"So that's the library, there's the cafeteria, down through that corridor is out onto the school ground with the practice pitches and then you have the stair and lift up to the dorms" Poppy says storming quickly around the school as I try to keep up with her
"Hey woah can we go a little slower" I say struggling to keep up
She sighs and rolls her eyes
"Well I wanna get through things quickly, the prez is battling at the moment!"
"The prez?" I question
She wave me to follow as she rushes down the corridor, we come into a large room with a huge screen at the back which is showing a battle in progress. It's from the junior world championship which was into the semi finals now. The battle shows a young girl with dark hair with one streak of green into it wearing a Naranja academy school uniform, it pans across as she commands an Infernape in battle against a Porygon-Z. We make our way into the back of the room and watch as it filled to the brim with spectators from the school
"Thats Nemona, she's the student council president and resident pain in my ass" Poppy explains
"She is battle mad and pretty damn good at it, she one of only three Champion ranked trainer studying at the school presently"
"Champion ranked?"
"Yeah, works differently here in Paldea, there are multiple champions with the title being awarded for completing the Pokemon League exam" she answers as the coverage shows the two Pokemon really battling hard
"Oh right, so who are the others?"
"There is Eri, she was once part of Team Star but once they were disbanded and their bases re-tooled as training areas she took on the exam and aced it and well the other is yours truly" She says with a wide grin
"You beat it?"
"Yep, took me two tries but got there in the end"
"Wow, that's impressive"
I look to the screen to see Infernape has taken down Porygon-Z as it pans across to its trainer
"Oscar!" I shout alerting all the other students in the venue
"Oh uh sorry about that" I say bowing as they return to watching
"I thought his battle was at 3pm" I mumble to myself
"It 3:30 now you know?"
"It is?! Uh I must have lost track of time with the tour and all the papers I had to sign"
The screen show Oscar pondering his next move, it then flashes to the scoreboard to show Oscar only has a single Pokemon left whereas Nemona still possesses 3 with two yet to battle
"Wow she must be really strong if she beating Oscar"
"you know him?"
"Yeah, he was my rival in Johto. We ended up battling at the Johto conference, he trounced me"
We watch the rest of the battle, Politoad is last up for Oscar while Nemona send out a large Dunsparce which Poppy explains is an evolution called Dudunsparce. The battle ends fairly quickly as Politoad looks tired out already so it must have been in battle before hand. The students begin to filter out once the battle is over, it show some longing shots on Oscar look disappointed as he trudges down the tunnel
"I'll give him a call later" I mumble to myself
"He did pretty well, taking out three of Nemona Pokemon is no mean feat, she beaten all her other opponent only losing two Pokemon throughout all the battles"
"I see, still he will be upset"
She shrugs
"Theres always others out there that are stronger, you just gotta try to do your best"
"I guess" still looking at the screen the matchup for the Junior World Championship final flashes up showing Nemona and another familiar face
"Alvin!" I shout again causing Poppy to jump slightly
"You gotta stop that okay" she barks at me
"Sorry"
"You know him too? Another friend"
"No he's a douchebag"
"Right okay"
"He is a pompous, stuck up arrogant asshole" I spit
"Sheesh tell him how you really feel"
I take a seat on a nearby chair as I let the feeling of anger simmer down in me
"You good?" Poppy questions
I nod before standing back up
"I didn't realise he had made it into the competition" I say pulling my phone out and scrolling to his profile
Looks like after Kanto he had headed to Unova, he had won the Ventress Conference with ease with an absolutely stacked team of powerful Pokemon, all the starter with hidden abilities, Metagross, Haxorus, Volcarona and more. He got a near perfect record since he began his trainer career only having only lost 5 times. I click on to see how he had lost too, he lost to Grimsley of the elite four in his third of 4 matches, he had lost his first gym battle in Unova to Cheren as well as a trainer from Aspertia named Max and finally his last two attributed losses were to me
"You've beat him twice!" Poppy exclaims looking over my shoulder
"Uh yeah I did in Kanto"
"But wait it says he won the Kanto Junior Division but you beat him, how does that work?"
"I beat him in the battle but retired afterward from the competition, they let him go through afterwards"
"Oh can I ask why you retired?"
I feel a sense of dread wash over me
"Uh family stuff"
She nods understandingly
"Right well there is one last stop, home room. We in the same one actually, we've got a mystery teacher as well"
"Mystery teacher?"
"Yeah, only the director knows who it is, we meeting them today, apparently they are exchange teacher"
I nod and follow her lead, she take me down through the corridor and up one set of stairs bringing us to class 2-B, it wasn't a lesson so there weren't many students in class, there were two at the back talking accompanied by a Fuecoco and Turtwig while a boy with white hair with brown streaks sit at the front. The teacher is facing toward the board moving some of the captions around on the presentation before she turns around and spots us
"Ah just the two I have been waiting to see"
"Aunt Daisy!" Poppy exclaims pointing towards her
"Lovely to see you too Poppy, I saw you stomping around the school at some pace so I assumed you were giving Dustin the tour" She says moving forward with a smile
"What are you doing?"
"I'm the exchange teacher of course, the director said they need a teacher to take on the Pokemon ecology class and I thought it would be a nice fit" She says with a devilish smirk
Poppy sighs loudly clearly vexed by the situation
"Lovely to see you Dustin, how are you settling in?" she questions
"I'm doing great, I'm just waiting to be assigned a dorm room"
"Oh actually I got passed the key and details bear with me" She says moving to her desk and pushing some things around
"Ah here we go" She says before moving back and passing it to me
"Great, I'm dorm 4 room 5"
"Oh you'll be next to Arven" Poppy says pointing towards the boy on the front row
"Hey Arven, get over here!" She shouts causing him to cover his ears
"You don't need to shout little buddy" He says before pulling himself up
"Nice to meet you" He says holding his hand out which I take a shake
"Likewise" I say shaking it back
"Poppy do you know is Miss Penny will be joining us today?"
She shrugs
"I've not heard from her today, she was talking about watching a new season of some show so she is probably hold up in her room with snacks"
"I see, well make sure you introduce Dustin to her when you can please. In the meantime, Arven would you be able to show Dustin to his dorm room, I have a discussion I need to have with Poppy about some certain situations that the Director has made me aware of"
"Uh sure" He says nervously
"Come on little buddy, I don't think this is going to be pretty" He whispers to me before pulling me away
He whisks me out the door as Daisy begins to rant about Team Star from a far, he pulls me up the stairs to the dormitory levels.
"Sorry about that, I didn't want to see a full blown Persian fight between those too, the new teach seems tetchy from the small amount I spoke to her"
"She's lovely actually, she a little protective I get the feeling she just trying to look out for Poppy" I explain
"Well, lets hope things blow over before our next home room meeting, ah yeah here we go" he says stopping in front of the door the room 5
"So I'm in three just there, if you ever need anything just give us a shout, anyone who is a friend of Poppy is a friend of mine too. I'm a mean cook to so if you want any midnight snacks just knock"
"Thank you" I say with a smile pushing open the door
As I do there is a flash of yellow that bursts past hitting Arven in the midriff
"Ah! What the heck!" he shouts as he hits the wall
I look to see a Pichu on the floor, it rubs it forehead in discomfort before shaking itself off. It has an odd appearance, it is defiantly a shiny but it also has an odd shape to it right ear with it having a spiky outer edge
"Oh so that's where you were hiding out!" Arven shouts as Pichu shakes itself so more
"A Pichu, is it yours?" I question
"No this is a wild one, it lives up in the tree house but comes down here to steal food from the dorms all the time" Arven replies
"You're a cute little guy" I says crouching down to its level
It leans back looking at me uncomfortably but slapping me with its tail. I lean back to avoid it falling onto my backside in the process. It sprints off down the corridor, when it get to the end it sticks it tongue out blowing it at us before scampering into one of the air vents
"So annoying" Arven spits
"You okay?" He question as I pull myself back to my feet
"Yeah all good, what's the story with Pichu?"
"No one knows, it been here for ages apparently, even the director not fully sure when it first got here, couple people have tried to catch it but haven't been able to, its surprisingly strong in battle. Nemona beaten it a few time and she asked it to join her but it always turns her down"
"I see, weird little guy"
"Girl, its female"
"Oh okay, how do you know?"
"Apparently the spiky ear trait is a hereditary recessive gene according to Penny, only come out in females for some reason, some Professor from Johto did research on it"
"Professor Elm?"
"Yeah I think it was that, nice knowledge little buddy. Anyway, your bags will be inside, make sure it hasn't ransacked any Pokemon food you were carrying. First home room is 10am tomorrow so get yourself unpacked and I will see you down there"
"Thanks, see you tomorrow"