News of the Paldean exchange student gunning for the League Club's Top Elite, and defeating him the first day she's joined the club, spread throughout the academy like a wildfire the following day. The buzz surrounding the club hadn't ever been this intense before. Multiple members came around the clubroom to try and meet Juliana personally, only to have their hopes dashed upon discovering that she wasn't around.

Drayton sat in his usual position at the largest table, arms crossed over it and he using them like a pillow. He wasn't napping, the room was a bit too noisy for that, but he didn't mind secretly listening in on the conversations happening around him. The most interesting one was between Crispin and Lacey.

"I'm sooo excited for Juliana to challenge me!" The redheaded boy's boisterous voice supported his claim. "She seems crazy strong!"

"I'm looking forward to it too! But, she did mention before that she wanted to work on our school's pokedex. So, it might take some time before she issues another challenge." Lacey responded to him. Drayton's thoughts went back to his battle versus her, and the sheer amount of surprise he felt to see her pokemon effortlessly combating his own.

It was surreal, but it also felt weirdly good. He's aware Juliana was always one step ahead of Kieran back in Kitakami, and she clearly having the stronger team against him was very promising. Kieran has gotten stronger in his own right, but there's reason to believe that Juliana did the same. An official, all-out battle between the two of them would be a sight to behold.

And hopefully, it would go the way he wanted it to.

Drayton could feel himself getting antsy, just imagining the ending of such an anticipated event. Especially the payoff it could have, all of the drama that would hopefully just go away... the boy's eyes slowly opened, as the face of his dear girlfriend entered his mind. He should see what Alysa was up to right now. He was pretty sure she was still in class, but shooting a text message never hurt...

Just as Drayton was going to set up and pull out his phone, it beat him to the punch by pinging.

Intrigued, he went ahead and took it out of his pocket, spying an alert notification on his lock screen. It was the beginnings of a message directly from the academy's student portal to his account. He unlocked his phone and pulled it up.

...He froze.

'Notice to student Drayton: Blueberry Academy has received a formal request for your dismissal from enrollment by a registered guardian, and it was granted. You are scheduled to be withdrawn from all school proceedings starting next Monday. Please contact the student records division if you have questions or concerns.'

... ... ...

He shot up to his feet, startling all of the people around him. Crispin's ask on where he was going fell on deaf ears, as Drayton exited the clubroom without a word. With every step, his heart steadily beat faster. Blood rushed in his ears, generating static that filled his head and virtually his vision.

Automatically, he walked straight to his dark dorm and locked the door behind him, his phone being the only source of light. Taking it, he pulled up the contact entry of the person who he knew was responsible for this.

The call was answered on the third ring.

"Do you wish to talk now?"

A deep, rugged voice teeming with irritation asked sardonically on the line's other end. The sound of it alone brought the teen to a stiffened pause, but the panic flaring within him was enough to draw out tensed speech.

"What did you do?"

"Your mother and I were informed by the academy that you would need to repeat the year yet again for the FOURTH time, from a lack of credits. Though, expulsion was now on the table as an option. So, we had a talk."

Drayden's anger turned his voice into a growl, bordering on a snarl. "She agreed with MY decision to remove you and bring you home, as you clearly do not care about receiving an education there any longer."

Drayton could envision him looming over him now, fiery yellow eyes glaring downwards as a vein pulsated against his temple. His heart felt pain. He pressed a trembling hand down on his kitchenette's counter, hunching over.

"I..."

"You were once an excellent student, Drayton. You worked hard and received fine grades your first year. Yet, you've changed. You've given us empty promises of improvement, disrespecting my generosity and our family name. Now, you get no more chances!" Drayden boomed. He flinched.

"Since you refuse to get your act right, after your punishment, I will see about putting you into some other kind of school... Though, I am debating on going back to homeschooling you myself. I have no surviving tolerance for you dragging our reputation through the mud."

If the boy was holding his floating phone, he would have dropped it. The world around him might as well shattered into pieces, the dream of what's become his home for the last four years dissolving. Drayton so desperately wanted to explain. He wanted to spill everything, and plead for his grandfather to not do this.

To not take away nearly everything that made him happy at this point in his life.

...Alas, his paralyzing fear was too strong to overcome this time.

"Spend time with your friends while you still can. I will be coming to the academy directly to pick you up Monday morning. You better have your bags packed by then."

There was a click, and the call disconnected. The silence was deafening.

Drayden's wild gold eyes stared at his phone for a minute, until his vision turned blurry from stinging fluid welling up into them. His environment faded away, leaving fleeting images of Opelucid from his memories to pass by. The frustration. The loneliness.

The impression that he wasn't good enough.

.

.

.

As a young boy, it was once so much easier.

He had the coolest, most doting grandpa in the world. The one person who had his back, the person he could lean on and cry if he needed.

The kid wanted to be just like him, the awesome Spartan Mayor who could understand and tame even the wiliest of dragons. The leader of their clan who was the prime pillar of support and guidance, fighting to keep their culture intact under the passages of time and encroaching economic change. The only father figure he knows, and virtually, the biggest parental influence he felt. His mother had always been extremely hands-off.

When he got older, Drayden got colder. More strict. Less forgiving. The smallest error in academic work or in training to become a Dragon Tamer would get criticized, and held over his head. If his grandson were to fill his heavy shoes one day, be the biggest societal figure in Opelucid and within Unova as a whole, he needed to be more than him.

He needed to be better. He needed to achieve greater things than Drayden himself has. He needed to exceed expectations.

...Iris could've been the ideal candidate. Would've been.

She's always managed to please Drayden more, make him proud. When the both of them were young, she continuously impressed their grandfather with her quick wits and attention to detail. She served as an alternate Gym Leader of Opelucid Gym just to take some of the burden off his shoulders, and she excelled at it. Her heart was draconic to its core, but miraculously, she was still a people person too.

Then, Iris decided to become the entire region's Champion. She left home to issue a direct challenge to Alder, and crushed him.

Really, she should be celebrated. A young, passionate woman achieving such feats was nothing short of remarkable, proving herself as someone wise and competent to be respected by any trainer anywhere on the globe. She had been adopted into their clan to boot, and many stupidly doubted her capabilities to measure up to Drayden. She proved them all wrong. She went beyond success.

...Iris was too successful.

She couldn't be an heir anymore, not when she's gained a status equally as important to maintain. Meanwhile, what has he accomplished? Becoming the Champion of a school club that mimics an official Pokemon League? How much was that truly worth?

He wasn't even able to keep the title. The studying he did, the work he put in, it all went down the drain. The one thing he was the most passionate about in his life, the one thing that made him feel like he was worth something after all, was so easily taken away.

He was a failure. But, it got easier and easier to ignore that. He could just bounce through life and not sweat the small stuff. Why worry about his flaws and the consequences of his actions, when he can enjoy the day-to-day? He deserved that at least, didn't he? To not feel like trash 24/7?

...No, he didn't. Reality finally came calling and yanked him from the illusion. His grandfather's whims still existed. Drayden deemed him the only person appropriate to carry the legacy of their family. His sole, direct grandchild. It all went back to him.

The kid who could never seem to do anything right. The kid who didn't get to decide things for himself, because the adults always knew best. The kid who barely felt like a person, only a husk that needed to have a purpose.

That kid would be going home, back to his nightmare.

.

.

.

Tears poured in miniature rivers, dripping onto the countertop. Drayton instinctively reached for Archaludon's pokeball, and sent him out. The magnificent dragon sensed his trainer's sorrow in half of a second and was put off, emitting a heavily concerned hum.

The teen wordlessly shook his head, and moved to rest it against Archaludon's chest. His arms went up to hug his ace, which helped the pokemon to identify the severity of this moment.

Drayton hadn't clung to him like this since he was much smaller.

Archaludon returned the embrace as well as he could, and the two stood quietly together in the dark room. The only noise were attempts to stifle sobbing.

—|—

Alysa stretched as she walked out of her last class for the day, more than happy to sit back and chill. As per her routine now, she pulled out her phone to shoot a text message to her one and only.

[ Heeeey I just got out of class. Do you wanna meet up for dinner? ]

The girl sent it and continued her walk towards her dorm. Minutes later, she's inside and laying her backpack down at the foot of her bed. She checked her phone, to see that Drayton has yet to respond. This makes her pause.

It was uncommon for he to not answer right away, but there was no rush per se. The cafeteria didn't start serving dinner for another hour or so.

Alysa turned her TV on and rummaged through her backpack to pull out and place a textbook and some worksheets on her desk. She slipped into her kitchen area to grab a snack from a cabinet, and sat down at her chair to check and make sure she wasn't missing any homework to be focused on later. When that was done, she laid back on the large Bewear plushie she had on her bed and focused on the current PokeToons episode playing.

She hadn't realized there was still no response from her boyfriend until the hour had passed, and dinner begun. Brow furrowing, she typed another text to send.

[ Are you busy right now? ]

Another wait was done. A minute turned into five, then ten. No response.

"Weeeird..." the girl mumbled to herself. Alysa double checked to make sure her texts were even properly sent in the first place.

There was the 'received' marker next to them, proving that they did successfully reach Drayton's phone. Her confusion spiked, but now a degree of worry did as well. A thought to call him crossed her mind, but the plausible option of he actually being occupied at this time made her decide against it. She didn't want to come off as needy for his attention, especially if he was busy.

Trying to ignore the unease, Alysa put her shoes back on and left her dorm to briefly stop by the cafeteria for a to-go dinner meal.

It was the next day, and Alysa's worry had bloomed into full on anxiety.

Drayton still hasn't answered her messages. Additionally, when she checked her phone again after her first morning class, she saw that the 'received' markers had changed into 'read' ones. That showed Drayton did know he got the texts as he looked at them, but he chose to not reply. That was very unlike the affectionate boy she knew.

Alysa decided to zip by the clubroom in the downtime between classes to check if he was in there. He was not. Her anxiety grew, but she didn't have enough time to run by his dorm and make it to her next class on time. By the time of day when lunch started, she first thought to check the clubroom one last time to see if he was finally in there since it was nearby.

Arriving, Alysa only saw Amarys and Crispin – along with some other members. The two elites were downcast, which didn't help her frayed nerves.

"Guys? What's wrong?" she questioned as she approached.

"Hello, Alysa. We are...concerned about Drayton," Amarys said, and the girl's heart flipped. "Have you spoken to him recently?"

"N-No. He hasn't been answering my texts. I was hoping I'd find him here, actually..."

"I see. To my understanding and Crispin's, he has not visited the clubroom ever since he abruptly left yesterday."

"Yeah," the fire elite chimed in, frowning. "I think he got a text or something on his phone, and he just stood up and walked out without saying anything. I asked him what was up, but he ignored me."

She did not like the sound of that. "Does anyone know where he is? His dorm...?"

"In his dorm, but he's locked himself in. He doesn't want to come out or even talk to anyone. Lacey tried to visit him earlier, but he turned her away."

That was more than enough to get her terror bells ringing. "I can try. Maybe he'll speak to me."

"You out of all of us have the highest possibility of gaining Drayton's cooperation," the steel elite concurred. "I wish you luck...and hope that the cause for his worrying behavior can be resolved."

"Same here," Crispin nodded. She thanked her friends and left the clubroom poste-haste without running into other people in the halls, gunning right for her boyfriend's residential wing. She tried to not mentally beat herself up, believing she should've visited him yesterday instead of leaving him to possibly suffer overnight from whatever sparked this.

She got to his dorm shortly. Alysa steeled herself and knocked.

"...Go away."

The masculine voice on the other side was quiet, and nearly devoid of all emotion. It made her heart twist, and set in the fact that somethingawful must have happened to get the suave elite like this.

"Dray, it's me. Alysa." The girl tried to keep her voice level. "What's wrong? Why haven't you been coming out...?"

Silence. While alarming, he at least didn't tell her to buzz off. She continued.

"E-Everyone's worried about you...especially me. Please, open the door. Talk to me."

There was no reply.

...Initially. Alysa was about to plead again, until she heard muted shuffling of fabric. Footsteps on the barrier's other side grew louder, and she swallowed the relief she felt at hearing the door's lock be undone. When it opened, her breath got caught in her throat.

Drayton was without his jacket. Stains littered his shirt. His white hair was disheveled and a total mess. Bags were under his bloodshot eyes.

His expression was...empty.