AN: Welcome back! It appears these chapters are just getting longer so my original promise to try making shorter chapters is a failure. Oh well, hopefully the fic is good anyway!
Here's some review reviews before we start:
WyldClaw: Glad you enjoyed them!
Silver's C. Jay: Glad you enjoyed it! After some calculation I figured Evan would come out on top, so that's what happened here.
KedharS: Action we are getting into! Slowly.
AnonChan1: Name is just a coincidence…or is it?
It's Grant, he always has a danger magnet on him. Poor guy.
Lots of interesting questions for lots of interesting Pokemon! You'll just have to wait and see….
I imagined Kea would react that way. Glad you're enjoying them! They'll certainly find some accessories later too…
Sashimi do be brutal.
MaMcMu: Lucky you, this chapter you get to find out.
Jeyko: Oh hey, new reader! Glad you're enjoying the fic!
coolhuh0526: Glad you're enjoying things! I think my battle skills have improved a bit…
Yeah, Evan and Jason's battle didn't have too many changes, but that's perfectly fine! Jason taking a backseat to Doom is gonna make things tricky later on indeed…
Asher is very very fun to write indeed! They're perfect for worldbuilding as well. And don't worry, one day you'll see Asher vs Ray. One day…
Glad you enjoyed the Ray vs Gwendolyn match more! It definitely needed some work from last time even if it ended the same way.
Rescue Wolf: Good to hear you liked it! Don't feel too pressured to review every chapter though.
Hyphenman: Super happy to see your reviews here! They'll make a fine addition to the other two long ones.
The battles were more fun this time! I've been experimenting with using the Pokemon's personality more in them as well as trying to cut down on just "this Pokemon used X move, other Pokemon used X move". It's been working pretty well!
Asher do be fantastic with the knowledge stuff. A trait I share as well! Kea is a riot too.
Was a pretty epic battle even if it's early enough you won't see the REAL high stakes ones yet. Ray vs Gwendolyn is always a recipe for epic battle.
You'll get Cole and Dravilius this chapter, fret not! Jeremy and Shelly are being saved for a little later though. Don't want to share too much info yet…
Anyways, chapter time! (-o-)
After the last few battles wrapped up, everyone immediately took off to explore the campus and figure out where their rooms were gonna be - and who they were gonna have to share them with.
Sherman was no exception to this. In fact, he beelined directly for where he presumed the dormitories were gonna be - which turned out to be a rather accurate guess, especially since they weren't very far from the central hall.
The dorms were all pretty similar - large, white five story buildings, each one with a different color roof and Pokemon symbol marked above the door. Sherman counted five of them, each one related to one of the most famous Pokemon in the Kanto region - which made sense, seeing as that was the region Uxira University officially belonged to.
The central one was the biggest and flashiest, a brilliant fiery red roof with a mighty Charizard painted above the door. Directly in front of it was a small Pokemon battle court, for anyone who walked out the barracks and made eye contact with a fellow battler. This was Sherman's destination, Charizard House and the designated dormitory for Battle Course students.
Flanking it were a green and a blue roofed building, one with a Venusaur and the other with a Blastoise. Venusaur House had a greenhouse on the side of it, which while hard to look into was clearly full of lots of berry trees and herbs. This was the dormitory for Research and Medical students, which Sherman immediately dismissed as the rooms for nerds. He doubted he'd interact with them much if at all.
Blastoise House, meanwhile, was plastered with posters advertising some art exhibition or another, although Sherman wasn't close enough to make out what they all were. Upon the concrete pathway that looped around all the dormitories, he spotted lots of drawings and paint from who knows what around this building. This must be the Arts Course dorms, which Sherman didn't care much for either.
To the left of Venusaur House was a yellow-roofed building featuring a Pikachu. This dorm looked a lot quieter and emptier than the others, and Sherman figured this must be the private rooms and guest rooms. Definitely nothing worth looking at there.
To the right of Blastoise House was the most plain-looking of them all. It was a white-roofed building, with a fearsome-looking Eevee (although nothing could stop its natural cuteness from leaking through) painted upon it. Outside was a series of exercise equipment including pull-up bars and weights, where some muscular students were already working out. The Ranger Course dorms, full of the only other cool people beside the battlers.
Sherman planned on sometime soon going over there and chatting to some of those cool strong Trainers, and possibly also defeating them in honorable combat. But first, he needed to check out his new room, and probably hit a Pokemon Center. While they had dominated in combat, as he expected, his team still needed a bit of rest and healing.
As he approached Charizard House, he noticed a rather bored-looking young man sitting at a desk outside the front doors, twirling a Pokeball around in his hand while constantly glancing around impatiently. He was rather flamboyantly dressed, as if meant to draw attention.
His hair was black with red streaks, styled to look like flames. His orange eyes held a spark of fierceness and strength his bored, lazing demeanor could not quite hide. His clothes consisted of a dark red jacket with orange decals over a black jersey advertising some popular rock band, as well as long black pants with a few tattered holes. On his left arm were three orange, red, and yellow bangles, while his other arm had a tight band with a ruby Charizard head glittering proudly on it. He looked very much like a Fire-type specialist - Sherman knew he had to be tough stuff.
Upon seeing Sherman approach, the young man immediately sat up, tucking the Pokeball back onto his belt. "Finally, one of you new students comes over here! I was beginning to wonder if any of you were gonna show up. Come on over here so I can get you signed in with your room key and all that Grimer."
Sherman dashed over to the table, eager to get signed in as fast as he could. The Trainer started digging through a pile of papers on the table, and asked, "Alright kiddo, what's your name?"
"I'm Sherman Gold, future knight in the making!", Sherman replied, striking a dramatic pose as if pointing a sword to the heavens - although he didn't actually have one.
"How fascinating.", the young man replied dryly, "Seems like you're not lacking in passion."
As he dug deeper into the pile, he said, "Meanwhile, I am Ember Smoke, among the strongest of the Nine Warriors and a master of fire types! Who really shouldn't have been put in charge of this nonsense. They could've at least put Carrie here or something, someone who doesn't actually have battle things they'd rather be doing."
Sherman didn't take note of the later half of that paragraph. His brain had instantly latched onto the words "Nine Warriors".
"What are the Nine Warriors?", he asked, a bit of his excitement leaking into his voice.
Ember smirked. "Oh, only among the strongest Trainers in the University. The nine strongest battlers in the Battle Course, that all have selected a specific type to specialize in. We're all gonna be Gym Leaders or Elite Four when we get out of here, you see. Our battle prowess is legendary, and there's no student who can easily stand a chance against us!"
He then sighed and plopped his face in the paperwork, scattering a few sheets. "Unfortunately, we also are given lots of chores to do around the campus. Training for when we're 'in charge of helping run a town' or something. Believe it or not Gym Leaders do a lot more than battling, especially in modern society. It's up to us to watch over cities and protect them if the League appoints us there. If only it weren't so much boring work…"
Sherman shrugged. That didn't deter him in the slightest. The thought of actually being in charge of running a town was actually pretty cool. He already had a few ideas to help improve his boring hometown. Arceus knew it needed it.
But he had other questions.
"What do you need to do to become a Nine Warrior?", he asked eagerly.
Ember chuckled. "Good luck with that kiddo. You gotta beat one of us in a Pokemon battle, AFTER you've been here for at least a year. Not only that, but we also gotta vote among ourselves to decide if you deserve such a prized position. And believe me, all of us are very hard to defeat…or get to agree on anything in a vote."
He finally found Sherman's paper and smiled. "Aha! Just sign every blank, and do be quick."
"What members are in the Nine Warriors right now, and what do they specialize in?", asked Sherman, sliding the papers in front of him and slipping a pencil out of his coat. He began to sign in the blanks as he waited for an answer.
"You really aren't getting this out of your head, are you?", Ember muttered. "Very well, I'll give you some more info."
As Sherman went through the paper, Ember explained, "Alright, so we're organized from First to Ninth, based on how many of the others we can beat. The First Warrior is Sawyer, super easy to deal with. He officially specializes in Normal types but he has quite a few Grass types on that team of his too. A pushover for someone like myself. The Second Warrior is Rorick. He decided to use Rock types as his specialty of all things, probably because the Muk-ing nerd is obsessed with archeology. I don't see the appeal of it myself, old stuff in the ground is boring."
He continued, "The Third Warrior is Yoru-hana. She's a sneaky master of Poison-types much like that one ninja from the Kanto region, although she loves Dark and Ghost as well. To be perfectly honest the only reason she isn't higher in the ranks is because she doesn't wanna be. Gotta be careful around that gorgeous smile, there's dark secrets in there. Probably a few skeletons too."
He muttered something that sounded oddly like "Although it would be worth it…" Sherman was sure he was hearing things though.
Ember cleared his throat. "Anyway, the Fourth Warrior is another nerd. Rika the Electric and Steel specialist. She loves tinkering with her machines and whatnot, never seems to have time to hang out with her best friend. A little too deep in the Doctor's pockets I think."
'The Doctor? Who's that?', Sherman wondered curiously.
"Number five is yours truly, the epic Ember and controller of fire! I utterly roast the competition!", Ember boasted, puffing up his chest.
Sherman raised an eyebrow. "But you're only number five. That means there is at least four people who don't get roasted by you."
Ember's face turned as red as his jacket. "Sh-shut up kid and sign your stupid paperwork. Anyways…the Sixth Warrior is Kyosha. A Muk-ing Water type specialist with no regard for the coolness and power of Fire types and just drowns them in water! Also I think she's in a cult or something. Also also, she sucks. There. Haha."
Sherman supposed it was safe to say Ember did not like this Kyosha person.
"The Seventh Warrior is Carrie.", Ember said nervously, "She is pretty strong and good at whatever she does. It's terrifying. You don't want to fight her I can tell you that."
"Why, what's her type specialty?", asked Sherman curiously. "Is it Dragon type?"
Ember shuddered. "No. It's Ice types."
Sherman stared at him. "Are you telling me this scary Warrior uses one of the weakest types as her specialty?"
Ember nodded sharply. "Yes, yes she does. I don't know how and frankly I don't know if I will. Doesn't help that she's basically our boss's right hand woman."
"Your boss? You mean the principal?", asked Sherman.
Ember chuckled. "Oh, no. Every League has its Champion you see, even our mock school one. She receives the orders from the top and gives them to us, as well as helps keep the Battle Course fun and exciting every day. I'm sure you'll learn more later. But right now you wanna know the Nine Warriors."
He continued, "The Eighth Warrior is Stewart. Very tough guy, specializes in Steel types. Basically an iron wall. You fight him you might as well try fighting a mountain."
Sherman rose an eyebrow. "I see. Lemme guess, the last guy is Dragon-type? That's always the strongest. The ultimate challenge, the final boss."
Ember chuckled. "Nope. In fact, to my knowledge there are no Dragon trainers on the campus. No…the Ninth Warrior is Robin. The mysterious master of ghosts and flying types. The only Trainer capable of truly challenging our champion!"
"Oh." Sherman felt a bit disappointed in that. He had been dreaming of facing down an army of dragons and defeating them, like the valiant knights in his storybooks. But oh well. This was but another part of his much longer journey.
"Tell me more about the school champion.", Sherman requested.
Ember smirked. "Oh don't worry, you'll hear about her soon enough. If you deserve her attention of course. But right now, we gotta finish that paperwork. Hurry up will you, you're almost on that last page."
Sherman flipped to said last page, and his eyes widened upon reading the next page. He then narrowed his eyes toward Ember, his mouth curled in disgust.
"What is this?!", he demanded, "'I will do all of Ember's boring tasks without payment or complaint, and must praise him as greatest among the students loudly in front of everyone!?' This is definitely not part of the sign-in sheet!"
"No one ever reads the fine print…", mumbled Ember.
Sherman replied crossly, "Well, I did, and I am not pleased. I expected more from an honorable Nine Warrior."
Ember sighed, grabbing the custom page he had made and crumpling it up. "There. Now before I give you your room key, I gotta run through the rules real quick. Prepare for some boring bureaucracy or whatever."
He grabbed a nearby clipboard, yawned, then began to read.
"Alright, don't go to the University Nature Reserve outside of the Ranger Course or a catching expedition, don't catch any Pokemon you find on campus unless they are confirmed to not be from the Reserve, only conduct Pokemon battles on designated courts so you don't accidentally damage University property or set the lawn on fire (which I totally did not do), all Pokemon over 6 ft are to be kept inside their Pokeballs unless you're outside (this one kid let his Steelix out in the locker rooms and nearly brought the stadium down), blah blah blah don't do anything stupid, don't miss class, all that fun stuff. Got it?"
Sherman blinked. "I think I'd like my own personal copy of the rules as well."
Ember muttered something that sounded rather like "rules lawyer".
"You can find them in Oranguru Hall. Where the principal gave you his typical welcome speech.", he grumbled.
Sherman gave him a charming grin. "Thank you!"
Ember gave him an odd look, before reaching over to a small box on the table and pulling out a small red card. "Your room number is on the back of this thing. I'd recommend not losing this because you really don't wanna get locked out of your room. Breaking down the door with a Pokemon could help if you did lose it, but I really don't recommend that. Although it would be funny. Also, don't forget you new kids need to get your IDs finalized at Oranguru Hall later."
Sherman nodded. "Of course. Thanks for letting me know!"
Ember shrugged. "Yeah, no problem."
Sherman then immediately took off towards Charizard House, eager to get his stuff unpacked and see who his roommates were gonna be. This was where his home fort would be for a long while, after all. He needed to get to know it well.
He dashed through the glass doors (nearly breaking them, if they hadn't been built to withstand a Hyper Beam) and entered the common area. In here it looked a lot more like a battler's hangout - posters of famous Champions and Elite Four members hanging on the walls, miscellaneous Pokeballs and gadgets lying about, some furniture that looked like it had seem some wear and tear, and a giant TV currently broadcasting a Trainer on their first Gym Challenge, which appeared to be Brock from the Kanto region. Sherman didn't pay it any attention - Brock was pretty boring by Gym Leader standards. Wasn't good for anything other than celebrity magazines hypothesizing over which girl he was going to try dating next.
Sherman wasn't at all interested in that kind of drama.
He quickly strode through the commons area, hurrying down the hall at the other end of it. There were some stairs and an elevator here, and Sherman immediately took to the stairs. He quickly climbed them up to the third floor, which is where his room key said he was located.
Up there it was rather empty and quiet - which made sense since it appeared he'd been Ember's first sign-in. Sherman soon found his room a few doors down from the stairway. The door looked rather plain, and Sherman made a mental note to hang a coat-of-arms or something on there.
He just needed to find one for himself first. But that was a problem for later.
Upon opening the door, he was greeted with the sight of his new room for the first time.
It wasn't very spacious. There were two bunkbeds at the far corners of the room, with closets for all the inhabitants to the right and a tiny bathroom door on the left.. There was a large window looking out towards the beach in front of Sherman, with a cozy study desk sitting underneath it. By each bed was a plain nightstand, which was pretty boring. There were also a few simple chairs, also boring.
In the middle of the room, carefully stacked were the bags for all the inhabitants. Sherman wondered if he could figure out who his roommates were by checking them out.
There were his bags of course, of which there were only a few, each one colorcoded to tell him what they had. He was rather good at precisely organizing his stuff into neat perfect order - he couldn't let it be anything less, after all! A knight had to maintain their personal standards to the highest degree.
There was a large duffel bag in the center of the pile, which Sherman spotted as having Charlie's name on the tag. Oooh, so he got to room with him!? That was fantastic!
Next to that duffel bag was a few smaller ones, with the name Ray on them. Sherman didn't recognize the guy. Probably someone he wouldn't be interested in.
Sherman then frowned. There were four beds, but only three people's bags. Where was number four?
He then noticed one small dirty knapsack to the side, barely noticeable unless you were looking for it. Sherman rose an eyebrow. How could you even fit one day's clothes in there? Much less any other stuff. Someone had severely underpacked. Sherman wasn't looking forward to dealing with that.
There was no visible label on it. Sherman curiously walked over and picked it up, recoiling a bit at the smell of it. Someone hadn't been cleaning their bag.
As he looked for a label, suddenly someone shouted, "Oi, that's ours! Drop it!"
Sherman yelped and dropped the knapsack, looking up to see Tom Tom glaring at him from the window, with Grant struggling to climb up behind him. The Meowth slid the window all the way open and slipped his way through the window, with Grant following suit.
…Except his big muscular body got stuck halfway through. Grant grunted and struggled, trying to squeeze his way in, but he was stuck fast.
Sherman stared at him with a very odd look as he continued to squirm, as Tom Tom ran over, grabbed the bag, and pulled it over to one of the bunks. He seemed oblivious to Grant's predicament.
"Why are you guys climbing through the window?", asked Sherman, recovering from his initial surprise.
Tom Tom shrugged. "Didn't want to deal with the hothead out there. Plus, we like to arrive in style! After all we have no style otherwise."
Grant wheezed desperately, "Help me I'm stuck."
Tom Tom cupped his ear. "Eh? What was that? Didn't hear a please in there."
Grant groaned. "Don't even start, just get me out of here…"
Sherman rolled his eyes, striding across the room and grabbing Grant's muscular arms. They felt rather nice, oddly enough, but Sherman fought that thought back as he seized Grant with all his strength and pulled.
Thankfully, Sherman hadn't ever sat around and wasted away, and so was quite athletic. This made it relatively easy for him to yank Grant into the room and save him from his predicament.
Unfortunately, he pulled a little too hard, sending them both crashing into the floor and making a racket that could probably be heard in the entire building. Grant was no featherweight.
As the two groaned and got back up, Sherman became acutely aware of Tom Tom's maniacal laughing. The Meowth was rolling on the floor, pointing at Grant and laughing his head off.
"You're so fat you needed the little kid to pull you through the window! This is too funny! Ahahahaha!", the Meowth screeched, rolling all over the place.
"Oi, I'm not fat! This is all muscle I have no problem introducing to your face!", Grant snapped.
"And I'm not a little kid!", pouted Sherman, "I am a full-blown teenager! I am much better than that!"
Unfortunately all that did was make Tom Tom laugh harder.
Grant gave Sherman an apologetic look. "Sorry about that. He's always like this."
Sherman crossed his arms with a huff. "I see. Can't you not just return him to his Pokeball or something?"
"Believe me I've tried.", sighed Grant, "He's like Red's Pikachu, damn thing just never goes in the ball. Always has to be out and making mischief."
Sherman sighed. "Damn. Well, I'm certain I can get that rascally Meowth to leave me alone quickly enough, when my Pokemon defeat him in battle - OI PUT THAT DOWN!"
"What, this?", asked Tom Tom innocently, holding up a poster he had snatched out of Sherman's bag while they had been talking, "What even is it? Some silly performer girl or something you're attracted to?"
Sherman glared and ran over to try to snatch the poster from him. "No, and that's mine!"
Tom Tom rolled away from Sherman's grasping hands, unfurling the poster as he did so. "Oh, what's this? Sir Aaron? You do know he's dead right? Also not a girl."
Sherman furiously tackled the Meowth, causing Tom Tom to yelp in surprise as Sherman yanked the poster free from his paws. Sherman slid across the floor, hoping that it hadn't been clawed up or his hairdo hadn't been ruined.
"Damn you're actually fast.", Tom Tom commented, "I wouldn't have kept it, you know. Just teased you a bit about your crush or whatever that is."
Sherman's face flushed. "That's not my crush! That's the legendary hero I want to emulate! A mighty knight, fearless in battle, defeater of dark evils and vanquisher of dragons!"
Tom Tom shrugged. "Same difference."
Sherman clenched his jaw. He knew better than to deviate to a Pokemon's level and argue with a freaking Meowth, so he chose to instead change the subject.
"Any other roommates planning to go through the window?", asked Sherman, as he hung up his poster delicately.
Grant shook his head. "I highly doubt it. I do wonder who the other two are gonna be though."
"And I wanna know what shiny things they have.", Tom Tom said smugly, "For viewing purposes of course. What else."
Sherman gave him a stern look. To his credit, Tom Tom wasn't cowed.
After that, Sherman started unpacking, while Grant immediately picked the closest bunk and flopped facefirst on it. "This is ridiculously comfy…", he muttered, his voice muffled by the mattress.
Tom Tom immediately jumped onto his back, curled up, and started snoozing. Grant grumbled something, but by magic of the cute sleeping Pokemon on top of him, could not move an inch.
Meanwhile Sherman set to work, kicking the dirty knapsack under that bed while he started getting his stuff tidied up. He wondered just what this roommate situation was gonna lead to…he anticipated a lot of cleaning in his future.
Oh well. He loved hard work. He also hated things not being clean and tidy.
Sherman hoped his other roommates would turn out better than Grant and Tom Tom were gonna be…(-o-)
As soon as the battles concluded, Tori slipped off to a quiet part of the campus, where she hoped she could be in private. As much as she wanted to head to the dorms and meet her new roommates, she had something to deal with first.
Upon finding a bench hidden behind a maintenance building, Tori sat down and placed her bag down in her lap. "You can come out now.", she whispered.
There was some rustling, as an Alolan Vulpix pulled herself out of the bag. Her fur was a soft lilac, and her eyes were an odd color - one red, one orange. She wore a warm blue cape with white fur, as well as purple sunglasses perched on her pointed ears and a pendant with a shimmering blue stone filled with frozen bubbles. She squirmed her way free, her fluffy tails getting stuck on various things as she clambered out.
"It's so freaking hot in there.", she whined, "I can't stay in there anymore, I'm a freaking Ice type!"
Tori replied sadly, "I know, but we have to, Luna. We can't let anyone know you're here, it's too dangerous."
Luna sighed, "You're so paranoid. The governments have got to have better things to do than hunt down everyone who got transformed, the war ended seven years ago for Arceus's sake! Don't you think their censor mission is over by now?"
"Well, the same people are still in power.", Tori pointed out, "And we'd never know if they did end it, right? By its very nature as a secret erasure program."
Luna sighed, her ears drooping. "Well, can we at least stop leaving me in the bag? Surely there's some better way for me to stay hidden and safe. I don't see why you couldn't just put me in a Pokeball so I can pretend to be your Pokemon and not draw any attention."
Tori replied exasperatedly, "I already told you why I can't do that. You're a human, not a Pokemon, and it just feels wrong to try and catch you in a Pokeball as if you're some wild Pokemon. Besides, I have no idea what it'd even do to you! It's safer not to risk it."
"If I die of heatstroke in that bag it won't be.", Luna replied crossly.
Tori sighed and leaned back. "Yeah, you're right. There has to be something else we can do."
Luna stretched, and said, "Well, if you still don't wanna try catching me, I suppose I could hide somewhere on campus. There looks to be a lot of hiding spots, and people aren't allowed to catch Pokemon on the campus anyway. I think."
Tori thought about it for a moment. "I suppose we could look for somewhere. I wanna make sure I can find you though. And that no one else does."
Luna nodded. "Mhm. We should also pick somewhere pretty remote that you can hide in, whenever you go through one of your…phases."
Tori winced. She'd been trying not to think about that.
"I guess maybe we could try to see if there's anywhere remote we could go to.", Tori said, "There is that giant nature reserve on the campus. Perhaps we could look over there."
Luna nodded. "Why don't we go check that out then? We should have plenty of time today."
Tori nodded back. "Yeah, let's go."
She stood up, and Luna leaped down to the ground next to her. Tori held out the bag, but Luna shook her head. "We should be safe right now, everyone's probably touring the main campus or sitting in their rooms, so no one should see us. I also really really don't want to go back in there. I need to cool off anyway."
Tori looked around nervously. "I guess so, big sis…"
Luna chuckled. "You need to stop calling me that, look at how little I am compared to you. Also, I highly doubt we'll run into some secret agent or something looking for me while we're walking around here, you really gotta relax."
Tori shrugged. "Heh, good luck with that. You are still my older sister after all. And I don't really wanna take too many chances…"
Luna smiled reassuringly, as best a fox could. "We'll be fine, don't worry. Come on, let's go find that safe spot or whatever."
The two strolled down one of the smaller pathways, carefully staying away from the big buildings. Tori was amazed at how expansive the campus was - there was a lot to be seen and done here! She knew she was definitely gonna have to take time to explore it all later, most likely with whoever her new roommates were gonna be.
She was very excited for the opportunity to meet them. She hadn't had much chances to settle down and make friends in the last few years, and she hoped this would be a good way to do so.
She just had to figure out how to avoid letting her little problem ruin things…and keep Luna safe in case these potential new friends were anti-morphs.
As they started turning off the path and heading towards the tall stretch of green around the campus, Luna's ears suddenly perked up in alarm, causing her to dash under Tori's gown in order to hide. Tori yelped in surprise, and she only got more startled when another woman suddenly appeared on the path ahead of her, brushing leaves off her outfit. It seemed she had just popped out of the bushes, though what she'd been doing in there Tori had no idea.
This new person looked rather odd in general. She wore a black trench coat and cargo pants, and wore tall thick army boots. Slung over her shoulder was a simple locked purse, and around her waist was a belt with more pouches attached to it. On her wrists were odd-looking tight silver bracelets, and a matching silver choker hung around her neck. Her eyes were a fierce fiery orange, a flame only beaten by her bright red hair - which was currently styled into a long braid. A pair of oddly familiar black sunglasses sat atop her head, which gave Tori an uneasy feeling. One only reinforced by the porkpie hat hanging off the stranger's hip.
"Ummm…hi?", greeted Tori nervously.
The woman gave her a cold look. "Hello."
"My name's Tori, and I'm one of the new students here.", Tori introduced, "Uh, how about you?"
The woman thought for a moment. "Victoria. I am also one of the new students. I believe I remember seeing you on the boat."
Tori nodded. "Yeah, I guess I'm not very missable in this dress…don't think I saw you though."
Victoria replied, "I would be surprised if you did. I am very good at concealing myself if I so choose."
Tori thought that that wasn't concerning at alllll.
Victoria looked around warily, then said, "Perhaps you could be of assistance. You see, while I'm here studying whatever they have worth studying, I also have another mission. If you see anything strange at all, do let me know. It's very important that you do."
She glanced at her watch. "We can talk more later. I have somewhere to go. You'll probably find me at the library most of the time. Farewell."
She immediately took off, leaving Tori standing there, very confused and concerned about what just happened.
After Luna was sure she was gone, she slipped out from under Tori's dress. "So…what was that?", she asked nervously.
Tori looked at her with an unreadable expression. "So…what was that you said about us not running into any secret agents here?" (-o-)
Victor was marching through the campus when he first saw the strange man.
At first he had thought they were some odd Pokemon. A green-cloaked figure with spiky black horn-like hair, watching from atop the roof of one of the school shops. When Victor looked to try to get a better glimpse, though, they leaped away and vanished.
Victor figured he had nothing better to do at the moment, so decided to follow them.
His heavy metal boots pounded through the perfectly green grass and over the warm dirt, the white stone that formed every facility on campus rising up around him. His deep dark blue eyes scanned the area with the skill of a trained hunter, the scar running down across the left one a symbol of one of his battles. His strong reinforced armor pressed firmly against his muscled chest, a bandolier full of items rustling against it. Victor brushed a lock of dirty-blond hair aside with a gauntleted hand and tucked it under his old northman helmet, looking for a glimpse of that dark green.
There, near the pink roof of the local Pokemon Center (currently surrounded by a crowd of students trying to get their Pokemon healed from that round of battles). The green-cloaked figure stood next to another student plucked from the crowd, one who had a mishmash of colors on their clothes and was rather pudgy, something Victor could tell even from this distance.
The green cloak seemed to spot him, and gave a little bow. Then they took the pudgy kid by the hand, and took off towards the thick forest on the horizon.
Victor suspected something very odd was going on, and moved faster, shifting his massive backpack to be more comfortable as he did so.
As he ran, more of the reserve came into view. Victor had known it was massive from his research on the school, but he hadn't quite realized how massive. The forest wrapped around the entire campus, a veritable wall of wood and leaves filled with Pokemon. Beyond it, Victor could see the tips of the sand-carved spires of the desert zone, the distant mist of the frigid islands where Ghost and Ice and Water types made their home, and looming above all the great volcano the island had been born from. Today only a faint spire of smoke rose from it, the distant silhouettes of flying Pokemon weaving around it.
The green cloak had vanished again. Arceus knows what he was doing with the pudgy kid.
As the forest grew closer, Victor noticed a tall metal fence wrapping around it, broken up every ten feet or so by a tall pole glowing with a faint blue energy, styled to look like little towers. Victor could spot the curled flame symbol of Lysandre Labs on the side of the nearest one.
He spotted movement out of the corner of his eye, and whirled around to see the green cloaked guy fall out of the sky and land flat on his face.
But immediately the man leaped back to his feet, twirling his cloak dramatically as if nothing had happened at all.
Now that the stranger was directly in front of him, Victor could get a better look at his appearance. They were rather tall, taller even than him, a point only magnified by their spectacular spiky black hair that wouldn't look out of place in a Dragonite Ball Z episode - not to mention how it resembled a crown of dragon horns. The young man's eyes were golden and unreadable, making Victor feel a bit unsettled whenever he looked at them too long.
The stranger's green cloak was stitched to resemble dragon scales, now that Victor was closer and could see it. Golden trim lined the edges, and an unusual symbol shimmered on the back of it. It seemed like a diamond attached to a winding serpentine loop, the meaning of which was lost to Victor. Beneath the cloak, the man wore a black and red tunic and pants, with tall boots that had clearly seen lots of wear and tear. An old strip of leather around his waist carried his Pokeballs (which much to Victor's curiosity were wooden), as well as a perfectly sealed pouch the usefulness of which was unknown to Victor.
All in all, this whole character looked strange and mysterious, and Victor did not know what to expect from them. Something that did not usually happen with anyone Victor met.
The stranger gave a soft grin at Victor, revealing sharp teeth, and bowed deeply. "Greetings, strong warrior! Before you stands Lord Dravilius Skyborn, master of dragons!"
He twirled around, his cape flaring out as he brandished a Pokeball. "Additionally, I like to play games! Do you perhaps like hide-and-seek?"
Victor stared, not quite processing what was going on. "Um, not particularly. What did you do with that kid you walked away with?"
Dravilius grinned. "Oh, you mean Cole? Why, he's part of the game! You gotta find him within the time limit, and perhaps win a fabulous prize! And if you fail, you'll get to be the next person to be seeked!"
Victor rose an eyebrow. "And what if I don't want to?"
Dravilius smiled innocently. "Oh, you will."
Victor did not like the aura he was getting off this guy.
"Where is this Cole fellow?", he demanded.
Dravilius shook his head. "Can't tell you. You gotta find him. He's in this area somewhere, and you've only got ten minutes."
He smiled cheerfully. "Have fun!"
Victor stepped forward, narrowing his eyes. "Wait, you-"
But Dravilius was already in the air, his Pokeball having opened up to release a small green dragon with apple slices for wings. The Flapple was carrying him high into the air, Dravilius leaning back as if he was in a lawn chair back home.
Victor scowled. Guess he got to play this "dragon master's" stupid game.
Thankfully, he had the perfect tool for this.
Lifting up his right gauntlet, he pulled a hidden lever. On the surface of the glove, an odd tablet began to glow, before popping out of it was a Pidgey made of energy. Victor started tapping at the screen of the tablet, and the holo-Pidgey took off, the screen broadcasting the view from its eyes. Victor started following the drone at a distance, carefully studying the screen for any glimpse of Cole.
However, it appeared Dravilius had hidden them quite well. Victor did not like that at all.
The Pidgey's eyes turned to the trees of the reserve, scanning through the dark lush leaves. Nothing stood out…until Victor caught a glimpse of an orange scarf in a mess of branches hanging over the fence.
Victor was over there in a flash, rapidly appearing under the branches. Looking up, he could see the pudgy kid, who was almost entirely wrapped in vines. They were just staring up at the sky, as if pondering life.
Their zany colorful outfit was even more obvious up close. With a green shirt, black sleeves, purple headband, bright red shoes, blue sweatpants, green backpack, incredibly messy brown hair, and of course the orange scarf, the mishmash of colors made them easily recognizable. Victor didn't care much for their appearance, though. Only on getting them down.
Which shouldn't be too hard at all.
Victor tapped a few buttons on his gauntlet, recalling the drone, before tapping a few more and causing a grappling hook to appear at the end of his fist. He fired it, grappling onto the lower branches and pulling himself up onto them.
Above him, Cole squirmed nervously, especially since he couldn't see Victor. Perhaps he was worried there was some Pokemon sneaking up the branches.
"Don't worry kid, I'm gonna get you down from there.", Victor said gruffly, nimbly climbing up the tree. He'd had lots of experience climbing trees and mountains when he was younger, so this wasn't hard at all.
But as he was climbing, Dravilius suddenly dropped down next to him.
"Why, that was quick!", the young man declared, "I think I made it too easy! No no, this simply won't do. A dragon's challenge should be only defeatable by the strongest of warriors!"
Victor narrowed his eyes. "Why you better not-"
Dravilius then clapped his hands together with a thunderous sound, and suddenly massive apples started raining down from above, thudding against Victor's armor and threatening to dislodge him. Looking up, he saw the Flapple whirling around, summoning apples left and right.
As Victor struggled against the apple storm, the branches started sagging under the weight of something heavy. Looking up, Victor saw a Shelgon sitting at the feet of Cole's trap, a shimmering blue shield around it. Protect.
At the same time, Victor felt his feet heating up. He looked down and saw a massive red-and-yellow spiky turtle, spraying a steady jet of flames upwards. A Turtonator!
"Okay this is getting ridiculous.", Victor muttered. Suddenly this hide-and-seek game had turned very dangerous indeed. He was gonna need to continue with caution, especially as he doubted this was all of Dravilius's Pokemon.
Thankfully, he'd survived worse.
Carefully avoiding the flames from below, Victor climbed higher and higher, slipping under the cover of a tree limb whenever an apple fell too near him. Soon he was almost level with the Shelgon.
The armored dragon growled, but did not move. It just sat there and maintained its protect shield.
Victor heard something behind him, and turned to see Dravilius hanging upside down from the tree. "Oh dear, you only have five minutes left. And that dragon isn't going anywhere. Guess you got to battle me! Unless you'd rather give up and let someone else look for you?"
Victor gritted his teeth, looking towards the shield again. His eyes carefully calculated the size and area, and he smirked.
"Nah, Imma do my own thing.", he said, then leaped off the tree, kicking his feet against the trunk to boost his height. He somersaulted over the Shelgon, and landed on the opposite end of the limb, causing it to creak and bend. Cole looked towards Victor's face, green eyes wide as the thick vines remained tight around him.
Dravilius stared as Victor shimmied up the limb, reaching Cole swiftly. Victor looked down at Cole, and growled, "Whatever you do, do not move."
He slipped his knife from his belt, causing Cole's eyes to bulge in alarm. Victor ignored that however, simply cutting through the vines with surgical precision. Unfortunately, they were still extremely thick, and it was taking him some time.
When he was about halfway down, and Cole was getting looser, Dravilius called, "You've got one minute! Might as well surrender now!"
Victor growled. "Not on my watch."
He looked towards Cole. "This might hurt."
Cole, who was still gagged by a section of moss so he didn't scream, turned pale.
Victor leaped towards the dangling end of the branch again, dropping down until he was hanging only by his arms. The Shelgon turned to look at him quizzically, as Victor started pulling down on the branch.
The branch started to creak as it bent down, Victor's jaw clenched with exertion. The branch started to splinter, and with a fierce roar Victor leaped up and jumped down onto the branch with all the weight of his armor.
There was a resounding snap, and the branch broke off, falling towards the earth with a crash. Cole gave a muffled yelp, and the Shelgon went rolling off to the side. The dragon gave Victor a murderous look, but didn't move.
Dravilius stared from the tree, amazed. Victor crossed his arms and declared, "I found Cole and got him down. Have I won your stupid game now?"
Dravilius shrugged. "Very well. Who am I to argue with a handsome man of such strength?" He snapped his fingers, and his Flapple screeched at the vines. They loosened and slid off of Cole, allowing the kid to sit up and rip the gag off his face.
"WHAT IN THE DISTORTION WAS THAT!?", he screamed, causing a flock of Starly to rise up from the trees and flee.
"A kidnapping.", Dravilius commented cheerfully, "Not sure why they call it that though. You weren't doing much napping."
"I'm also not a kid.", Cole said crossly, crossing his arms.
Victor scoffed. "Anyways, it's time for you to let us both go."
Dravilius shrugged. "If you insist. I greatly enjoyed myself there, after all. I look forward to interacting more with you!"
"If fate is kind, we will not.", Victor replied, anger lurking in his voice.
Dravilius smiled darkly. "If you say so. Anyways, a fantastic prize, as promised."
He slipped a pouch out of his sleeve and tossed it to Victor's feet, where it hit the ground with a loud clinking sound. Victor picked it up, looking in cautiously in case this was a trick.
He was not anticipating a pile of gold coins inside.
"Enjoy! A small portion of my hoard, for such a charming warrior.", Dravilius declared cheerfully. "I'll see you at the dorms! This will be my first time sharing a lair with humans."
Then he was gone, leaving Victor and Cole standing there.
"So uh, now what?", Cole asked nervously.
Victor looked towards the campus. "We check out our dorms, I think. I'd recommend you lock yours up tight and stay close to other Trainers."
Cole sighed. "Yeah…"
The two set off towards the dorms, parting ways once they were close. After dealing with all that nonsense, Victor was looking forward to sitting down and decompressing.
His boots clanked up the stairs as he walked up to his floor, spotting his room instantly. He opened the door, looking to see his future roommates for the first time.
Only to see a familiar face sitting in the center of the floor, grinning with joy.
"This is absolutely wonderful!", Dravilius declared.
Victor immediately slammed the door shut.
This was absolutely despicable. (-o-)