//------------------------------// // Arrival // Story: Past & Future // by Quillion9000 //------------------------------// Mesagoza After being shown to the sandwich place, Flash ordered an herbed sausage sandwich while Spike got the bacon sandwich. Given Spike’s prior question about his past, Flash opted to sit alone. Rather than dwell on that, Spike joined a group of rather exuberant tourists keen to conversate. By nature of how they choose to situate themselves, Flash was done with his meal sooner, so he decided to slip outside. The guy already knew how uncooperative he must seem to the younger student, so he’d let the kid continue having his fun. Just as Flash was about to lean against the wall, he froze. Across from him was an older man with medium length red hair and light blue eyes. He wore a red shirt with light gray jeans, and he was looking at Flash with a rather remorseful expression. Not even a moment later, some citizen walked in front of Flash which obscured his view. It couldn’t have taken less than a moment, but by the time the student could see where he had been looking, there wasn’t a trace of the older man. Not even as he scanned the area. “Wishful thinking.” Flash closed his eyes. “After all, what are the odds uncle would be in Paldea too? That’s not even mentioning the fact he has no right to look at me like that.” He took a deep breath and did his best to compose himself. No matter how painful the memories, Flash was past the point of them being debilitating. His gaze soon settled on some guy walking along with an attempted ease yet stumbling. It was a young man with darker blue hair than Flash’s and matching eyes. He wore black shoes, tan pants, and a rather fancy long sleeved blue top which reached partially down his pants. He ended up stumbling a bit too much and fell to his knees to the surprise of the people around him. Flash rushed over, beating out other people who were going to move to help him, and crouched by the guy’s side. “Hey, are you…” Suddenly, one of the guy’s pokeballs opened as a Primeape appeared before aggressively moving towards Flash. This prompted the student to scurry back quickly to the point where he ended up on his butt. A couple of onlookers moved to put hands on his shoulder indicating they got him. “Primeape, it’s okay.” The guy stated. Those words seemed to calm the fighting type who immediately shifted his focus to the guy. Flash noticed a concerned expression grace the fighting type’s face as he moved to help his trainer. “Sorry about that.” The guy was looking at Flash with a weak smile. “Primeape is just overprotective given my…” He suddenly reached for his pocket and pulled out a hanky to cough into it as Primeape helped him up. “…current state.” The guy removed his hanky and was doing his best to hide it from sight. For the most part, he seemed to succeed; however, Flash could have sworn he caught sight of blood splotches as the guy tucked it away. “Prime.” Primeape declared worriedly. “Yeah, let’s go buddy.” The guy chuckled weakly. “Sorry about this everyone.” People watched and whispered as the guy left with his pokemon. “What was that?” “I don’t know.” “That young man seems kind of unwell.” “Even if that’s the case, his pokemon seemed far too aggressive.” Eventually, he was gone before Spike wandered over looking at the gathered people and settling on Flash. “There you are.” He sounded a bit exasperated only to then notice his current state. “Wait, what happened to you?” Flash stood up and dusted himself off. “I’ll tell you on the way to the academy.” He started walking, prompting Spike to follow. As they moved back to the main road up to the academy, Flash filled the younger student in on what happened. Though it was only in context to what happened with that guy. The figure he had seen prior was his ghost to deal with. “Being that sick.” Spike shook his head, concerned. “I hope that guy is okay.” “Same here.” Flash agreed. By this point, they’d already been climbing stairs and were staring to crest the second to last set on their way to the academy. As they reached the top, the pair came upon what looked like two students, wearing altered uniforms, confronting some girl who looked around Flash’s age. She had long sapphire blue hair, with a violet and rose streak, tied up in a pony tail and violet eyes. Her attire was the autumn uniform, glasses, and an Espeon book bag. She seemed rather uncomfortable being in the presence of the guy and girl confronting her. “Don’t you get it?” The girl questioned. “If you join Team Star, you can shine as bright as anybody.” She was met with silence. “Seriously, what’s with you?” The guy asked. “Don’t you want to burn brightly with awesome friends like us?” The properly dressed girl looked away. “Not really…” “Look, we’ve got a quota we’re supposed to fill for new members, so just sign up.” The girl declared. “I’d rather not…” The properly dressed girl responded. “You heard her.” Spike retorted as he walked over. “Spike?” The properly dressed girl questioned, surprised. “Don’t worry Twilight, I got this.” Spike declared. “I may have just gotten my pokemon, but I’ve learned a lot since.” He then turned to the other two students. “She gave you here answer so leave my older sister alone.” “You really want to intrude?” The girl asked. “We’re Team Star, kid. We burn so brightly it hurts to look at us, but you know that already, right?” Flash strolled on over. “How could anyone burn brightly if they go around pressuring people to sign up?” “Ugh, just another ignorant nobody.” The girl was clearly frustrated. “Here I am finally part of Team Star, yet I get no respect. I got to work my way up the ranks.” “Hey, we can’t just let this slide.” The guy declared. “The honor of our team is on the line, so we got to battle them, yeah?” “That’s true.” The girl nodded. “You keep watch on four eyes while I handle them.” She turned before focusing on Spike. “I’ll start handing out lessons with the first kid who stepped in before following it up with the other guy.” “I don’t know if this is a good idea.” Twilight voiced, worried for her brother. “Eh, don’t worry about it.” Flash voiced. “Your younger brother has actually proven himself to have potential as a trainer.” He shrugged. “If you ask me, he’s got them.” “Who even is this guy?” Twilight questioned herself. “That might just be the most positive thing I’ve heard from him yet.” Spike noted before smiling at Twilight. “I finally got some pokemon of my own today, and I’ve learned a lot from Flash.” He focused on his opponent. “Besides, no one tries to strong arm my family.” “This guy taught Spike some stuff?” Twilight questioned internally. “Enough talk.” The girl made a star with her hands. “It’s time to battle!” She retrieved her pokeball. “Burn bright, Maschiff!” Spike grasped and threw out one of his pokeballs. “Go, Fidough!” The fairy type appeared and moved about excitedly. “Yeah, that’s the spirit buddy.” One of the chief things he learned from Flash is to embrace who your pokemon is. “We’re about to have fun!” Spike vs Girl Grunt “Maschiff, use tackle.” The grunt commanded. “Fidough, receive your playmate head on after using growl.” Spike ordered. Fidough growled at Maschiff lowering her attack by one stage before bracing himself to take the tackle like a champ. “Maschiff, use lick.” The grunt ordered. “Fidough, tail whip to the right and avoid that tongue.” Spike commanded. As Maschiff attempted to lick the fairy type, he chased his tail to the right. As such, he avoided the tongue while brushing his tail against the dark type lowering her defense by one stage. “Alright, let’s see you deal with this.” The grunt declared, frustrated. “Use snarl.” Maschiff snarled unleashing dark type sound waves that pushed Fidough back. “Looks like they aren’t too happy with our defensive play, so let’s swap to something offensive.” Spike declared. “Fidough, tackle.” “Maschiff, meet them head on with your own tackle.” The grunt instructed. The pokemon charged one another, but when they clashed, it was evident who had the advantage. Due to her attack and defense being lowered, Fidough had no problem overcoming the dark type. He landed a strong blow that sent the rascal pokemon collapsing to her belly. “Maschiff, get up and tackle again.” The grunt commanded. “Fidough, end this with your lick.” Spike ordered. As Maschiff attempted to stand, Fidough ran in licking the dark type. She shuddered as the damage took effect before collapsing to the ground unconscious. Mesagoza The female grunt returned her pokemon. “How am I the one seeing stars!?” Spike ran out and picked his pokemon up. “Way to go Fidough!” The fairy type licked his trainer’s face. “Heh, you were spectacular.” Twilight was stunned as she turned to Flash. “You really taught my brother how to battle like that?” “It’s more he learned through observation.” Flash responded. “My starter simply likes to dance as his preferred movement option, so I’ve supported that. Basically, don’t fight your pokemon. Fight with your pokemon.” Twilight began to think. “A nobody like you being so good at battling just isn’t right.” The female grunt declared. “A nobody?” Spike questioned before smiling. “Consider me whatever you want, but one day this nobody will have defeated the champion!” “I don’t know about that, but this kid still beat you.” The male grunt stated, intimidated. “Does that mean I got to battle him now since I’m higher up Team Star’s ranks!?” “Pero bueno!” Nemona had arrived down the steps and sounded offended. “What do you two think you’re doing!?” “Ugh, it’s that student council dweeb!” The female grunt declared. She’ll report us if we don’t book it.” The male grunt added. “I can’t believe you, Spike and Flash.” Nemona declared as she approached. “You don’t need to find randos to battle. You’ll have all the battles you’ll ever need with me.” “That’s not really what happened.” Spike voiced with a sweat drop. “While I do believe we are free to battle whoever we like, it was actually those punks over there who started this.” Flash voiced. “The pair of them were pressuring this girl here, so we stepped in with Spike taking the battles.” “Oh wow.” Nemona realized. “I read the situation wrong. Sorry.” She looked at the opposing pair. “So, Team Star is out here strong-arming people again?” “We weren’t doing that…” The female grunt responded nervously. “Well, that explains it.” Nemona did not buy those words for a second. “As the head of the student council, stopping this type of nonsense would normally be my job, but this does present the perfect opportunity. As I told you both earlier, I worked on securing Tera Orbs for the both of you; however, even my word has its limit.” She took out a sole Tera Orb. “Unfortunately, only one of you can have and use this while the other will simply have to earn one themselves.” “This isn’t the first time I’ve had to earn something for my pokemon.” Flash shrugged. “Give the orb to Spike.” “Alright.” Nemona rushed to Spike and put the Tera Orb in his hand. “Then, this is now my gift to you. With it, you can Terastallize your pokemon during battle; however, they only work once. Additionally, almost any pokemon has a Tera Type that matches their type. There are exceptions, but let’s stick to the basics. For instance, your Fidough here would be a Fairy type while Flash’s Ralts could be a Fairy or Psychic Tera Type. Now, time for you to give it a whirl.” She ran back a bit. “You’ll learn to use it faster in battle.” Spike was raring to give this a go. “Sounds good.” “Whoa, wait just a moment.” The male grunt spoke up. “You want this kid here to practice wailing on us with his Tera Pokemon?” “Got a problem” Nemona asked. “You want to battle me instead?” “Never mind.” The male grunt was terrified. “I’ll take my chances with the new kid.” “Then, take your places and battle!” Nemona declared. “Return for now Fidough.” Spike returned his fairy type while the grunt moved back from him. The male grunt made the star in the air before throwing out his pokemon. “Burn bright, Deino!” The little dragon type gave a small roar. Spike selected his starter’s pokeball. “Go, Fuecoco!” The fire type appeared with his goofy smile. Spike vs Male Grunt Spike threw the Tera Orb over Fuecoco, and the fire starter was awash with beautiful crystals. They quickly faded to reveal he was now coated in red crystal with a crown composed of a candelabra. “Deino, use dragon breath.” The grunt ordered. “Fuecoco, let’s put your fire to the test with ember.” Spike commanded. Deino breathed out dragon energy while Fuecoco fired his ember. As it was naturally larger and stronger, due to the Terastallization, it tore through the breath attack before impacting with Deino. “That’s the way Fuecoco, now…” Spike began. He stopped as Fuecoco suddenly began belting out something that resembled music. It wasn’t necessarily good or bad, but it did project normal energy that further damaged the dark/dragon type. “What?” Spike questioned. “That was the move round.” Flash called out. “It means your starter is growing stronger, just as my Quaxly grew stronger by picking up wing attack.” “Alright, let’s keep this up with another ember.” Spike declared happily. “Deino, dodge before using tackle.” The grunt ordered. Deino managed to avoid the oncoming ember before rushing in and tackling Fuecoco, pushing him back. “Keep it up with a bite.” The male grunt ordered. “Show them we aren’t that slow on the uptake.” Spike declared. “Finish this with round.” As Deino got close to biting down on the fire type, he belted out that sound once more. The resulting normal energy was enough to push Deino back before he ultimately collapsed unconscious. Mesagoza The male grunt folded forward in defeat before returning his pokemon. “Man, you’re pokemon burned brightly…” “Nice Spike!” Nemona nodded. “You pulled off Terastallization no problem, but if you want to do it again, you’ll need to hand it over to a Nurse Joy any time you visit a Pokemon Center.” “Anyways, we’ll be on our way.” The male grunt declared. “Hasta la vistaarrr!” “Yeah, hasta la vistaarrr!” The female grunt added. The pair ran off. “What exactly is their deal?” Flash questioned. “Team Star is basically a group of students that like to kick up trouble.” Nemona explained while Twilight, out of their eye sight, looked away dejectedly. “They hardly show up to any class, and when they’re together in groups, they can be a real headache.” “H-hey.” Twilight interjected as she wanted to leave. “Thanks for stepping in Spike…you’ve clearly got a grasp of battling at this point.” She nodded to Flash. “Thank you, for showing him the ropes. Now, I’m going.” She ran off while Spike was left staring after her. “There is something I can add.” “What is that Spike?” Nemona asked interested. “Twilight wouldn’t say much to anyone in the family, no matter how hard we tried, but roughly 18 months prior she was sent to Sinnoh.” Spike crossed his arms. “From what little I managed to dig up, it coincides with this huge mess Team Star seemed to have caused at the school.” “Hm, around that time is also when the academy received a whole new staff.” Nemona added thoughtfully. “Could any of that really be attributed to Team Star?” Flash questioned. “I mean, they seem more like a nuisance, both in how they act and Nemona described them.” “I don’t know.” Spike shook his head with a sigh. “I don’t want to jump to conclusions, but Twilight started acting differently not long before she was sent to Sinnoh. Now that I’m in Uva academy myself, I want to find the truth.” “Well, I wish I could help you more, but I’ve just told you everything I knew.” Nemona shrugged. “Sorry.” “Eh, it’s fine.” Spike shook his head. “I didn’t imagine finding answers would be easy nor that I’d wrap it all up on my first day.” “Anyways, with this trouble dying down, we should get up to the academy.” Flash declared. “Yeah.” Nemona sighed. “Just get ready to climb the worst staircase in the world.” Nemona took off running. “She’d probably find them bearable by walking.” Flash muttered as he started doing just that. Spike followed, and the pair ended up at the top of the stairs just as Nemona was rushing inside. Uva Academy was truly a sight to behold, being both large and having multiple floors. Other students were mulling about wherever you looked. Uva Academy Flash and Spike entered the entrance hall which was truly huge which all kinds of doors leading to other parts of the academy. There were many bookshelves containing countless books, many desk scattered about, and a receptionist desk. Nemona stood just ahead of that. “This here’s the entrance hall.” Nemona informed as the guys joined her. “From here, there are many different ways one could take to reach different parts of the school.” “It’s going to take a minute to learn my way around.” Spike commented. Flash didn’t say a word as he continued to look at his surroundings. “Masters Armor and Sentry. Miss Nemona.” Clavell greeted as he approached the trio. “How was your first school commute?” “It was a blast!” Spike declared happily. “I imagine Miss Nemona’s high spirits helped with that.” Clavell reasoned. “She’s a true asset to our fine academy. Though, I expect nothing less from our champion-ranked student council president. Reliable as ever, Miss Nemona.” “I will say that not everything about the commute was peaceful.” Flash spoke up. “A group, Team Star as I would learn, were down the stairs from the academy.” “There were harassing my sister, Twilight.” Spike added. “That is quite the news.” Clavell stated. “Are they still down there?” “Actually, Spike managed to run them off.” Nemona voiced. “You don’t say…” Clavell turned to the younger student. “Of course, it’s a fine thing to help a fellow student, even finer to help family. Still, you may wish to show just a bit of restraint as you find your footing here at the academy. For all three of you, do remember that the staff here can help resolve such trouble. On that note, Miss Nemona would you be kind enough to report to Miss Luna about this Team Star business? As your homeroom teacher, she should be kept appraised of such things.” “Understood sir.” Nemona declared. “Ah, look at the time.” Clavell noted. “You three better hurry along for class will begin soon.” “We’re in Class 1-A you two.” Nemona turned to the boys. “I’ll show you the way.” Class 1-A: A Bit Later… Compared to the extravagance of the entrance hall, most classrooms could seem rather standard. They had windows, twelve sets of desks, with each set comprised of two desks next to each other, and the teacher’s desk. Luna stood there wearing a lavender short sleeved top, underneath a white lab coat, purple jeans, and white shoes. Before her were all her homeroom students, of which Nemona was one of them. Flash and Spike were currently outside the room waiting. “Good morning, Miss Luna.” The class declared. “Good morning, everyone.” Luna greeted. “Before we begin today’s usual, we have something new. Starting today, two students will be joining our homeroom.” Flash and Spike entered before standing beside her desk. “Please, introduce yourselves.” “Hey everyone!” Spike greeted happily. “My name is Spike!” “Did you hear that? He seems super friendly and fun!” “I’m Flash.” Flash responded simply. “He’s calm and seems cool.” “Looks like everyone’s eager to know you two.” Luna noted. “Who has the first question for either of these two?” “I got this! What do you two like most about pokemon?” “I like playing with pokemon.” Spike answered “Really? Awesome! I’m totally the same!” “Battling.” Flash answered simply. “That’s cool to, I guess.” “I have a question.” Nemona declared as she stood. “You two went through all the trouble of enrolling, so what do you hope to gain? You must have some kind of dream, right?” “I want to be a strong trainer!” Spike declared. “My dreams are my own; however, I will say they require me to be a strong trainer.” Flash responded. “Though, I will amend that my strength will be the right kind.” Spike glanced at Flash as he once again wondered just what this guy’s deal was. This time, his response even drew Nemona’s attention. “Well, thank you both for speaking on yourselves.” Luna nodded. “I’m Miss Luna. Among my duties as your homeroom teacher, I also teach biology. Flash, your seat is in the second row from the front. Spike, you will be in the first row on the left.” The pair moved to take their respective seats as homeroom got underway.