A week had passed at Pokemon Trainer's Academy and things been progressing smoothly since the first week of classes.
Every student seemed to be locked in within their respective course and seemed to be enjoying themselves with their Pokemon.
We see a example of that as in the battlefield near the entrance of the academy both Kenan and Shion were having a battle with their respective Pokemon.
"Nova use Psychic!"
"Dahlia dodge then used Bullet Seed!"
Kenan was on one side of the battlefield as he was using his Volcarona, Nova against Shion's Grovlye, Dhalia. Nova's body soon glowed with a pinkish aura as he tried to grab a hold of Dahlia psychically only for Dahlia to dance out of the way and fire back with seeds from out of her mouth.
"Nova, dodge it and then use Hurricane." Kenan commanded towards his Pokemon.
Nova soon dodged the seeds that were fired from Dahlia before unleashing the super effective Flying-type move on the Grass-type Pokemon.
"Dahlia dodge with Double Team then use X-Scissor!" Shion said.
Dahlia soon made multiple copies of herself so that the Hurricane would hit the Grass-type before jumping up behind Nova and hitting the Bug/Fire type with a X-Scissor that immediately sent him to the ground and knocked him out.
"Nova is unable to battle, Dahlia is the winner and the winner of this battle is Shion!" Rex announced as he volunteered to be the judge of this battle while Weiss was right next to him.
"Yes! We won Dahlia!" Shion said in excitement as she ran up to Dahlia and hugged her… who immediately went into a lazy pose at the thought of her trainer's affection.
Meanwhile Nova looked upset that he couldn't win until Kenan walked up to him and hugged him.
"You did great Nova, but it is clear we still have ways to improve. Now get a good rest." Kenan said returning him to his Pokeball as Shion did the same to Dahlia.
"Man, that was a fun battle. You are pretty strong Shion." Kenan said walking up to his opponent and friend.
Shion blushed at the compliment clearly not used to it as she said "Well thanks, your Volcarona was pretty awesome as well."
Rex soon ran up to them with Weiss and complimented them both on the great battle that they had as it made him want to have a battle soon.
"Right you haven't had a battle since… Kazuma." Kenan said faltering.
Memories of Kazuma and his absurdly powerful Jolteon from the first day of class still rang in Kenan's head as he wondered if he was going to get the chance to battle him soon.
"Hey, where is Tyson and Robyn? Didn't they say that they were going to have a battle as well?" Rex asked somewhat confused where the two trainers were.
Shion soon pointed to the battle next to them as Tyson and Robyn were battling as Tyler was using his Nidorina and Robyn was her Arrokuda, Blair.
Tyson soon commanded his Nidorina to use Tackle while Robyn commanded Blair to use Aqua Jet. Soon the two physical attacks met with Tyler's Nidorina having been knocked unconscious, making Robyn and Blair the winners.
"Congratulations you two, it looked like a pretty intense battle." Kenan said to both trainers as they recalled their Pokemon.
"Aw man, I still haven't won a battle since coming here." Tyson said as Robyn come over to him.
"Hey don't worry about it! I am sure you and your Pokemon will started winning soon! I can tell your Pokemon have been well trained as heck!" Robyn said.
Kenan smiled at the warm sight of competition when suddenly he and the rest of his fellow trainers got a message on their phones instructing all the freshman students to come to the auditorium where orientation was held confusing all of them.
Meanwhile, with the performance course students they were busy practicing different combinations that they could use in different performances that they took a part in.
This included Lyna as she was having Fennekin practice with her Fire-type moves.
"Alright Fennekin use Ember and then follow up with Scratch!" Lyna commanded to her Pokemon.
Fennekin soon let out a small burst of fire before scratching at it with her little claws. The combination of the two attacks caused the small ball of fire to explode as fiery sparkles rained down and illuminated Fennekin's form.
Lyna smiled at this as she suddenly heard slow clapping behind her. Turning around and she saw Ema walking up to her with her Umbreon.
"That was a nice combination, you really managed to show off Fennekin's fire-type abilities to the max." Ema said towards Lyna.
"Thanks, I am just trying to come up with ways for Fennekin to show off her appeal to the maximum," Lyna said as Fennekin jumped into her arms and nuzzled Lyna in a sign of affection.
"That is certainly one way to do it, but have you ever considered trying to evolve Fennekin?" Ema asked Lyna.
Lyna was stumped and said no as her Fennekin looked at their trainer quizzically.
"Well anyways, I think it is time we showed off our appeal right Umbreon!" Ema said with Umbreon agreeing.
Soon Umbreon got in front of his trainer and soon Ema ordered him to use Shadow Ball while then using Dark Pulse. Umbreon soon fired a ball of Shadowy energy and then soon used the Dark Pulse attack directly at the Shadow Ball.
Both attack soon burst into dark sparkles that fell around Umbreon that accentuated the mystery and intrigue behind Umbreon's Dark-type nature.
"Oh wow… that is so beautiful." Lyna said mesmerized by the performance that Ema had created before her.
Ema soon looked satisfied with her performance when suddenly both her and Lyna got a message that instructed all freshman students to come to the orientation hall confusing them both.
Ava wasn't the most reckless of individuals, normally she like to stay cool, calm and collected when faced with a situation.
But even this was making her impatient.
She was soon looking at a egg while writing down notes on her notebook while tapping her foot out of impatience.
"Hey what is up?" Chris asked as he suddenly came besides Ava scaring the crap out of her.
"Ah! Chris don't do that!" Ava admonished as she checked on the egg grateful the her little scare didn't harm it in any way.
"Sorry about that, that being said I didn't know that you had a egg with you." Chris said to her.
"Oh yeah, I received it about a month ago from my cousin back in Alola. Though I am not sure what it will hatch into." Ava said as she continuing to write stuff down.
Chris took a look at the egg, it was a purple egg that had some red marking on each side making him wonder what type of Pokemon will hatch from the egg.
"Well I think it is pretty cool that you have a egg with you, normally I don't think kids our age are allowed near Pokemon eggs like these." Chris said smiling at Ava.
Ava thanked him as soon gently hugged the egg close to her wanting to give it more of her body heat in the hopes that it will hatch soon.
Suddenly both of their phones went off as they both received the same message of every freshman coming to the orientation hall as the two of them look of them looked at each other wondering what this was about.
Finally with the Ranger Course, they were getting in some practice with the capture styler so that if they were ever out on a mission, they would know how to use it.
Hikaru was practicing this in the nearby woods as he captured a group of Rattata and asked them to use bite to knock over a tree log.
This allowed him to help the nearby Pidove who was trapped by some debris and got their wings damaged in the process.
Hikaru brought out his supplies and soon bandaged the Pidove's wings allowing it to make their way out of the debris it found itself in.
Hikaru soon followed it as he wondered if he should reveal the truth to Solana soon or if he should just keep it to himself for now.
As he was thinking about this, he got a message on his phone same as the others: all freshman students come to the orientation hall immediately.
Soon all the freshman students came and filed into the hall where they had received their orientation for the academy, wondering what was going on and why they had been called here.
Soon Gary appeared in front of them and soon greeted them with a smile.
"Hello everyone! How are you all doing? I trust that you are all adjusting to your classes well?" Gary asked the students.
The students soon gave a resounding 'yes' to Gary's question making him pretty happy.
"Great! I am so glad to hear that because now that a week has passed, it is time to enact one of the annual tests that we give all freshman students here at the academy: the Shadow Stripe!" Gary said to them.
Everyone soon looked at each other in confusion. Shadow Stripe? What was he talking about?
"Essentially what the Shadow Stripe is that for the next two weeks, you all will come up with a certain goal you wanna achieve with your Pokemon: whether that be getting one of them to evolve, having them learn a new move or even just capturing a new Pokemon or bonding with it. This will demonstrate your ability to work as one with your Pokemon and the bond that you have with them. By passing the Shadow Stripe you will receive a cool new tattoo that will be etched on to your skin as recognition of you passing the Shadow Stripe." Gary said as he showed them the tattoo they will receive by passing this test.
This excited everyone as they began to think this test will be a piece of cake before Gary quieted them down.
"However if you are unable to pass the Shadow Stripe then there will be severe consequences. If you do not pass it… you will be expelled from the academy effective immediately." Gary said to them.
This shocked everyone into silence. They weren't expecting the Shadow Stripe to have such a severe consequence if they didn't pass.
"So work hard to pass your Shadow Stripe everyone! I have full faith that everyone here will be able to pass with flying colors!" Gary said as he ended the presentation.
Soon everyone began to leave, more determined than ever to pass this new test that was set out in front of them.
