Richie's Story

Richie walks into the gates of the academy and looks around, Frosslass nudges him, "it's okay, I think we're supposed to be here."

Nicole and Aqua both wake up with a yawn before getting up and exiting their dorm towards the cafeteria for breakfast time. "Ho boy...another boring day of studying. I'm starting to really hate this place. How about you Aqua?" she looks down to the water-type walking beside her. [It's fine...I just wish we could spend some time together...] she replies in poke-speak. Nicole nods, understanding thanks to a nifty little ear-bud device made by Sylph Co.

An old man sitting at the coast with a fishing rod in one hand and a net in the other patiently waited for a bite. And his students. While he was waiting, might as well reel in some breakfast. As soon as he felt a bite, a practiced flick of the wrist brought up a Goldeen. "It's a big one! Sic 'em, Growlithe! Use Bite!" The puppy dashed forward and sunk its fangs into the fish, trying to prevent it from using its fearsome horn in combat.

"Good boy! Now bring it over to the stone circle and use Ember!" This would simultaneously finish off the thrashing fish and start the cook fire for breakfast as he got out a knife from his belt. "Great Spirit, thank you for providing me and my friend with the nutrition we need. We shall pick the bones clean and cast them into the sea, that they may reform and begin the cycle again."

After this little prayer and some blood, the Goldeen was cleaned and in the iron cooking pot. "Growlithe, take that out of the fire when it's done. I seem to have misplaced my oven mitt." With that, the elderly man with the leathery skin returned to his fishing. "I wonder if that one girl is going to be on time..." he mused.

Richie spies the old man, he watches him as he and his growlithe work together to catch the fish. He smiles at the cooperation and teamwork, but it is a low smile. Frosslass floats around him and nudges him, "Im going!" He stands and looks around at his surroundings.

Richie smiles at the beautiful scenery. He gets caught up in the Pidove flocking over the academy.

Richie takes a step, but freezes. Am I supposed to be here? Do I realy deserve all of this? Richie shook his head, he was already getting intimidated, he couldn't let anyone in his team down, especially the newest addition of Frosslass. Frosslass was an abandoned pokemon Richie found a while back wandering in the forest. Frosslass had high hopes of being useful, and if Richie quit now it would let her down. Richie put that in mind and approached him, "Excuse me? can you help me?"

After breakfast, Nicole and Aqua walked outside to attend their first class. "Might as well kill the boredom with class. C'mon Aqua." she said, signaling for her pokemon to follow. The water-type nodded and happily followed her trainer outside to the beach.

"Ah, welcome to Wilderness Survival, girls," Heywood smiled as he waved the two over. "I hope you came nice and hungry, because I just cooked breakfast," he said as he gestured to the frying pan with Goldeen fillets in it. "First lesson. Always pick the bones clean when eating of the flesh of a Pokemon. Thank them for the meal that they provide, and then toss the bones back into the water so that they may be renewed." Growlithe barked happily upon seeing a potential new friend in Froslass.

"Could I have your names so that I can put them in the record books? I don't know why the principal made me have one, but I guess he knows what he's doing, being the principal and all." He took out a quill made from the feather of an Unfezant, dipped it in a vial of Tentacool ink, and prepared to jot down some lecture notes.

"Let's start with you, the one with the ice-type. What's your name? And you, pretty young thing with the hair of blonde and the Pokemon of the water? Why did you two decide to take this class over all the other electives?"

Nicole sighed as she remembered what the principal had told her about a forced change in classes. "Well...don't take this the wrong way or anything but I didn't want to be in this class. All the ones i did want to take were all filled so now i'm stuck here. And my name's Nicole Porter by the way and this is Aqua." she said looking down at her friend who shyly turned away, not so open to strangers.

As the pokemon trainers, both young and old, honed their skills, a deafening reptilian roar rumbled through the sky. A large shape materialized over the horizon and cast a shadow over the ocean with great leathery wings that spread over the waters. Crimson eyes, burning like fire, gazed upon the island with mischievous curiosity. Dark purple scales glistened in the sunlight as the creature glided along the warm up drafts of the ocean winds.

The beast banked upward along the cliff and released another thunderous roar. It soared above the academy, eying its inhabitants with a dreadful gaze.

A strange, metallic skinned boy turned his red, noticeably glowing eyes up at the sky. Above his head was a flaming ruby halo seemingly suspended by magic. He was sitting with a notepad and a pencil in his hands, a picture of several pokemon fighting drawn on it.

"Hmm..?" he mused quietly to himself from his position far from any other 'human'.

Who's that pokemon?

The android stared intently, watching. He was in his element.

Richie stares around, then looks at the old man, "Realy.. I'm new here, to everything, the elective, the academy, I just kinda wanna get a feel for the place, learn what I can." Frosslass floats around

Heywood had a bad feeling about this, but continued with the lesson as he grabbed an elaborately carved wooden cane with images of stampeding Bouffalant and limped over to the shore. "All right, girls. First thing, you must learn how to fish. I figured it was better to have one good rod than a bunch of old rods...you, Richie, you can use mine." He gestured to the blonde with the Froslass, asking her to take a turn. "First, bait the hook. I've got some blobs of meat you can use. Make sure you don't cut yourself on the hook."

While the students busied themselves with that, the elderly man bent over and put in a call to the principal's office. There was no doubt that they were seeing the same thing he was, but seeing as his class was outdoors he needed some strong battlers to cover for him should he need to relocate himself and his students. "Oh, and there's a strange boy here content to watch. See what he wants," he added before hanging up and turning back to the girls.