Setting
The morning sun shone brightly on the university grounds. The chirping of Pidgeys and the rustling of grass caused by young Pokemon stirring up trouble could be heard even within the campus, only to be disturbed by the honking of a ship soon docking at the shores of Edenas Island. A certain, black-haired boy pushed back his hood to turn his head to the honking, smiling quietly. "The new students are arriving today huh? They came earlier than usual..." Shirou turned back to the task at hand though, as the turtle-like Pokemon in front of him abruptly bent over to grab something off the ground. "Alto! Hold still!" The small smile on his face disappeared as Shirou scolded the Blastoise a little. He put down the hose- It had become a habit of him to keep his Pokemon in top shape, and if it meant also washing Alto's shell, brushing out dust from Ataro's mane and sharpening Tsubaki's blades, then he would gladly do it. The hardest part? Alto just loved food and would only stay still if he was eating.
The Blastoise let out a happy cry and munched on the apple it held in its small claws. Shirou just sighed and aimed the hose again, watching absentmindedly as Alto's small tail thumped a little. After a bit, he turned off the faucet and patted the Blastoise's back. "Alright big guy. We should go. The Master-ranks usually show up to oversee the rookies coming in every semester." The Blastoise tilted his head before he sighed and raised another apple. After drying the shell off, soon, Shirou set out with Alto trailing just behind him.
"...This is bound to be another great semester, huh?"
RING! RING!!
A mound of blankets and pillows slowly shifted as a slim hand reached out to hit the snooze button on the alarm clock. It quickly disappeared back inside the mound before finally, a black, hound-like Pokemon moved to the bed and tugged off the blanket with its teeth. A girl with light pink hair was revealed from underneath, and she slowly opened dark pink eyes to glanced sleepily over. "Mm...Yoru, what time is it?" The Houndoom just nudged her hand before jumping up onto the bed and curling up beside her. "...So he just wanted to sleep on the bed." Rhia just sighed as she stroked her Houndoom's head a little before starting to pull her blankets over herself again when suddenly--
"H-Hey, Shinichi, cut it out!" She frowned a little as the Infernape jumped up on the bed and frowned at her, letting out a small cry and pointing to the calendar. Rhia squinted at the calendar before sighing. "So the rookies come today...hm..." She started to get up to pull back the curtains, looking out at Edenas and the campus grounds of Zenith University. "...Ascension..." Rhia looked at her Pokemon again. Yoru was still sleeping on the bed, Shinichi was waking up another sleeping figure in the corner. She noticed a spot of green start to come out. Kurosaki. "...Advancing to Ultra-rank...the requirement is to find a Mega Stone..." Her Gallade yawned and waved to her a little. She waved back before stretching and heading to the shower.
"...I wonder if I should advance this year."
A few minutes- well, she didn't keep track of the time, she didn't really care- later she emerged again, pulling on her usual blouse and jacket and the cat cap that hung on a chair. "Shinichi!" She called out as she grabbed the doorknob to her room. The Infernape jumped off the bed and walked over to her, pointing to Yoru and the still sleepy Kurosaki. "...We shouldn't disturb their rest. Come on, you already disturbed mine." Even through her tone, she smiled and pat her Infernape on the shoulder a little. It just let out a small cry as they proceeded outside.
"Good morning to you as well, Mimi. How are you?"
Taking the ghost Pokemon, it shifted into its disguise as a stuffed bunny. The girl walked over to the bathroom and fixed herself up. Even if she was a Master Coordinator, no one looked good waking up out of bed. She brushed her long platinum hair and got out five hair dye.
"Cool, Tough, Beautiful, Cute, Clever... These five must be mastered in order to become a perfect Coordinator. And I, Skyler Evangeline, will help all Coordinators realize this dream."
She headed out to the meeting area and saw new students come in. She braced herself for which new Coordinator would approach her.
Zeami Katsura was lost. Well, she was technically in the vicinity but she had no clue where exactly she was. Dark circles hung under her eyes and she walked, trying to find someone. She couldn't sleep as dark thoughts would torment her about how useless she was. The Wooper beside her let out a worried cry and Zeami stopped and pet him.
"It's alright... I'll be fine, try not to worry so much."
She soon saw a boy wearing a white and blue hood washing a Blastoise.
"Excuse me. Can you point out where I need to be? I'm a new trainer."
Lucario's gauntlet had been custom-made, designed to look like a sleek black ninja glove with the Lucarionite set above the forearm. It was made to fit on Lucario's right hand, which is where you would usually find it. Jack has an accompanying Megastone set into the glove that he was slipping onto his left hand.
Jack then turned to leave, and began to- "Car. Lucar," Lucario called picking up Jack's trenchcoat. "Oh, thank you. I had forgotten about it. Anything else before we leave?" Jack asked Lucario, who looked around the room briefly before shaking it's head no. "Alright, then. Let's go!"
Jack and Lucario walked through the school grounds side by side, always enjoying the sights the school had to offer. Jack loved the location of the school, and Lucario felt the same. After a short time, they arrived at the docks to see the ship begin unloading it's passengers. "A lot of new kids this year," Jack said to Lucario, who replied, "Lucar".
Ayumi had always wanted to say this out loud whenever some Premier Rank student like her was lucky enough to find a Mega Stone without it getting stolen or lost somewhere. Unlike hers--Whatever. There was no use thinking about these kinds of things too much. She stared out the window of her dormitory and spotted a bunch of rookies, most likely lost looking for their room assignments.
"Come to think of it, it's the start of a semester again..."
Ayumi changed into her uniform and headed out, taking care to shut the door and lock it lest someone gets it in their heads to rummage through her items. So many people. Ayumi felt a little uncomfortable. She wasn't used to crowds. Always felt suffocated by them. Most of them were newcomers or people around her rank showing off what they know. Whether or not the newcomers appreciate this, she doesn't know.
"Morning!" A student suddenly walked up to her. Ayumi remembers her as an old roommate, already moved up to Ultra Rank. "You seem to be in a good mood as usual, Seisa."
"I was until you suddenly showed up." She replied sternly, not stopping to even look at her. The same person simply walked at the same pace, trying to continue their conversation.
"You're still Premier Rank? When do you plan on moving up?"
"Maybe...When Gabite evolves." Stupid excuse, Ayumi realized. But it was all she could think of on the spot.
"Then it won't take long right? I'll be waiting. And then, we can battle and share rooms again." Another group passed them and called out to her old roommate. She bids Ayumi goodbye and went on to rejoin her own group. All alone, Ayumi took out Gabite's Ball.
"Who am I kidding? It's not as if I use you every chance I get." Ball still in her hand, she carried on, arriving at the designated classroom. It was time to welcome the newcomers and almost everyone is part of the welcome committee save for a few who chose to study in the rooms or spar with each other or, those like her who simply arrived without anything special planned.
”All aboard!” The fog horn of the large ferry sounded off in the distance. Today was the big day, the day that Rue would start a new chapter of her life. It was about time. There were many kids dotted all over the docks, waiting to board the ferry and begin the journey to Zenith University. But Rue hung back, nervous and rather stressed about the whole thing despite the desire to go.
With a silence that clung to her, she pulled at the high collar of her hoodie, checking for the umpteenth time that it hid her skin. A soft chatter at her feet caught her attention, her eyes glancing down to the grassy earth. Peekey looked up at her in a concerned sort of manner, pawing at the skin of her leg with a small, worried frown.
Gorund lay nearby, sunbathing. The Mightyena’s chest rose and fell heavily, one ear twitching every once in a while, ever listening to what was around him. His chin rested lazily on his forearm, but he did bother to glance back at his trainer when the ship horn sounded.
It was time, and Rue didn’t want to make a bad impression the first day for being late for anything. Vorix, her Scolipede, was safely tucked away in his pokeball so he wouldn’t cause any trouble, though she could feel the contempt emanating from the contraption. The rest of her team were in the same way, resting in their pokeballs.
The trainer quickly made her way onto the ship for a very long and stressful boat ride.
With another sounding from the fog horn indicating that they had arrived at Zenith’s docks, Rue nervously picked at her sleeves. She had remained away from all of the other kids, which may have been a poor first decision since she did want to make some acquaintances, hidden away in one of the far corners of the ship’s hull.
She made her way up to the decks after most of the other trainers and coordinators had left, marking her as a straggler. Not that she really minded. Her only concerns were in her indecision on whether or not to force her way through her shyness and participate and be in the midst of the throngs of new students, or remain in her awkward silence and hope that nobody noticed her the entire day, which, let’s face it, was highly unlikely. Especially since she had to go and sign in and everything.
With her Furret perched on her shoulder, fluffy tail swishing along Rue’s back as she excitedly looked about the expanse of the island before her, switching from one shoulder to the other and chattering excitedly, crawling all over the girl’s head to travel between the two, Rue carefully made her way down the boarding ramp.
Gorund followed nonchalantly after her, though his eyes were deceptively keen, always watching for any threats or pissants that might bother her. But everyone else had by then already pretty much dispersed from the docks to head to the University.
You can do this Rue. You can do this. She thought worriedly to herself, rubbing at her left forearm in a nervous tick. At least no one was looking at her....
Adder was wickedly excited. It was finally the day that he’d get to head off to Zenith and learn how to be a coordinator! It was a new day, a new start, and a new adventure, and he’d be darned if it wasn’t going to be absolutely awesome.
”Hey, maybe we’ll even get to meet some cute girls~” His grin was huge and cheesy as he spoke to his Noctowl, Specs, who was currently flapping his wings to cause a bit of a breeze for the little green Cubone who was sitting at Addie’s feet, his bone carefully balanced between his two small legs.
Specs trilled loudly in playful agreement, tucking his wings in and tilting his head up to look at his partner. It was then that the ship’s horn sounded and the three of them were making their way to board the ship. With Pericles safely in his crossed arms and Specs trailing overhead, the trio settled themselves on the ferry.
”Man, this is going to be so awesome!” Adder clenched his hand into a resilient fist, a determined grin on his face as he looked out over the water. His Noctowl called out in agreement, wings fluttering excitedly as he too watched out over the water.
When the ship finally docked, Addie was among the first to run down off of the boarding plank, pokemon close in tow. There seemed to be an almost permanent grin plastered to his face. He was excited to meet all of the new people and get started making friends.
"W-Whoa!"
Shirou snapped out of his trance as he turned around. Alto munched on another apple and tilted his head as he moved closer to sniff the new Trainer. "A-Alto! That's rude!" He tugged on his blue arm and pushed him back a little as he turned back to the newcomer. A girl, orange hair, blue eyes...that had eyebags, he noticed. Maybe she was too excited to sleep? Maybe she just couldn't sleep at all? Or maybe she just had a problem with sleeping and--
"Dammit my thoughts are wandering!"
"Well, the newcomers are usually led to the school grounds and allowed to wander around the school. Master-rank Trainers along with professors are assigned to specific places to help newcomers if they get lost, and..." Shirou pointed a little to his ID, which he slid out of his hoodie pocket. "I'm one of those said Master-rank Trainers. Is there anywhere you'd like to see first in the campus?"
"... You're one of the masters?"
The girl tilted her head.
"You don't look like it. You seem like a newcomer but I guess appearances can be deceiving."
A faint smile appeared before it vanished.
"I'm Zeami. Pleasure to meet you. As for where I'd like to go... I'll just let you show me around the campus."
Skyler kept her eyes open and surveyed the area. There seemed to be little to no Coordinators.
"Hmph, how disappointing..."
Even so, the girl waited patiently until the moment she was called up to help out any and all new Coordinators. She would work hard to keep her status and to help others looking to understand the beauty of Contests.
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