Julianna wanted her first day to go smoothly.
With her starting at a new school she knew that there would be a lot of sitting through introductions so she wanted to get it over with.
"Oh hey you're the one with the dancing Quaxly right?" the boy next to her asked.
"Yup that's me" Julianna chuckled "Seems like that's gonna be what I'm gonna be known for a while now"
"What's your name by the way? None of the videos online mention it?"
"Julianna"
"Nice to meet you I'm Nashi"
"Oh, that's a unique name. Are you from around here?" Julianna realized that was a tad insensitive.
"No no, I'm from Johto" Now Julianna recognized the accent.
"Well, it's nice to have someone that doesn't just know me for Quaxly"
Like he could tell that his name was being mentioned Jair popped out of his Pokeball and struck a pose on the table.
Naturally, that got the class's attention and Jair was clearly loving it.
"Dude, did you teach him that?"
"That's so cool I wish my starter was like that"
"I swear I did not teach him any of this!" Julianna frantically waived her arms "You're starters are great just the way they are and so his Quaxly he's just like that"
"I've never seen a starter like that" Nashi chuckled.
"Believe me I haven't either"
…
Needless to say after 4 classes worth of introductions and syllabuses Julianna was feeling exhausted.
Thankfully there was something to look forward to. It had quickly spread through the student body that Ash was going to be having an exhibition match with Nemona in the main battle area.
Everyone was already gathering in front of the main battle arena Julianna quickly spotted Nashi near the front of the crowd.
"Julianna! You got my text message!" Nashi waved at her.
"Yup sure did good thing I got here before it became too busy" It was then that Julianna noticed the Dunsparce coiled around his feet.
"Is this you're starter?"
"Oh yes he was a gift before I left home"
"Nashi I got you the water- oh is this the girl you were talking about A girl with black hair and dark skin introduced herself.
"This is Cherry I met her at the exchange student program"
"Nice to meet you I'm Julianna"
"Nice to meet you too I'm Cherry" Julianna could catch the heavy Kalos accent in her voice.
"Nashi you didn't tell me that you were friends with the girl that has the dancing Quaxly" Once again Jair emerged from his Pokeball at the mention of him perching on Julianna's shoulder.
"Jair stop doing that!" she yelled flustered much to her new friend's enjoyment "I'm so sorry about him he just does that"
"It's fine" Cherry chuckled "Spritzee likes to do stuff like that too" Upon being mentioned Cherry Spritzee also appeared at her trainer's side "Like that"
"Everyone be quiet it's starting"
"This battle will be a one vs one exhibition match" Clavell announced "Trainers release you're Pokémon!"
"Sceptile I choose you!"
"Kingambit stand by for battle" As the outdoor lights dimmed Julianna could see the intrigue on Ash's face seeing Kingambit for the first time.
"Use Leaf Blade!"
"Take it then Kowtow Cleave!" Kingambit took the sharp green blade and got down in a bowing pose. Once Sceptile was drawing back Kingambit struck it in the chest with a blade of black/red energy.
"Now use Iron Head!"
"Counter it with Leaf Storm!" Sceptile whipped up a storm of leaves from its tail launching them at Kingambit overwhelming the Iron Head.
"Use Breaking Swipe!" Sceptile's tail started glowing pink and then swung it at Kingambit.
"Use Zen Headbutt!" Kingambit's head glowed pink and she swung it at Sceptile.
The pair clashed with Breaking Swipe and Zen Headbutt.
Julianna watched the battle unfold, enthralled by the skill on display.
"You know that Nemona beat Geeta before" Julianna spoke, mostly to herself.
It was certainly crazy to think she lived almost next door to the strongest person in the region.
She had beaten Geeta who was able to keep pace with Ash Ketchum himself so imagining what Nemona could do made Julianna's mind run wild.
It was crazy to think that Nemona must be near the same level as someone like Ash well she was just starting out on her journey, which made her feel so far behind by contrast.
But it also gave her a sense of scale and something to reach for.
Having someone so close to her as the top champion in the region and seeing how strong she must be gave Julianna something to work towards and a strength level that she could reach.
Quaxly was also very interested in the battle perched ideally on her shoulder.
It was one of the first times that she had seen him still.
"What do you think Quaxly? Would you like to be as strong as them one day" Sceptile and Kingambit exchanged Stone Edge and Bullet Seed in a burst of green and dark brown energy.
"Quax! Quack!" Quaxly responded.
Granted Julianna suspected Jair's reasoning for wanting this was selfish reasons to gain his own personal glory but Julianna was going to work with him.
If he wanted to be a star then she would make him a star.
The exhibition match ended in a draw as Ash and Geeta both returned their Pokémon but it gave Julianna a goal for her and Quaxly to work to.
…
"Alright, Quaxly use Water Gun on the target!" Quaxly aimed the stream of water at the target she set up.
"Good now use Pound on it"
As she suspected Quaxly had plenty of natural talent for battling and could hit the target easily.
Inspired by last night she'd decided to do some early morning training to maximize their results. Granted, it was a little risky since it was still curfew from 11:00 PM to 06:30 AM and she could be reprimanded for being caught even if there were only 15 minutes left.
Something caught the side of her eye.
Someone was skulking around the courtyard trying not to be seen.
Once she got a closer look she recognized the guy.
"You! You're the guy who was with me when we got our starters! Florian wasn't it?"
"Hay hay keep it down would ya!" the boy frantically shushed her "Do you want us to get caught"
"It's not like you can say you're innocent either"
"What would people think if they saw two kids in casual clothes hanging behind the courtyard? They're going to think we're making out or doing drugs"
"Okay Florian slow down your minds running wild"
"What are you doing out here anyway?"
"Training Quaxly what about you?"
"Uhh" Florian withdrew into his hoodie "checking my bike lock I didn't remember if I locked it last night or not"
Julianna knew he was lying but it wasn't worth her time to interrogate him.
A low rumbling interrupted them looking up a streak of red light dashed across the sky landing on the horizon.
"You saw that too I'm going crazy right?" Florian asked.
"No something definitely fell from the sky let's go check it out"
"Wait what you can't be serious"
"Come on aren't you just a little curious about what that was"
"I guess"
"Besides we can use your bike to get there anyway"
Florian grimaced "Ya of course"
…
"This is your bike?" Julianna asked somewhat concerned at the modified bicycle.
"Yup my dad insisted I needed something that could go fast"
"Is it safe at least?"
"Yup perfectly safe" Florian gestured for her to get on.
"Take us to Cabo Poco it looks like it landed"
From the way Florian's body vibrated when he steered the bike as it zoomed down the corners of the path it was clear he wasn't experienced with riding a bike like this.
It did get them to Cabo Poco much faster than they could have on foot and they didn't crash but that was more luck than anything else.
Deciding not to risk crashing they left the bike in Cabo Poco and continued on foot.
"So how's Fuecoco working out for you?"
"Okay I guess he's about as responsive as a brick and I'll he cares about is eating he has a weird thing for celery-" Julianna cut him off.
"There" she pointed at a broken fence "It must have gone through there"
"That's odd," Florian remarked "It looks more like something stumbled through here instead of crashing"
"Julianna! What are you doing out here?"
Julianna turned her head and was face to face with Nemona "Wow I can't believe we came to the same place to look for rare Pokémon awesome!" Julianna checked the time and it was 07:20.
She let out a light sigh of relief. Getting caught sneaking around by the head of the student council would end in disaster.
"Oh, and who's your friend here?"
"This is Florian he was with me when we got our-"
"Gyiiia-oww!" a strange cry interrupted them.
"What was that!" they all asked in unison.
"Gyiia-oww!"
End Credit Song Wake Up-AWOLNATION
I've had a couple have requested that I make the chapters longer so made sure this one was a bit longer and chapters after this should be even longer
That is not why this chapter took so long I promise I was just swamped with university courses and I had 3 papers du the same week plus my weekly Bio lab. Once my biology midterm is done next week I should be back to uploading more normally