Coltar: The Prophecy (Main Series 1) Chapter 11: Satchels Full of Beautiflies, a pokémon fanfic

Satchels full of Beautiflies

Thursday, May 4th, 1989

The starly chirping outside the window was loud enough to wake James from his dream. His stomach growled, but he flopped his head against the pillow. His red hair covered his eyes, and he let out a frustrated groan.

"H-hey James," Kitiku said.

"Morning Kuti. I'm up…" James sat up on his bed and slid off the bunk. He bent down and picked up his white polo shirt from the pile of clothes on the floor. "Ha, what are you wearing?"

Kitiku looked down at his white shirt and orange jacket. "M-my uniform. Y-yours is over there." He pointed to the uniform which was on the table.

"Really? I hate this." James threw his polo shirt on the floor.

Kitiku smiled. "I-its soft and c-clean a-and is t-too b-big so w-we will g-grow into it." He tugged down on his blazer as best he could and hopped forward to James. He watched as James pulled the white shirt on over his head and got dressed. "T-they s-said will give us f-free lunches. H-hot meals every d-day we are there."

James reached over to the bedside table, picked up the poké balls, and dropped onto the floor. He reached under the bed and pulled out some spray paint cans. Quickly, he brushed past Kitiku and walked down the wonky stairs. His eyes caught the gaze of Pierre in his portrait. I'll do you proud and make them suffer. James slipped around the banister and into the kitchen to grab something to eat.

"I'm sorry, sweetie, we don't have any food. Not until tomorrow, but they will give you something to eat at the school." Nashe took a small hairbrush out of her apron. The small black brush's teeth were wonky, but she pushed it into James's hair and gently combed through. "It's time to go. Behave. You'll do great."

James shrugged and turned around. He opened the front door. "So, Kuti, are you going to actually walk today?" He saw Kitiku nod back and smirked. "Let's go. It's the new building, right? It's only like two streets down." He walked off with Kitiku in tow. The cobbles had dried from the overnight rain, and the warm sun beat down on his back. Bright orange, thick blazer? At least they delivered. The smell of the bread wafting from the bakery, and his stomach growled again. James's feet dragged as he went around the street corner. He could see the building at the end. The stone bricks were clean, and the glass windows glinted in the sunlight. Damn, that's one big building. I never even realised they were building it. I guess they have machamps down south. "I'm going to just decorate this place," James smirked and pulled the spray paint cans back out from his pockets. He walked to the brick wall, shook the black can, and pressed down on the nozzle. Whole point of being here this early is to do this. Screw them.

James drew a cartoon-like outline of an Elkran officer on the wall, being punched in the face by a sawk. He changed the spray paint can and coloured it in the outline.

"What are you doing there?" Lieutenant Tomilson's voice shot a shiver down James's spine. "It's very good." He crossed his arms and stood beside James. "Although, I'd appreciate it if it wasn't me."

"You aren't angry?" James asked as he turned to face Tomilson. "Also, your hair looks weird brushed like that."

Tomilson pushed his hair down a little and said, "Ha, maybe, and no, I am not angry. I think you are talented, but graffiti is illegal… but if you want to express how you feel, I have an idea. Just see me after school ends. I'll be around." He patted James on the shoulder. "Let's go inside; the opening ceremony is starting soon. You can finish that tomorrow."

"Ugh, fine." James lowered his head and plodded inside. The large central hall looked down on the stage. He walked down the stairs and squeezed on the end of one of the rows. There are like 500 people here.

Daycare

Basics

Junior

Secondary

High

Advanced

Finals

0-1

3-4

5-6

10-11

15-16

20-21

23-24

1-2

4-5

6-7

11-12

16-17

21-22

24-25

2-3

7-8

12-13

17-18

22-23

8-9

13-14

18-19

9-10

14-15

19-20

Clarence stepped up onto the stage. The stage lights beamed down on him. "Welcome all to Fehahra's secondary and high school. The secondary school is on the left, and the high school is on the right. There are several other schools in the town to accommodate the other age groups, so you will undoubtedly see your siblings again." He adjusted his tie. "Now, as Captain of the town, I assure you I will not spend the entire day here. However, I will spend half the day here until Elite Lord Piscar sends more Lords. You may be wondering how there are so many people here – but that's simply due to children and young adults from Marsten, Finar and outlying farms coming here too."

Clarence gestured to a few of the soldiers and civilian assistants who were waiting in the front row. "We had uniforms sent to your homes over the last few days. This building itself was made over the course of a week – with the help of pokémon, anything is possible. On the topic of pokémon, you are allowed your pokémon out inside, providing they are under six feet in size. Larger pokémon are allowed out in the park. With that stated, on the stage, there are satchels. Each satchel contains some quills and octillery ink. In a while, you can come up and take one. There are three different colours: sandy brown, dark brown or black. You'll then be taken to your home room."

Clarence paced, smiling at the crowd. "You will have access to the dorms upstairs. You are expected to spend Mondays and Fridays in the dorms. Why? Well, due to northern religions forcing fasting, we want to keep an eye on you all. Your timetables will be provided in your dorms later. You can stay overnight if you wish, or you can go home. The dorms are always available to you if you ever feel you can't go home for whatever reason."

James slumped back in his chair and waited to be called. He walked down the steps and went to pick up his satchel. The sandy ones are almost all gone. He looked up to see Kitiku being pushed over by Lioa.

"Give it, you twat!" Lioa punched Kitiku in the arm, taking his poké ball from his pocket. His gurdurr appeared in front of him and roared. "I want that bag."

"Cut it out, Lioa!" James pushed him back, grabbing his poké ball from his pocket. "I'll fight you. Okta, hit him!" The onix appeared from her poké ball in white and red light and immediately raised her golden tail, taking a deep breath and screeching.

"And there goes our roof…" Sutton muttered under his breath.

"You will withdraw the onix, or I will arrest you, throw you in jail and fine your parents." Clarence stepped back onto the stage and looked at James. "I understand you are riled up, and everything is new and stressful, but you two cannot fight inside. And now there is a hole in the roof."

Pressing the button on his poké ball, James grabbed the last sandy satchel from the floor. "Whatever." He leapt off the stage and walked over to the corridor.

"Hey, when is your birthday?" the Lord at the door said.

James scrunched his face up and shouted, "Why do you give a fuck?"

"Because it makes sure you get put into the right class. You don't want to get put into a class with six-year-olds, do you?" The Lord reached into his pocket, pulled out his lighter, and lit the cigarette in his mouth.

"Ugh, fine. February 15th 1975." James held onto the bag awkwardly.

"Excellent. Let me see… You are in J4. Once you are down there, they will sort you by town into classes, so don't worry too much." The Lord smirked.

Arsehole, James thought. I guess Andrew is in J1 or J2 if they do it by age. He turned around to see Kitiku being told his class. James took the left corridor up towards the far corner. He saw the blank white walls around the corridor. So dull.

"Finar in Ja, Fehahra in Jb, Marsten is in Jc, keep moving," the soldiers said.

James shoved his hands in his pockets and followed the corner to the back and into the room. The white walls were only made duller by the sunlight seeping through the window at the end of the room. He saw each wooden desk slanted, with an ink holder at the top. James walked to the back of the class and slumped down. He watched as the other students came in and sat down.

"Afternoon, all. I am Lord Orag from Elktan. I teach students just like you in the castle in Kirot-Akalt. I'd usually be teaching interrogation techniques, but for you here, I have been asked to teach my second topic – mathematics. This is your homeroom, and we don't know how good you are at mathematics, so we are going to do a test. However, before we do that, I will give you some keys. These keys are for your locker and your dorm. If you ever feel like you can't go home or need a class break, you can go there. We aren't monsters. Once you reach J3, you can leave classes as you see fit. You do not need to ask to go to the bathroom. You do not need to ask to go home if you are sick. We trust you. These keys will also activate the pokémon healing machine in the foyer. You will get more keys for your collection if you join clubs." Lord Orag walked down the aisles, asking for names as he did and handing out keys and test sheets.

"James Bryson." James scowled at the sheet on his desk. This is so dumb. He stood up and grabbed his bag.

"Where are you going?" Lord Orag asked.

"You said we can leave classes, you Elktan jerk." James craned his neck to look at him.

"Elkran. I'm not a jerk, and class is not an exam. Sit. I can see we will have to work on manners to Lords, but that's a later us job." He walked to the front of the room. "You have thirty minutes. Usually, we would ask you to put your pokémon and bags in your lockers, but since it is your first day… all in good time." Lord Orag tipped his hat and sat at the desk at the front. He pulled out a poké ball and pressed the button. A feraligatr appeared and silently stretched its tail. Its red spines folded a little at the tips.

James looked at the paper. Boring. Quickly, he turned it over and glanced at the feraligatr. Never seen one of those before. He grabbed his pen and started to sketch the water type on the back of his exam. Each line of the octillery ink was carefully carved into the page with precision. Damn, sharp teeth. He flicked the ink quill on the ends of the teeth to make it look like they had blood dripping off them. He felt his focus narrow in on each stroke of the pen.

"Five minutes to go," Lord Orag said.

James shuffled his chair forward, gently blew on the ink, and turned the test paper over. There are only numbers on this page with symbols and a few words… I assume this symbol means add and this one to take away. Fuck it, I don't care about this.

"Time. Please put our key number on the top." Lord Orag started to collect the papers around the room.

James groaned, scribbling his number down and slumping back on his desk. Waste of time. Couldn't read any of that other than the numbers. Bet some people in here couldn't even do that. The feraligatr stared down at him, and he reached over. His fingers ran against the blue scales. Feels weird. I guess that's Elktan pokémon for you.

Lioa got up. "Can I go now? Such a damn waste of time."

"You can go on lunch break, yes." Lord Orag sat back down at the desk. He placed his hand on his hearing aid. He observed as the class left, rushing to investigate the dorms.

James walked up to his desk and glanced at him. "What happened to you? Why did you get that thing in? What's that pokémon?"

"Feraligatr is a water type. As for the burns and my hearing aid, I was training to be a pilot. I was training, jumped off the top to get on my salamence, and landed, but sky pirates attacked us. My salamence was blind-sighted, spat fire and collided with a burning tree. I was trapped under burning branches. It burnt my ear and my face. Does that satisfy?"

"Must be a bad pilot to crash into a burning tree." James scrunched his face up.

"I suppose you are right." Lord Orag smiled at him.

James felt a shot, stinging pain on the side of his face. "Hey!" He turned around to see Lioa's fist. Lioa swung at him again, stumbling forward. His leg caught on the side of a desk, but he kept swinging through. James stepped back as the fist clashed with his face. He raised his fist and swung back, punching Lioa in the nose. He swung his other hand forward but was grabbed.

"Enough! What is wrong with you both? Starting a fight? Detention, both of you. After school. Go to the lunch hall, get your lunch and then go to your dorms, and you can stay there until the break is over." Lord Orag held James and Lioa's arms up, pulling them onto their tiptoes. "Now scoot."

James pulled his blazer straight and walked down the corridor. He took a turn past J1c and went up the stairs. He looked down at his key and walked to the door, which matched his key number. He pushed the key in and turned the handle. The room was warm. No window? That sucks. James stepped inside and shut the door behind him. Four desks and four bunk beds. Eight people per room? I guess they really wanted to squish people in here. Then again, I get it if it is like that Lord said. James walked to the end of the room and looked at the beds.

Underneath each bed were two draws. A small picture of him was stuck on one of them. I guess this is mine. He opened the draw. Inside was a white polo shirt and some black shorts. Underneath them was an orange jumper made from dubwool and a white sports shirt with letters scribbled on the back. He lifted that up to find a small wooden lean-to desk and a small digital device with a needle case underneath. Alright then…, I began to stand up and saw the locker and bookshelf indented into the wall. I guess that's where we keep our books. I hate this. He grabbed the timetables and stared at them. These are for next week.

J4 Cressellian

Thu

Fri

Sat

Sun

Mon

Tue

Wed

00:00

Night Time Curfew

01:00

02:00

03:00

04:00

05:00

Free Time

06:00

Breakfast Served

07:00

Option A

Colrat

Core D

Core B

Option E

Free Time