to leave as I laughed on my way out.
She thinks she's dedicated to getting the tera orb. She hasn't seen anything yet!
I finally reached my dingy room in exhaustion with Quaxly in tow. I had visited Nemona earlier and hung out with her before I had to go back to bed. I talked about all my afterschool experiences including Sophia. Nemona smirked as she recalled how angry Sophia was during the Student Council meeting. Even angrier than usual. We laughed about it for awhile, but now I had to face the doom that has been sitting in the back of my mind all the day. My Mother...
The phone rang as I hoped and prayed to Arceus above that he would have her be busy at the moment, but my prayers were left unanswered as my mom picked up the facetime call with an angry glare on her face. "JAKE KAMI!"
"Hi Mom," I said as I scratched the back of my head awkwardly.
"You were supposed to call once you got to Naranja. Not at the dead of night after your first day of school!"
"I was busy Mom. I'm so sorry."
"You know I was about to call the police!"
"Moooooommmmmm, you know you never need to do that. I can handle myself!"
She sighed. "You know I worry about you dear. Now how about you tell me about how busy you were."
I told her about everything I did and all the people I met as she gathered all the information.
"Wow I guess you really were busy Jake," Mom observed. I nodded, tired from all the craziness.
"I'll let you go now big college student! Good luck tomorrow!" I laughed and said goodnight to her as she disconnected the phone.
I went off to change into my nightwear and brush my teeth. I finally slumped into my tiny mattress and fell asleep immediately with Quaxly already asleep hours earlier. He loves to sleep doesn't he. I'm lucky I'm so exhausted because I would never get good sleep in this miserable room without complete exhuastion.
I have no worries that tomorrow will be just as good as today!