Hannibal Hawthorne Hutchinson's Story

Hannibal grimaced as he looked into the bathroom mirror. He was a bit worn-looking, with dirt and various scratches dotting his face. Since he preferred to stay and sleep outside most of his days started like this. With a sigh he started washing up, getting the majority of the dirt off of his face and arms. Then, after practicing his best "I'm here to learn" smile he grabbed his pack, stepped out of the bathroom, and into the classroom a few steps away.

He wasn't really interested in learning how to pilot a spaceship but out of all the elective courses he had to pick from this seemed more interesting than "Berry Horticulture". So, with a quick step he found a seat near the middle of the room and pulled his notebook and pencil.

A young girl with mousy brown hair that exceeded the capacity of her baseball cap to contain it bounced into the room and assumed the teacher spot. She stood on her tiptoes to write "VOY 1510 Touko-Sensei" on the board in a prominent location, then turned back around to face the class in her white T-shirt, black skinny vest and cutoff jean shorts with stylish hiking boots.

"Ohayo, minna! Watashi wa Touko Emiko!" Blank looks from the class. Right. Best to stick with her native tongue instead of using her Japanese lessons. "Ahem. Sorry about that. You can call me Touko, and good morning, everyone! Today starts our venture into the great unknown, in which we will acquire the tools and knowledge necessary to face it! You'll see a syllabus on each of your desks already, and for those of you that showed up on this first day, thank you for taking this class seriously. There's a lot to cover, as you see. We will be working not only on your battling skills, but also on being a good ambassador, wilderness survival and operating a complex, state-of-the-art vessel. The schedule of classes on the syllabus is subject to change, but I'll do my best to keep you all up to date should anything happen."

She clapped her hands together and bounced on the balls of her feet, eager to start. "Now, I have a list of everyone that signed up here. If you all could line up and cross off your names from the list so I know who's here and who's slacking, that would be great. Also, make sure you pick up your textbooks if you haven't already. Once everyone's done with that, let's go out to the practice field and have some friendly battles to get to know each other!"

Hannibal quietly packed up his notebook and syllabus and took his place in the line moving towards the front of the room. When he got there he silently bowed his head at Touko. Then he crossed his name off the list and grabbed his textbook, holding it in his hand next to his satchel.

Following the rest of his classmates outside he stood off to the side, waiting for someone to approach him. His hands drifted from ball to ball at his belt, thinking about the pokemon contained in each. Sammy's usually good to start out with unless they're starter is normal type in which case Cheshire goes out first.....Then again Sammy can be a bit of a wildcard.

Meanwhile, amongst the island's heavily variable climate, two trainers stared each other down. One of them was space cowgirl Jessica Stark, Ruula's very own original voyager; the other wasn't human. A well-dressed girl with metallic 'skin', brightly glowing amber eyes and visible seams giving way to ball joints stood opposite of Stark; her expression was filled with a certain contempt as she stared down at the other from atop a massive pokemon, mamoswine.

"...My ride's better." the pseudoroid remarked casually, a knowing smirk forming upon her face. Jessica furrowed her brows at the boast, glancing down at the humble bouffalant she rode. "Those're fightin' words." she replied in an amused tone, swinging one of her legs over to slide off the buffalo pokemon. She was decidedly mostly unfazed by the taunt, but her bouffalant was another story. The pokemon appeared to be aware of it being mocked, peering up at the ever so lax robot from behind shades straight out of 70s and bellowing out a loud, guttural challenging growl.

It didn't take long for the massive mamoswine to simply bear down upon the much smaller pokemon, the mammoth tusks crushing down upon Bouffalant's form as it's super strength overwhelmed him before Jessica's eyes. Bouffalant's body could not withstand even one round of the other's superpower pummeling, brutally silenced before the battle had even gotten started.

"Uh--" the somewhat startled woman blurted out, fumbling for words in the face of this unexpected threat. "Looks like I left my game in my other ride!~" she was quick to add after a moment's hesitation. A new pokeball was tossed and Tauros emerged. The pokemon raised it's head at the challenger before lowering it and snorting in defiance. "Give 'im a body slam, tauros!" Jessica called out, eager to see if Mamoswine could take hits as well as it gave them out. Tauros stomped, working itself up before violently launching forward in a spring that left a trail of upturned dust in it's wake, coming at the much larger pokemon with titanic force and slamming into one of Mamoswine's legs with enough force to send a minor shockwave across the immediate area, blowing the two girls' hair behind them dramatically for a moment.

With a thud, Mamoswine dropped to it's side; it seemed unable to support it's weight on the stricken leg, a loud snort emitting as it attempted to struggle back to it's feet to no avail. The pseudoroid narrowed her brightly glowing eyes slightly. "...Lucky shot." she mused aloud in a disappointed tone, producing another pokeball of her own.

"What's your name anyway?" Jessica asked, curious.

The pseudoroid hesitated a moment. "...You can just call me 'Lady'." she replied somewhat condescendingly, declining to give her name. This brought a frown to Jessica's face. The robotic trainer tossed her pokeball and from it emerged a garchomp. An order was given and the dragon brandished the cruel blades upon it's arms, both of them roughly three feet long. The pokemon violently built up speed, lunging outward faster than ever Tauros could hope to match on the best of his days with both arms stretched out in anticipation of digging deeply into the bull. A frantic Jessica was slightly faster however; having decided that she was both short on time and not all that thrilled with the other's attitude she had already begun priming Tauros' ball when Garchomp began moving, returning the bull before the potentially lethal blow hit.

A mildly horrified Jessica stepped back, observing as the claws missed their mark. For a moment she just sort of locked eyes with the pokemon; it was somewhere between a gargoyle and a shark, it's many tiny scales jagged and painful looking if rubbed the wrong way.

"What's this..? Are you running from a trainer battle?" the pseudoroid asked, feigning amusement. Her expression bore slight disgust however, not all that amused by the interruption.

"Now--Ah love a good battle 's much 's anyone else, but between you 'n me I've got a class t'get to 'n yer garchomp is lookin' like it ain't gon' leave me with a ride t'get back to the academy." Jessica explained somewhat apologetically, though she'd declined to comment on the other's attitude. The other girl shook her head gently. "...You look like you're better off learning a lesson right here, dear~" she remarked in this ever so eerily sweet tone. As Jessica began to gather her things to leave the other's choice of tone drew her attention. It had seemed backhanded, almost threatening somehow. She was starting to dislike this girl.

Jessica would find that the pseudoroid's garchomp now loomed over her in a threatening manner. Jessica froze in place, gazing past the pokemon to peer at it's trainer. What she saw caused a sense of dread to build in her, a dark grey or perhaps platinum halo having formed upon the other's head. It had the consistency of gaseous fire, plasma perhaps, and burned intensely above the knowing grin the other now sported.

"Send out your next pokemon." the robot ever so smugly demanded.

...

Later an exhausted, beaten and bruised Jessica marched her way back to the academy looking like she'd seen better days. Something or someone had struck her pretty hard upon the cheek, and she sported two other bruises from being gripped very hard around the arms. Peering into the distance she spotted a class just outside the main academy building, bursting into jog to close the remaining distance. Watching her would reveal she was fatigued, barely able to maintain a jog. She'd been walking a long ways; it wasn't a small island, after all!

Coming to a stop and taking a moment to try and catch her breath, Jessica spoke to the group at large. "Is this--Is this VOY 1510?" she asked in between breathes, adjusting her hat and searching for the one that -looked- like they might be the teacher. She seemed quite concerned, unsure exactly how late and therefore screwed she was. Of all the times for a problem trainer to bother her, why today..?

It was, after all, about time she had a refresher course.

"Ah! Jessica-sama! So good to see..." The petite, mousy-brown haired teacher stopped and gave the cowgirl a quick once-over. "Who did this to you? Who beat the crap out of my teaching assistant?! I'll grind their face with my boot heel just like I did that smelly old Ghetsis! Just point me to 'em and I'll deal with it!"

Emiko Touko looked around the spacious training area with daggers in her eyes, searching for the guilty party. "Class, today's lecture is canceled. If you still want to use this space for some friendly battles, go right ahead. Jessica, you head off to the nurse, but not before you tell me where to find the one who struck you."

Hannibal looked over the new arrival, letting a small frown creep over his face. He had no problem with fights, but this wasn't a fight, it was a beat-down. If it had been a fight her hands wouldn't have been so immaculate. Beat-downs are something Hannibal couldn't abide by, no matter who did it to who. His hands brushed over his pokeballs and he settled on Cheshire. Cheshire was a bit sadistic at times, he really enjoyed beating up on sleeping opponents and eating their dreams. That being said, sadistic is what was needed if someone was beating other people up.

Hannibal walked over to Touku and tapped her on the shoulder, speaking quietly I will join you..... someone hurting students should taste some of their own medicine.

Jessica's eyes widened and she found herself displaying a disappointed frown. "Aw schucks, I'm fine Miss Touko." she replied somewhat awkwardly, one hand tentatively touching the bruise on her opposite arm. "Ah've had worse back n' the ranch from the herd gettin' a lil' too rowdy 'round me." she offered. "Sides, I reckon I'll have a bit of problem if'n I don't finish this class..." the rather athletic woman remarked thoughtfully.

After a moment however she relented, deciding that the android had been a bit too threatening to be roaming free around such young and inexperienced trainers. "It was--It was one of them machines, but also like a human. Y'get what I'm sayin'? She had glowin' eyes n' a flamin' head n' a nasty disposition I'll tell ya..." she explained in a mildly worried tone, gesturing off the way she'd come from as if to point out the android's location.

"Flaming head? Bad temper? If you wanna come along, Hawthorne, that's fine. I'm gonna need someone to watch my back," Touko barked, her eyes squinted as if she was the same girl that took Team Plasma down a couple of pegs. Which she was.

"Jess, I love your hair, by the way. Don't work yourself too hard." Touko nodded, her equally huge ponytail bobbing in the slightly humid air. "Come on, we gotta stop whoever did this before they get to the academy." And so off Touko-sensei went, on another journey to meet with a mysterious and powerful person, possibly with ill intent.

N wasn't such a bad guy, he merely had the bad luck to have run into a puppet-master like Ghetsis that was all too eager to take advantage of his gift. But he was right about one thing--Pokemon liked to battle. They didn't mind getting hurt if it meant the chance to see new things and fight new species. But when people got hurt during a Pokemon battle, it was all too easy to pass it off as an accident after what almost happened to a girl named Mei. Touko couldn't bring herself to believe that Ghetsis had actually ordered Kyurem to attack a human, but it certainly wouldn't be out of character for him to do such a reprehensible act.

And now it was Touko's duty to ensure that whoever did this to Jessica didn't come to the academy to finish the job.

...After a while's searching Emiko might be inclined to notice a rather large pokemon just sort of... chilling around outside it's natural habitat, a mamoswine with a girl in close proximity. Glowing golden eyes pierced the midday air and locked on to the familiar girl with interest. Was that..? No--It couldn't be.

This was even better.

DIN-04 immediately began moving towards Touko with intent in her eyes and a confident, ladylike stride. As she closed the distance between the two her gaze fell over Touko's clothes and that of the male with her. Her expression twisted subtly in a note of disapproval, her nose turning up at the two in a somewhat arrogant manner as she came to a stop.

"Well if it isn't DIN-05's blueprints... in the flesh." she remarked haughtily, a knowing smirk appearing on her face.

"Cut the crap," Touko shot back at the sneering girl. "What did you do to Jessica? She came back to me with a shiner and bruises on her wrists. I don't know where you took etiquette lessons, but that's not what we teach here." Her eyes took a moment to size up her foe, given what Jessica had told her. Mamoswine? Check. And it sounded like she had a Garchomp...no other Pokémon from the cold northern reaches of Sinnoh had quite the same capacity to wreck someone's day. This couldn't be Lady Platina...not the way she talked. Looked the part, at least. "Din Five? Blueprints? I have no idea what you're talking about. But I'm not about to let you pass and do the same thing to a bunch of people who haven't gotten their feet wet."

This was it. No turning back. "I challenge you to a battle! Go, Kit-Kit! Start with a Fake Out!" The Liepard pounced forth, straight out of its Poké Ball and did a quick couple of sidesteps to confuse the larger and slower Mamoswine before zipping forward and hitting it right in the snout, trying to get him to flinch. This would prove useful for Touko to see how powerful its defenses were.

"Follow it up with Play Rough!" As if that wasn't bad enough that Mamoswine got hit in the sensitive nose, Liepard then went and bit him in the face while using its forelimbs to bat at its eyes. Maybe Hannibal could stand to take a few notes as long as he was there.

The Mamoswine just sort of looked up at the last moment with an oblivious expression on it's face, apparently not having been paying attention to what was going on even slightly. A snort left it's snout as it was smacked. The large and now bewildered pokemon began to turn upon Liepard only to be bitten. Mamoswine tensed and a violent shudder seemed to run through his body.

The mammoth pokemon then proceeded to collapse where he stood. It seemed Emiko's liepard had managed to pierce something vital. Mamoswine went down before he even got a chance to defend himself. DIN-04 gazed upon the scene for a moment before disregarding it entirely. "...Wow, you know that wasn't even mine right? You just ruined that wild pokemon's day." she mocked with a smug grin upon her face. The nearby mamoswine emitted a groan.

"Did you see that, Three? We've got a bully over here~" she remarked, plucking a pokeball in preparation for battle. If one followed her glowing gaze they might notice a boy not far off.

DIN-03 looked up from what appeared to be either a sketchbook or a notebook. When exactly he had shown up was up for debate, but he appeared to be keeping his distance. "...I don't know what you're involving me in this for, Princess." he replied dismissively before turning back to whatever he was working on. "Master Zero will be disappointed if he finds out about this. The creator may even scrap you if you can't even beat Five's ghost." he remarked casually, seemingly entirely disinterested in the fight.

DIN-04 appeared irritated by the remark, glancing at DIN-03 for a moment. The two shared a look and nothing audible was communicated. She then turned back upon Emiko. "That's why I put the swain in her place!" DIN-04 cried out angrily, tossing a primed ball through the air. It emitted an explosive ray of light and from it burst forth a lucario! The aura pokemon seemed to stretch, pounding his feet against the ground and striking a pose as his body surged with an invisible power. The more astute battler might recognize it as swords dance.

"Oh, that's bullshit. No way is a Mamoswine from around here. You're just mad that you can't keep up with the real thing," Touko shot back. "Kit-Kit! Use Assist!"

The Liepard let out a cute little meow and stretched its limbs, calling on the assistance of one of Touko's other party members. Suddenly, a powerful wind whipped up, blowing the buffed-up Lucario right back into his Poké Ball. Yup. That was a Whirlwind, all right. "Hold on to your hats!" the brunette cried, leading by example as her other hand grabbed onto a nearby tree trunk until the ordeal was over.

"Oh, my. I didn't know you had a boyfriend. What's the matter, did I intrude on the two of you trying to enjoy some time alone together?" Oh, the fangs were out indeed, as Touko continued throwing verbal jabs right back at the robot girl. Master Zero, huh...so the two of them were in on some sort of conspiracy. "Hannibal, go talk to the kid with the sketchbook. Make sure he doesn't interfere!"

Hannibal held his ground as the whirlwind whipped around him and then looked towards the boy as his teacher ordered him. He thought about it for a moment before deciding the easiest way to make sure the boy didn't interfere was to give him something more pressing to focus on. Quickly walking over to the boy he shouted out "I challenge you to a double-battle!" and picked two pokeballs, letting them sail through the air. "Cheshire, Cesar, time to fight!"

Bursting fourth, a fiery fist rocketed through the air at speeds that created a small sonic boom. An infernape had emerged to try punching that liepard in the face with an aptly named Mach Punch! "Whatever you say. Nice shorts!" DIN-04 remarked condescendingly.

DIN-03 just sort of stopped drawing or writing, whatever he was doing, and gave Hannibal an unamused look. Piercing red eyes seemed to judge him for a moment before the android spoke. "Fine." he relented. "I accept your challenge. Why don't you take a seat?" he asked casually, making no move to reach for his own pokemon. His gaze abruptly tore away to glance at Emiko as she implied he was dating Four..

"Please don't." he remarked in an exasperated tone.

Four was quick to interject. "Gazing up at the top class speculatively again?~" she mocked sweetly. "That one isn't fit to kiss my boots; I don't think anyone on this island even knows how to treat a lady."

Three seemed to deflate slightly, a look of disappointment on his face. "Why did you have to get her going..?" he asked no one in particular in a quiet tone.

As soon as Infernape hit the field, Touko's next move was as clear as the sky above. It was going to get revenge. As it ran towards Kit-Kit with fire in its eyes (no, really) and a fist charged with qi ready to strike, Touko made her move.

"Kit-Kit, return! You're in charge, Drifter!"

Touko threw the Poke Ball hard. Real hard. Into the ocean hard. Out of the way of the Mach Punch, and Kit-Kit's form faded into a red glow just as the monkey was about to make contact.

Out popped a blue jellyfish with an impressive-looking mustache. Due to the distance between Infernape and Jellicent, the former had a lot of ground to cover before it could engage in its preferred mode of physical combat, giving the water/ghost type plenty of time to prepare for the reaction of the stuck-up robot bitch.

"Your move," Touko grinned wickedly.