Gakuen Pokémon: Chapter Two - Prepare For Trouble

Sooooo, here we are - Chapter 2 >:D  I had a few more ideas for this installment, but they can be put off until Chapter 3.  Enjoy~!

PIA Term 1 Schedule - Aria Higure - Year 4
Period 1 - Pokémon Sociology 401 - Professor W. Jesse, General Classes Room 423
Period 2 - Advanced Contest Appeals - Professor J. Newton, Gymnasium Room 200a
Period 3 - Comparative Regional Mythologies - Professor S. Graves, Arts / Humanities Room 325
Period 4 - Advanced  Pokémon Battling 301 - Professor S. Jesse, Gymnasium Room 200b

"Well, whaddya know?" An amused voice drew Aria's attention away from her schedule just before a poke to her sensitive side sent her stumbling sideways with a loud squeal.  The Teddiursa that had been sleeping over her shoulder peacefully suddenly cried out as he sought purchase on his flailing Trainer's jacket with his claws.

"DJ!" she wailed, wrapping an arm around herself to block any further assaults and then resettling her Pokémon.  "What was that for?!  You nearly sent Dolce flying!"

"For the fun of it!" the sophomore laughed, then addressed Dolce.  "Sorry, little guy.  So, you and Duce have fourth period together, it looks like.  Why are they even putting Junior Trainers and Senior Coordinators together, anyway?"

Aria shrugged, folding the paper neatly and slipping it into the outer pocket of her field bag.  "I guess the staff figured it would be good for maintaining relations between study programs.  It's a requirement for both, so why not?"

"Speaking of awesome, did someone say my name?"

"And who stepped on that Lillipup?"

Duce and Les had wandered over to join the two, making a square of sorts amidst the mass of other teenagers leaving the Student Center.  The start-of-term assembly had just let out, and most students would at this point either depart for their dorms on Trinity Island or continue to hang about Central Island and see how much mischief they could get away with on the first day.

"Speaking of awesome," DJ replied to Duce's comment, "guess what's not?  Narcissism!"

With a shrug, Duce said, "What can I say?  I am awesome."

"No you're not, dude, don't lie!"

"And guess what I'm not?" Aria glared at Les.  "A tiny brown-and-purple puppy!"

"Ursa!" Dolce seemed to agree.

"You sure sounded like one!" Les laughed.

"Oh, shut it!"

By now, the whole square was laughing, but collected themselves quickly in favor of more important matters.

"SCHEDULE COMPARISON!"  Les glanced around at the schedules of the others, then studied his own with dismay.  "Crap!  I don't have any classes with you guys!"

"What did you expect?" DJ asked as he glanced over Duce's paper.  "You're in all basic classes this semester except for your first elective - pretty much standard for freshmen.  Whoa, awesome, Duce, we've got a practice battle period together!"  The two boys high-fived while Les looked on, crestfallen.

"Basics?!  Why?  Aren't we already supposed to know all the basic crap?"

A slight change of tone accented Aria's voice as she answered.  "Well, yes, but more advanced classes later on are probably going to be more effective if you reinforce fundamentals in a formal setting - "

"Alright, alright, I get it!"

Aria was quick to drop the subject, instead turning to Duce as she matched her classes against his, just to be sure of the period they shared.  "Hey, Duce, I saw you talking to Headmistress Keck a few minutes ago.  What was that about?"

"Yeah..." Duce took a deep breath, suddenly seeming a bit distressed.  "You guys should probably know about - "

"DUCE KAZUHIRA!"

"Oh, great," he sighed as the rest of the square jumped in surprise and spun around in the direction of the approaching voice.  A curly-haired sandy blonde was flouncing down the Student Center hallway towards them, a blue-ringed Umbreon following close behind.  Her uniform was identical to Aria's, aside from her deep golden yellow shirt, matching accents on her blazer, and the crest over her heart depicting a bolt of golden lightning surrounded by pale blue clouds in an endless knot.

"Georgia!" Aria squealed, Dolce hopping off of her shoulder as she ran towards the girl, seeming much more interested in playing with the newcomer's Umbreon.  "Hey!"

"Hey, girl!" Georgia responded with an enthusiastic hug.  "I'll talk to you in a sec.  I've got to deal with these two first."  Duce and DJ winced almost simultaneously as her suddenly steely eyes locked on them.

"Wait, what'd they - "  Aria blinked owlishly as she was left standing, Georgia's attention diverted.

"ANYWAY," she barked, hugging a bewildered Les quite fiercely in a way reminiscent of an overprotective mother.  "I hear you and you practically assaulted this poor little rookie earlier!  WHAT do you have to say for yourselves?"

"Um, Umbreon!" her Umbreon punctuated confidently, looking up from its game of tag with Dolce for a moment.

"Why does everyone keep flipping this situation around?" Duce facepalmed.

"HE started it!" DJ asserted.

"Wrong answer!"  Now released, Les stumbled over to join a now equally bewildered Aria as Georgia planted a strong smack on the back of DJ's head.

"OW!"

Now smiling, Georgia skipped back over to Aria.  "My work here is done!  C'mon, I have a ton to catch you up on and you HAVE to meet my new Pokémon!"

"Okay!" Aria complied, sending an apologetic look back towards the boys.  "See you guys later?"

As the two girls disappeared into the stream of students still leaving the Center, DJ groaned and rubbed the back of his head.  "Gah!  Why did I get the smack and not you, bro?!"

"Well, she and I are cousins."

"And I thought Raikous were supposed to be nurturing, not violent!"

"She seemed pretty nurturing to me," Les said with an awkward laugh.

Duce laughed with him, but beneath the surface his mind was churning.  Aria was the only other one among them who would understand the full seriousness of his encounter earlier - DJ and Les, both from Unova, had encountered at worst a crazed Pokémon liberation movement, not a full-on crime syndicate.  Sure, the headmistress had said that she would take precautions...and yet...

___________________________________________________________________________


"Team...what now?"

Duce had spilled the whole story to DJ on the way back to their dorm room.  As darkness was fast approaching, the best place to be was inside rather than risk getting in trouble for breaking curfew.

"Team Rocket," Duce sighed.  "They had complete control over Kanto at one point, and when their empire was crumbled by a freaking 16-year-old, they went into hiding for three years and when managed to get Johto into their clutches...and were brought down by another teenager.  Surely you've heard about that?"

DJ shook his head.  "Only in passing - Unova's kind of detached from the other regions.  Our biggest problem was Team Plasma - they did kind of freeze over my home city.  We barely had time to pay attention to the rest of the nation's crime problems."

 "True.  The point is, the Rockets are back, and they're here - at least one of their spies is, or was.  Headmistress Keck said she would do everything she could to protect the school, but the higher-ups of two entire regions couldn't keep them out.  And think about it - who brought down Team Plasma in your region?"

"Two teenagers...so you're saying that this is up to us, huh?"

"Not just yet.  They haven't made any significant moves...but something tells me that if they do, only us students will be able to retaliate.  Almost everyone here has been plagued by one organized crime syndicate or another, no matter where they're from...come to think of it, if they came out in the open, they'd be wasted within one day!  Why here?"

DJ shook his head.  "I don't know - but if they ever do show themselves at full strength, I'll sure be ready."

The two were so busy with their discussion that they didn't notice a rustling in the bushes, a tiny blue and white form waddling out and following them with innocent curiosity.  In fact, DJ only noticed when he felt two tiny limbs wrap around his calf.

"Osha?"

Suddenly freezing up, DJ slowly looked down to see a small Oshawott clinging to his leg, blinking up at him with wide eyes.  "Oshawott!"

"OH MY SWEET FREAKING ARCEUS, GET IT OFF ME!"

A few desperate flails later, the tiny otter Pokémon had been sent flying and nearly crashed into a nearby tree, but managed to land on its feet, albeit seeming disoriented.  "Osha?"

"Alright, you little pest!"  DJ flung an Ultra Ball at the ground, and it snapped open to release a colossal Garchomp.  "Do you WANT to get Dragon Pulsed?!"

"O-Oshawott!" The Water-type quaked in fear, quickly turning on its tiny feet and dashing back into the woods and presumably towards the shore.

With a sign of relief, DJ raised the Ball to return his partner.  "Thanks, buddy."

"Gar," Garchomp replied, happily returning.

Duce blinked.  "Bro...I know you have issues with Water types, but wasn't that a bit much?"

"What?  Those things are flipping creepy!"