It was a windy afternoon in Shynda, lessons were already over, and everybody was busy engaging in their shenanigans. The first week of school was the best time to get used to the place, as the workload was still pretty light, and Oliver had been making good use of his free time by taking photos of everything he could.
He was lurking around the Academy's roof, his Oshawott tagging along, and his camera hanging around his neck. Some Unfezants had begun building a nest on top of a ventilation pipe in preparation for the colder seasons. They probably wanted to use the heat released to warm their future Pidoves during the winter, which was not a bad idea.
His objective was to snatch a photo of the Pokémon. He could have tried submitting it to a nature magazine or contest on how Pokémon interact with man-made structures, but now, he just wants that photo.
He got closer to the birds who had just landed on top of the vent, some sticks in their mouth.
He soon faced a pretty big problem, though: any step he took risked scaring the Unfezants. If he had gotten even closer, they would have probably attacked him or just flown away, but he needed those last few steps if he wanted a perfect shot; his camera's zoom wasn't good enough from that distance.
He began moving slowly and steadily, taking who knows how long for every single step. His Oshawott humorously tried to imitate him to no avail; falling after a few small steps, but luckily for him, the birds had decided he was no threat. Oliver was sure that he wouldn't have been reserved the same treatment if he was to mess up: he could notice the male Unfezant throwing glances at him whenever one of his movements got too sudden. He began to time his approach: whenever the Pokémon weren't looking, he'd take a step. This way, he could probably close that crucial distance without alerting the birds.
It seemed to work; when the gaze of one of them landed on him he'd stop, like a Persian stalking a Pidgeot. The birds didn't really look that bright, to be honest, and that method allowed him to take those last, difficult steps.
He grabbed the hanging camera and centered the objective on the two birds. He waited for a moment to allow the camera to focus, and after toning down the brightness a bit, he pressed the small button on top of the thing.
Click!
The camera snapped a quick photo, but before he even tried to back away, Oliver wanted to make sure the thing had come out nicely. He slowly took a look at the screen. The female Unfezant had decided to move at the last second, her head was all blurry. Dammit! At least, he was already in a position to snap a new one.
He pointed the camera again, ready to snap another photo of the couple. He once more made sure all the pieces lined up; it was shaping up to be the perfect photo...
Clic- BOOM!
A loud sound originated from the opposite half of the roof, scaring the two Unfezants and making them take off faster than Oliver could blink, abandoning their now empty and unfinished nest.
He silently looked at the camera's screen. The photo was more of a blur than anything else.
"...Today's really not our day, Oshawott." he stoically stated, a tint of disappointment in his voice. The little Pokémon tried to cheer him up by pointing to the source of the sound: it seemed like some Pokémon were making quite the commotion on the other end of the building.
"Change of plans."
The little duo began to walk towards the opposite end of the roof. Through the metal grids on the roof, he could see the culprit of all that chaos: a big Swellow flying in circles on top of something.
The bird was firing Boomburst after Boomburst from its mouth, aiming the soundwaves towards the ground. Oliver couldn't really make out what it was shooting at, but he was sure that it was good material for a great photo. He and Oshawott hurried up and began running as fast as they could. Luckily the roof was deserted besides the Pokémon, so there wasn't really anything to slow them down.
Getting closer, it appeared that the Swellow wasn't alone; many birds were fighting alongside it, circling some target that he barely saw.
He finally arrived at the opposite corner, only a turn from all the action. Just to be safe, he took a peek from the corner, slightly poking his head up.
The Swellow was shooting at a trio of Pokémon on the ground: an Aggron, a Larvesta, and a Galarian Darmanitan with a Choice Scarf flowing in the wind were currently busing fighting a storm of pissed-off birds.
Saying "fighting" was probably exaggerating though: only the small Larvesta was busy shooting Ember after Ember at the Birds circling the group. The Aggron and Darmanitan were pretty much just acting like bodyguards to the Bug. They were constantly fending off any Pokémon that tried to dive-bomb them with Physical attacks.
Oliver instantly got the camera, interested in the big showdown. It was cinematic, to say the least. One Staraptor tried to dive bomb the small Larvesta with a Brave Bird, but a quick flurry of icicles from the Darmanitan swiftly shot the Pokémon down. The big Ice type gave a thumbs up to the Larvesta, prompting her to keep up her efforts with a big smile. The small Bug nodded and kept shooting and shooting, hitting a scared Skarmory in the process.
The Aggron was busy, well, aggroing whatever he could: various birds were busy trying their best to take that behemoth down, including the loud Swellow from earlier. The Normal type shot another Boomburst, but the soundwaves barely scratched the Steel type, who retaliated with a taunting roar of disapproval. A Corviquire tried to sneak up with a Rock Smash from behind, but the tank predicted it and countered with surprising speed, hitting a clean Heavy Slam with his hardened tail.
The whole fight was a spectacle. Attacks were going off from all directions: Hurricanes, Flamethrowers, Boombursts, and Thunderbolts were going down, while Embers, Icicle Crashes, and the occasional Thunder Wave were going up.
Oliver observed the skirmish for a while, taking photo after photo of the whole ordeal. One thing was quickly becoming clear to him, those poor Birds were outmatched, it looked like the whole thing was just a training exercise, at least for the Larvesta. Her companions looked like they were having fun, more than anything else.
"Is this guy yours?"
An annoyed voice snapped him out of his photo shooting frenzy, making him forget about the spectacle before his eyes.
He turned to see a brown-haired girl, a bit older than him. Her long brown hair was flowing in the strong winds of the roof, and he could see her annoyed blue eyes staring right through his soul behind her sunglasses.
A smug-looking Meowscarada was standing right beside her, wearing a pair of fashionable Heavy-Duty Boots and holding his Oshawott upside down by his tail. The poor Water type was trying to retaliate with Fury Cutters coming from his small shell, but his arms were too short to reach the girl's Pokémon, who was just laughing it off.
He took a quick glance by his side. Oshawott had disappeared and he hadn't even noticed. How embarrassing.
"I believe so." he answered, showing barely any emotion, "Could I have him back?"
The girl snapped her fingers, muttering "Bastet"; the Meowscarada threw the small Water type back to Oliver's feet. Oshawott got back up from his horrible landing and cursed the Grass type, who found it more amusing than insulting.
"Take your critter away, he might distract my guys' training. I already have one to take care of, so don't add another useless burden on my shoulders." the girl scolded Oliver, sounding almost insulted by his presence.
"Oshawott wasn't doing anything bad," calmly protested the black-haired boy, feeling deep down that the treatment was unfair. He was just taking a few photos, how dare she talk to him in that manner?
"He's in my way. I told your dumbass already, he might distract my Pokémon. As you can clearly see, they're busy." she bluntly explained, pointing at the trio that was taking on the angry storm of Pokémon next to them. "Now storm off."
"The roof isn't your property," complained Oliver, finding her behavior unfair, to say the least.
"It is while I'm training."
"Can't you just find a sparring partner?"
"As if there was anyone worth my time."
"That's pretentious."
"I'm just talking facts. Now get lost."
Oliver took the still-cursing Oshawott in his lap and began walking away.
"Let's go, Oshawott. We can do our work elsewhere." he tried to calm down the little guy, who was still furious at the Meowscarada.
The black-haired boy began to walk away in the same direction as the girl, but after a few steps, he could feel the strap of his camera pulling him. He turned, to notice that the girl's companion was holding it, preventing him from leaving. With a bit of strength, the strap came undone, and the camera flew right into the Meowscarada's paws.
"Now what?" he asked, a small hint of annoyance in his voice.
"You take photos of my team, and you pretend to walk away for free?" she called out. "Pay up."
"...What?" blurted out Oliver, dumbfounded by the order.
"You heard me. Pay up."
"I was just taking photos. You know, normally if we wanted to put a price tag on this, you'd be the one paying me."
"Damn, you truly are dumb. Do you think I pay to appear in photos? They pay me to bless them with my presence."
"...That sounds counterproductive."
"Having me or my Pokémon on a cover is akin to a spotlight. Any decent photographer would kill to get a good photo of one of my 'mons. Do you know how much those shots are worth?"
"I'm taking these for fun anyway, it's not like I'm going to sell them."
"Yeah, all photos are for fun until they end up on a front cover. Get lost."
Oliver audibly sighed.
"I'll just delete them. Can I have my camera back?" he surrendered to her crazy demands.
The Mewoscarada opened a small compartment on the side of the device; with a press of her green claw, a small SD sprung up, ejecting right into the Pokémon's paw. The Grass type threw the camera back at Oliver, who caught it.
"...I'd like my SD back, too." Oliver pointed out, growing more annoyed by the second.
"You didn't specify. And still, the photos are here, aren't they?" the brown-haired girl taunted, her Meowscarada dangling the cartridge from her claws.
"I told you I'll delete tho-"
"Yeah, you'll delete those photos, but even a drunken Porygon or Rotom would be able to recover them. I wasn't born yesterday."
Oliver looked at her, more surprised by the second.
"Are you for real?"
"I'm for real real. I'm just preserving my image."
"...There's not much to preserve..." Oliver mumbled under his breath.
"Come on, I need that thing back, seriously. I've got all of my recent works on it," argued the black-haired boy, to no avail.
"How sad."
Oliver's nerves were tensing up, this girl was truly unbearable. He actually considered challenging her to a duel to get his SD back, sure that she would have accepted in a heartbeat, as she really seemed to value her team a lot. He took a quick glance at his furious Oshawott, reacting to the injustice much more passionately than him.
-...Who am I kidding?-
He was pretty confident in his abilities as a trainer, that was true; he had won many impossible matches in the past. But he had to get realistic here: there was no way she was taking her whole team down just with Oshawott and Eevee.
"...So you're not going to give me back that SD unless I pay?" he asked.
"90 grand sounds like a fair price."
"Are you serious? I don't have that kind of money," he complained.
"You're not getting your stupid card back, then."
"Thunder!"
A beam of yellow electricity shot from the Jolteon, connecting with the scared Wimpod on the other end of the field. The small Bug dropped still, defeated.
Oliver had been watching his classmates fighting for a while, finding himself with nothing better to do.
Soleil had invited their whole class for a training session: she wanted a few fights to hone their skills a little, especially after the disastrous performance of their class yesterday, during Battle Studies.
Unsurprisingly, almost no one had shown up. Only Soleil herself had happily come. Elise was too good-hearted to say no, Lycus probably just wanted to take some notes, and Oliver wouldn't really have come if he had better options. With his camera offline though, he had no choices left.
Elise ran up to her defeated Wimpod, her cyan hair swaying in the calm wind of the afternoon. She picked up the small thing, who whimpered in her arms.
"It's fine Wimpod, you did good..." she tried to comfort her Pokémon, who didn't look like he was receiving the compliments well.
Soleil entered the field, strolling for Elise with her Jolteon by her side, completely unharmed by her fight.
"Well, to be fair, he could have done better," she tried to comfort her classmate, "you're at four losses in a row."
Elise stood up, her Wimpod hugged tightly to her chest.
"I'm sure he's doing fine..." protested the blue-haired girl, knowing deep down she was wrong.
"He only hit Veevolt twice in the span of four rounds!" argued Soleil, disappointed by the Wimpod's performance, "I know he can do better! Come on, another round!"
"Can't you find anyone else? This is getting boring," complained a lime-haired boy on the stands resting a notebook on his lap with a Galarian Corsola floating by his side, "it's worse than watching paint dry."
"If you feel you can do better, you can always come down, Lycus," taunted the crimson-haired girl, all smug.
"Ha! Like I wanted to engage in such a simple format. I'm coming down only if we do some good old Doubles," he replied, just as smug.
"What's your problem, dude? Singles is just as fun."
"You don't understand, Doubles is superior! There's much more nuance on what you need to accomplish if your aim is winning! It's more open to complex strategies!"
"Singles are too."
"...I just watched you steamroll Elise four times in a row with no deeper thought behind it."
"Because she's allowing it! I'm sure that as soon as she has more Pokémon, she'll do better, right?"
Elise looked away, a bit embarrassed as she recalled Wimpod in his Pokéball.
"I'll heal him back up for another round..." she declared, before sorrowfully walking to the healing station on the other end of the field. Soleil watched, feeling a bit down too.
"Alright, maybe she needs someone on her level." she declared, before turning to Oliver in the stands.
"Oliver! Care for a quick match?" she asked, calling her classmate down.
"Sorry, I'm not in the mood," he answered. Despite not showing it, he was still pretty upset from the earlier injustice. He had been thinking about a way to get his SD back, but no ideas came to his mind.
Soleil tilted her head, her long hair resting on her leather jacket.
"You look grumpy. Is everything alright?"
Lycus turned too, taking a look out of curiosity.
"I see nothing different. Always the same stone-cold face!" he taunted with a shit-eating grin. Oliver had to admit that between his two roommates, Lycus had always been the most annoying one, and it was showing again.
"Come on!" interrupted him Soleil, "Can't you see it? The sadness in his heart? You truly are blind."
Lycus just blankly stared. "Nope!"
Oliver sighed, finding their childish battering annoying.
"I'm fine. I'm just a bit down today, that's all." he tried to calm them down, but the girl's attention was already swayed towards him by now. She climbed the stairs of the stands in a flash, her Jolteon following behind jumping seat from seat, until she was right up to his face.
"No, you're not! There's something wrong, I can feel it!" Soleil insisted, breathing down his neck. To say Oliver was feeling uncomfortable was an understatement.
"I'm fine," replied Oliver, doing his best to keep his cool.
He tried to get up from his seat, but the tanned girl pinned him, preventing him from leaving.
"No runnin' away, mister! You tell me what's wrong!" she demanded.
"Nothing's wrong."
Soleil lifted her hands, allowing Oliver to move once again.
"As you say!" she cheerfully declared, before climbing down the seats and heading back into the field.
She noticed that their classmate had finally come back, ready (but not really willing) for another fight.
"Alright!" she called out to the cyan-haired girl, "I believe in you, Elise!"
Oliver opened the door to the roof and stepped back outside. The sun was already setting over the mountain in the distance, casting its shadow over the Academy.
He had managed to find another SD from group 1D guy; it was cheaper than he would have liked to admit, but as of now, he needed one for his plan.
He began to walk around the roof, searching for her. In all fairness, he didn't really believe he would have gotten his SD back, but he might as well have tried instead of surrendering like that.
He was sure that she had to be still there: it wasn't late enough for her to be back in her room. Still, worst case scenario, he would have simply needed to find her after dinner.
"How the fuck is this balanced?" he heard a female voice shouting, sounding pretty pissed.
It seemed like luck was finally beginning to work out for him now. He crept towards the voice, Oshawott tagging behind him. He didn't have to walk for long, as he found that devious girl pretty quickly.
"Fucking Falinks!"
She was leaning back on a bench, a Switch in her hands and headphones plugged in the handheld. She was undoubtedly playing something, and probably losing based on how tilted she looked, but Oliver had really no idea what kind of video games were on the system to begin with.
It looked like her team's training was over: the trio of Aaron, Darmanitan, and Larvesta were all chilling on a bench opposite the girl's, looking pretty tired. The Darmanitan was busy patting the Bug on the back, almost complimenting her, while the Aggron was enjoying some Pokéblocks to his heart's content.
The rest of her team was sitting on the bench with their trainer. Her Meowscarada leaning back in a nonchalant way, while two Pokémon that weren't there earlier sat next to their owner: a Gardevoir was looking at her playing, and a Clodsire was snoozing by her legs.
Her team wasn't the only Pokémon around: a flock of angry birds was perched off the grids of the roof, some looking pretty rough. Apparently, they really didn't like being used as training dummies for a whole afternoon, but they were smart enough not to assault the whole team at once.
"How is that hitbox fine, for fuck's sake!"
...It didn't really look like she was in a good mood, maybe luck wasn't by his side after all.
Still, he was there now, so there was no point in turning back.
He approached the girl, a bit uncertain.
"He-"
"HOW THE FUCK DID THAT CONNECT?"
...Maybe her Pokémon would have been more friendly.
He tried to get the attention of the Gardevoir as his first target, hoping the Psychic type would have been more cooperative than her owner.
"Hey, Gardevoir." he gently called out. The Pokémon's gaze instantly turned over to him, piercing him with a scary death stare for even daring to interrupt her owner's hobbies.
"...I see," he muttered, unfazed.
The Gardevoir turning was enough: the girl lifted her gaze from the screen and noticed Oliver in the corner of her vision.
"Another scrub. Great."
She quickly got her headphones off, unplugging them from the Switch and putting them in her open bag near her Clodsire. She gave her Gardevoir the console before getting up from her seat and stretching her arms a bit, to then take a few steps and turn towards Oliver, arms crossed.
"So, do you have my money?" she asked, looking pretty annoyed.
"Not really, but I came to-"
"Not interested." she cut him off, "Bring some cold hard cash, else don't waste my time."
"I brought along another SD-"
"So you want me to take that one too."
"No! I wanted to copy my stuff over to this one, so I can keep taking photos and you can keep your image intact."
"That's too easy of a scapegoat," she said, inspecting her nails.
"What?"
"Don't you understand? If I allow you to take photos without paying me at all, I'm setting a precedent, aren't I?"
"...Who the hell takes photos in this school besides me?"
"It's a matter of principles. I don't expect you to understand."
Oliver sighed, tired by this whole ordeal.
"...You know? You can keep that fu-"
"I knew it!" shouted a female voice from behind them, prompting both to turn and make the discovery that Soleil had suddenly appeared. How was a mystery to both of them.
"I was sure something was up! My gut never lied to me!" she excitedly declared, making her way towards the duo alongside her Jolteon.
"...You brought cavalry?" asked the brown-haired girl, a mixture of annoyance and actual surprise in her voice.
"...I didn't," admitted Oliver, "What are you doing here?"
"I followed you, duh! It was obvious something was bothering you, and it seemed like I found the culprit!" dramatically explained Soleil, pointing towards the annoyed girl.
"...Fucking paparazzi," muttered the brown-haired girl.
Soleil stepped closer, stopping in front of Oliver as if he were a damsel in distress, and she was the valiant knight to the rescue.
"Do you know who I am?" asked the crimson-haired girl, taking a fighting stance alongside her partner.
"I'd rather not know."
"My name's Soleil Prima, future savior of the world! As a protector of the weak, it is my duty to prevent any abuse towards them!"
Both Oliver and the brown-haired girl shared a glance of sheer confusion, almost forgetting all of the tension between the two. Oliver really didn't know what to think of the situation, but one thought was fixed in his head.
-What the fuck is she saying?-
"I challenge you! To make up for any damage you've done to my friend, you'll fight me in a Pokémon battle!"
Their "enemy" turned over to Oliver, almost showing some embarrassment for the whole ordeal. "You didn't find anyone better?" she asked, an overconfident smug smile on her lips.
"Told you already, she isn't with me."
"Don't worry, Oliver, I'll help you!" proclaimed Soleil all excited. "Now, I want to know who you are! Fighting a nameless nobody isn't fun!"
The brown-haired girl shrugged nonchalantly.
"Laura."
"Full name!"
"Laura Graham."
Soleil stopped for a moment, shocked, as if her world stopped for a moment.
"...Graham?" she quietly asked a bit unsurely, all that energy from earlier mysteriously gone.
"...Fuuuuuuuck."
The crimson-haired girl shot towards her adversary, stopping too deep in her personal space.
"GRAHAM? THAT GRAHAM?" she asked, sounding just a tiny bit too overexcited.
Laura threw a quick death glance toward Oliver, who was looking pretty puzzled by his classmate's behavior.
"You moron, it's just a hom-"
"No, no, I'm sure it's you! You look so similar, you're two identical droplets! How I didn't notice it earlier, how dumb of me!" blurted out Soleil, interrupting the celebrity right in front of her.
She got her Rotom Phone out, posing for a quick selfie. She pressed the button just as her Jolteon hopped into the frame, immortalizing the strange trio in her device with a bright flash that stunned Laura for a few seconds even through her sunglasses. The crimson-haired girl squeaked out of happiness, before aggressively shaking the brunette's hand.
"I'm such a big fan! Did you know that your mother's work has been a really big inspiration for my parents? It's such an honor to mee-" she spoke without thinking, only to realize both she and Jolteon were floating off the ground.
"Uh-"
They shot a few meters backward, crashing on the roof's grids with a big. All the birds watching the scene began to become agitated, sensing that a fight was about to begin.
Oliver followed her classmate crashing with his eyes, to then notice the culprit was Laura's Gardevoir, standing right by her side and using Psychic to protect her trainer.
"Gloverfield," called Laura to her Pokémon as soon as she got back to her senses, who instantly recalled the attack and let the poor duo fall to the ground.
"Ouch!" lamented Soleil, getting back up on her feet, "That was a bit rough."
Oliver noticed that the Pokémon watching began to make noise: they were almost fueling the fight, like spectators in a coliseum asking for some bloodshed. Laura's Pokémon barely cared, all deep into their own relaxation post-training.
The crimson-haired girl snapped her fingers, signaling her partner to get ready.
"I take that as a declaration of war, I'm honored!" she declared, posing dramatically.
Laura showed a mix of annoyance and pride. Oliver could tell she didn't want to fight Soleil, but he felt like her adversary's compliments were tingling her spirit in the right way.
"Alright, no cheap shots!"
"Maybe."
"...What have I done to deserve this?" wondered Oliver, exhausted by the whole situation. To bring Soleil in was the last thing he wanted, that day couldn't have gone in a worse direction.
In any case, it was too late to complain, the fight was about to begin. Both trainers' Pokémon got in position, ready to duke it out.
"First to knock out wins!" excitedly shouted the excited redhead, causing her opponent to smirk in retaliation.
"Won't take long." taunted Laura, confident.
"Alright, I'm granting you the first move! Show me what you're made of, Graham!"
"Calm Mind."
The Gardevoir concentrated for a moment, closing her eyes, as a red flash enveloped her body. Soleil smiled, looking all joyous.
"So you play set up?" she excitedly asked, "that's my favorite kind of opponent!"
She struck a pose, ordering her Jolteon. "Let's get her before it's too late!" she incited her companion, "Agility!"
The Jolteon began moving really fast: Oliver could sense as if electricity was building around him. His yellow fur became more spiked, as if an electric current was surging through him, and a red flash enveloped him.
"It's already too late." calmly stated Laura. "You're trying to take down a Gardevoir with special attacks. Rookie mistake, I thought you were better."
"Watch and see!" yelled Soleil, "Thunder!"
A jolt of electricity shot from the Electric type, traveling through the air in an instant and connecting with the Gardevoir. However, the Pokémon barely looked hurt at all.
"Gloverfield is pretty bulky." simply stated Laura, "I hope your Jolteon has physical attacks, because she won't go down with a few Thunders. Anyway, it's my turn now: Mooblast."
The Gardevoir conjured a globe of light in her hands and shot it, aiming for her speedy adversary. Jolteon easily dodged the attack: the light orb flew over the grids, exploding outside the roof. All the birds watching began screeching, almost rooting for the Electric type.
Oliver was beginning to see his classmate's game plan. She was planning on keeping her aggression up while not being hit. The task didn't look difficult, factoring in Jolteon's speed.
"Aura Sphere."
Gloverfield put her hands together once again, this time conjuring a blue orb. The Pokémon elegantly threw it toward the Jolteon, who began running at barely visible speeds to try and dodge. She was successful, however. Instead of exploding in the distance, the sphere stopped dead in its tracks, making a full 180 in a flash to chase the Electric type again.
Soleil smirked, radiating confidence.
"It'll take more than a cheap trick to get me! Veevolt!"
The Jolteon began running again, the orb chasing right behind. She quickly got to one of the empty benches and nimbly ducked under it, the sphere following her every step.
"Now!"
The Electric type zip-zapped a few more steps, before kicking the attack with a Trailblaze. The orb crashed on the bench, the impact sending it flying straight toward the grids of the roof. The bench crashed onto the upper grid, almost hitting some of the birds watching. A small group flew up, scared of getting caught by the bench, and remained flying.
Oliver could notice their resentment was growing, they really were bearing a grudge towards Laura for beating for training.
A Pidgeotto called to the Pokémon as he flew, chirping something: in a few moments, a storm of birds kicked up from where the bench had hit, all looking pretty angry.
Laura pouted, looking pissed as well. "Wasn't aiming for ya'll. Piss off."
She went back to concentrate on her fight, but the Pidgeotto shot off a Hurricane, which ended up promptly blocked by Gloverfield with a Moonblast.
"Fine, then. Since you didn't learn your lesson," she shouted to the birds, all ready for round two.
She turned over towards Soleil and her Jolteon, who had just joined her trainer. "This fight is over. You wouldn't win anyway, I'm saving you from humiliation."
Soleil smiled friendly, Veevolt alongside her.
"Fiiiine! As you want!" she accepted the interruption, looking a bit too eager to do so.
Laura shrugged, before calling out to her team.
"Alright everyone, round two-" she tried to say, but a Thunderbolt from a Kilowattrel interrupted: she nimbly dodged, the attack hitting the ground right by her.
"Ok little cunts, you asked for this!"
It didn't take long before a gigantic battle, just like during the afternoon, broke out again. Her whole team got to work, taking down bird after bird, to their trainer's delight. Oliver and Soleil were contemplating from a safe distance, the first disappointed by all that had happened, and the second enjoying the fight.
"You-" tried to speak up the black-haired one, but his classmate put a finger over his mouth.
"You can save your thanks for later. Now, what about some ice cream? It's on me!~"
Oliver had to admit that free ice cream wasn't a bad resolution, but he did still have a sour taste in his mouth. Besides the vanilla one, of course.
They had gone to the small green zone at the center of the school: it was almost dinner time, so almost no one was there. Oliver had no idea why Soleil might have wanted ice cream now of all times. But hey, free food is free food after all.
"...You didn't have to come at all. How did you find me to begin with?" he complained to his "savior". Since they were pretty much alone, they managed to find a nice bench right under the fountain at the center of the park.
The crimson-haired girl took a lick out of her chocolate ice cream, delighted by the taste.
"It's my duty to help and protect everyone!" She answered happily "And you know, following you isn't really hard. You're always so deep in your thoughts you wouldn't notice a Wailord behind you."
Oliver paused for a moment.
...She was right, he really did get lost in his thoughts every once in a while. Is that how his classmates viewed him? As an airhead? Is that the impression he ha-
"Damn, this ice cream really is good!" spoke Soleil with a smile surrounded by melted ice cream. Or so Oliver thought: her tanned skin almost camouflaged the chocolate.
"...Yeah."
A bit of an awkward silence ensured, with the crimson-haired girl looking up to the roof. Oliver wondered if she was trying to see the battle on top of the Academy.
"...Can you see them?" he asked, trying his best to join her. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't see anything.
"Mh? I'm not trying to see the fight. I'm just waiting."
"For what?"
"Gimme like, ten seconds?"
In about five, a Pidgeotto came down from the roof, holding a familiar red bag within his claws. The Pokémon landed right next to Soleil, dropping the bag on her lap.
Oliver watched dumbfounded, not believing what he was seeing.
"Good job, Cloud." she petted the bird, who responded with a happy chip.
"You're kidding me..." muttered Oliver, still not believing what he had just seen. His Oshawott, who was holding (and eating, a small lick at a time) his ice cream cup, pinched him to check if he was dreaming.
"No tricks. Get your SD, come on."
The girl handed him the bag, and Oliver immediately began searching, hopeful to find the object of his recent torments.
"How- When- Why!?" he asked, all flustered, "How the hell did you know?"
Soleil got on her feet, all smug.
"Weeeell, I followed you, saw you buy a new SD, noticed you didn't take any photos at all, and from there I did two plus two which equals five."
"...It's four."
"I know what I said. Anyway, I came up with a plan to cause a distraction and get her bag. It's obviously in there, have you seen her jeans? Those pockets couldn't hold a Joltik." she added, patting her baggy high jeans' big pockets.
Oliver took out a small familiar cartridge from the bag.
"I... Thank you." he had to admit to his classmate. "There was no need to do all of that..."
Soleil patted him friendly on the back.
"No problem! Soleil's always there to help with your problems!" she proudly stated, posing with her Pokémon. Oliver returned a silent smile.
"Well, if you're done, I'll give her back the bag as soon as she realizes it's gone." the crimson-haired girl explained.
"I can do that if you want," proposed Oliver. "It'll save you the trouble."
Soleil shrugged in disapproval.
"Nope! I'll do that! And I'll ask for an autograph back, I'm still a fan!"
Heeeey everyone, your boy here. Happy New Year!
Sorry for the long delay to get the chapter out, but saying my December was insane is a bit of an understatement lmao. Ended up in the hospital for a while, Appendicitis fucking sucks, but hey I'm fine right now.
I'm also moving homes! So yeah, don't expect much else during January honestly, I'm busy af and finding time to write has been really hard lately. I'll try my best to get at least another chapter out, but as of now, just know that if I don't update for a while, I'm probably not dead. Yet.
Oh yeah, also sorry for the shorter chapter lol ¯\_ツ_/¯
See you all next time. Soon, hopefully!