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Pokéumans: Re-lived part 1 "From parallel worlds" Chapter 6 "Home, sour home"“Name’s Demian, and it looks like you’ll fit riiiight in to our little group~” the dark and normal type said, before letting out a sinister chuckle. “You better.” I was paralysed, I could sense from the get go that these guys were far from nice people, I was starting to suspect why Rodri was so worried about my dorm room, why would the headmaster send me here? “Well don’t just stand there paralysed, I thought you were an electric type.” The obstagoon said as he pulled me inside the room. It was fairly spacious, a large rectangular room with two bunk beds on each side a good amount apart from each other, in between was space for a sofa and a TV set, there were also a few desks on the corner with one modern looking pc, besides the TV there was an entrance that lead to a bathroom and a rather small closet like area, it took me a while to register how spacious it was though as it was extremely cluttered, there was a good amount of garbage thrown around, books, pencils, miscellaneous plastic containers, some thick strands of black, grey and white fur, etc. The walls were littered with posters of TV shows and videogames like dragon ball or fifa, popular stuff that I absolutely could not stand myself and gave me a good idea of how these people were like, I’m not exactly the tidiest person by far but this was infuriating. “Like it?” Demian sneered. “This is going to be your home from now on, newbie, and the first thing you should probably know is:” He said as he suddenly grabbed me by the shoulders and forced me to look directly at him, changing his smile into a threatening glare as the other two Pokémon followed close behind him almost threatening me into being unable to escape. I was trapped. “I, make the rules here.” He grinned once again. “I’ll be nice however, you’re one of us after all!! So, where were we newbie?... Oh, right, Like I said, I am Demian Pascual, obstagoon, the morgem here is Dylan Martinez, and the gliscor is Gael Cabañas.” The morgrem grinned just like his leader, showing off his fangs and letting out a confident, but otherwise restrained chuckle, he seemed fairly normal and not so different from a typical morgrem, at least as far as I knew a typical morgrem looked like, the gliscor however merely stared at me with an angry and serious looking expression, glinting his eyes at me and looking at me from the side, his physical appearance was normal though it seemed like he was slightly taller and leaner than usual gliscor proportions, he also seemed to have slightly smaller claws and tail and slightly larger wings, i guess it figures not all pokéumans looked exactly like their basic species, I could even see myself that I had longer limbs, particularly fingers and toes than the average toxtricity and I was also slightly not as lean. Demian took the cake in that regard though, he still generally had the same form as a regular obstagoon but it was very obvious through his bulkier form that he had extra muscle than normal and very likely was muscular as a human. “Well newbie? What’s your name?” Demian asked as he stretched out a paw towards me, I very hesitantly, almost trembling, shook it. “L-Lex... Lex Mota.” Suddenly all three pokémon started laughing, and I rolled my eyes, I knew exactly what this was about and I’m not going to explain it here (if you’re a spanish speaker you probably know already) but it felt very insulting, I could even see tears fall out of demian’s hyena like cackling face. “HAH... heh... Oh arceus... You’re not serious, are you? You can’t be! No fucking way!” “Yes.” I replied bluntly. “Pbfft- HAHAHAHAHAHAHA.” There the three of them went, cackling like maniacs, Demian was practically out of breath at this point. “Wow... Sucks to be you then.” “You don’t have to be a dick about it.” I replied in an angered tone, I was expecting something like this to happen involving my name and I do recall a few incidents like this in high school but this was far worse than anything before. “Is that a challenge.” He said as he suddenly grabbed me by the arm and once again got my face close to his. “Because I’d like to remind you which one of us is stronger, has more experience on their true form and can easily outnumber the other thanks to my little gang here, and you’re not going to get away with trying to cross my path like that, understood?” He snarled as I could feel him almost crush my arm. “I’m trying to be nice here, newbie, because you’re supposed to be one of us tough, rebellious and cruel pokémon, but if it happens that you don’t have what it takes then you’ll get the worst out of our treatment, understood?” I nodded on instinct, terrified. “Ey, boss, don’t be too harsh on the newbie, I’m sure he’s got what it takes to be one of us, it’s supposed to be in his DNA and whatever.” The morgrem suddenly chimed in, still with his cocky grin. “I dunno...” The gliscor interrupted, still with his intense serious glare. “How can we be so sure? Are we certain he isn’t a wimp? Being a toxtricity isn’t merely enough to mean he can be in this group.” He said, starting to circle me slowly in an almost predator-like fashion. “He has to prove himself.” It was impossible to get a read from him, he looked at me almost as if he was studying me with a hidden intention that I simply couldn’t figure out. Demian stepped in to separate us. “He’ll have his chance, soon.” “W-what do you mean by that?” I asked in an attempt at a defiant tone, but instead it came of as terrified. “Really? You haven’t figured it out? I guess smart isn’t your strong suit, heh.” He replied smugly. I had to bite my lip to avoid reacting, as much as it felt like accepting defeat, he was right, he could definitely beat me into a pulp. “Well, I don’t mind having to explain it one last time, this is our fourth and final member after all.” Demian said. “Now all of us here are cruel, dark, and ruthless species of pokémon, enjoying tormenting others and being relentless is in our nature, but we’re seen as bad guys for it, heh, what bunch of losers, but if we can’t stop them from thinking that then it’s best for us to enjoy ourselves and show everyone else that they’re beneath our kind, ain’t that right boys?” “You got it boss!” Replied Dylan. Gael simply nodded along. “W-what? That’s ridiculous!!” I replied without thinking. “Ridiculous?! HAH!” The obstagoon laughed. “Listen here, newbie, do you seriously think you know how this world works? You’ve been here for a week at most cooped up in some little hospital room. But I know the rules of society, and the streets, pokémon like you and me are strong alpha predators who live to be feared and obey no one but our primal, dark desires.” ((Wow, this guy has 0 idea what he’s talking about.)) I thought to myself after his insane ramblings, even with how intimidated I was by his clear strength a spark within me seemed to be lighting up and I was starting to considering countering his arguments. But that got interrupted by a sudden loud gurgling noise coming from Demian’s stomach. “Ugh... I’m far too hungry to argue.” He looked over at what I noticed to be a crappy digital clock that was barely visible but marked 6:35. “Dinnertime’s in half an hour... Shit, we won’t have time for the initiation test today.” He rambled. “Well then, “toxtricity” if you really deserve to be one, looks like you’re chance to prove yourself shall be postponed, though it’s not looking good for you...” I looked at him in disdain masked by fright. “I suggest you start heading to the cafeteria, you don’t wanna miss food since you’ll need it if you’re going to continue trying to challenge me, I’ll leave you two be, let’s get out of this dump, Dylan.” “Hehehehe, you’ve angered the boss~.” Said the morgrem as he exited alongside the obstagoon. Once they left I ended up grabbing my things, which I had left dropped on the floor, picked up my map and placed everything else on the desk near the vacant bed (the only one that wasn’t a mess) and got ready to live before the only voice left in the room chimed in. “Don’t leave.” It said. I groaned loudly. “What. Now.” He simply approached me and circled me again, studying me with that lethal glare, yet serious expression. And then once he stopped, he began. “You’re different, aren’t you?” “The fuck?” I said, getting more and more irritated. “You’re different, than this group, am I wrong?” he continued. “That does not concern you.” “Yes, it does, now answer.” The gliscor stated matter-of-factly before adding. “Please.” “Fine!!” I screamed, defeated and at my limit. “Yeah, I’m different than your stupid group of arsehole imbeciles!!! I don’t know why I got assigned this stupid room to live in, it’s already bad enough having to live with other people and I got a trio of cunts, now please for the love of God... Or arceus or whatever simply let me go eat for fuck’s sake.” I turned away and opened the door expecting the gliscor to try and stop me or insult me but instead I was shocked with a reaction he didn’t expect. The gliscor let out a long breath of... Relief? “Oh thank arceus I can stop pretending then.” I turned around “What?” He simply sighed. “Look, I’m really sorry, I just had to really make sure you were actually normal.” “Huh??” “Alright, how do I explain.” The gliscor went on, his demeanour having completely changed. “I’m not actually like the other two, I don’t really believe their nonsense about nature and the rules of society and all that, but since the headmaster decided to throw me in this room, I’ve been essentially forced to join his gang otherwise I get beat up with nothing being done about it.” As he spoke, he honestly looked somewhat... Guilty, and genuine, even though I had already guessed the answer I ended up asking: “Why didn’t you say anything then?” He shrugged. “I wish I could’ve but it took me a long while to gain their trust again, so they’d leave me alone, plus I wasn’t sure yet if you weren’t like them, I had no way of telling.” I blinked. “Is that why you were looking at me like that?” He shrugged once again. “I mean, I guess.” “Again, I’m really sorry I had to act that way, really, but please understand why I need this, and I really don’t want to be in bad terms with the only other normal person in this dorm, ok?” he said with a slightly guilty smile “I- fine.” I ended up replying. “But on the condition that you try to get Demian to leave me be.” His smile faded. “I mean- sigh alright, I’ll try, but I can’t promise much, only so we can enjoy our pokéuman lives as we should.” I merely rolled my eyes in response. “Look, we definitely started in the wrong foot, but you need someone that’ll help guide you through life at the base, especially as the roommates of those two, and I wanna help you two, you already know my name but, for the sake of a good introduction and all, I’m Gael, Gael Cabañas.” He said as he stretched a claw over to me. I hesitated for a few seconds before taking it, both from lingering doubt but also from trying to figure out how to shake a claw, in the end I settled on grabbing it like a ball with my whole palm. “I won’t bother repeating my name.” “Is your surname really-“ “Yes, shut up about it.” I interrupted. “Ok, ok!!” he exclaimed raising his claws up. “I won’t bring it up, promise.” “Can I go eat now?” I asked, tired. “Oh yeah!” he responded. “We’re slightly late though, you want me to help you get there?” he asked, slightly nervous. I rolled my eyes again, “Whatever.” He nodded in understanding as we left the room. “Luckily for us Demian tends to go do his own thing after dinner before coming back for curfew, leaving us alone for a good bit and we could like, talk or something.” “I don’t have the energy to chat.” I replied groggily. “I mean me neither, I’m actually an introvert as well, but it beats having to deal with Demian’s bs.” Gael said. “Besides I wouldn’t mind the company...” he then whispered. “Wait how did you know I-“ I said before realising. “Oh, right, low-key form.” Gael smiled. “Heh, I’d say you’re a little lucky since people can tell you’re introverted simply from how you look, but people tend to avoid us anyway.” He spoke. I attempted a raised eyebrow. “Cuz of Demian?” “Partly.” Gael answered. “But I can’t help but feel like they’d avoid us anyway. I mean he’s a bully, but Demian mostly keeps to himself, and it kinda feels like people hate us just cuz we’re dark or poison types or, well, in my case, “predatory” pokémon.” “Oh...” I answered “Doesn’t help that we have a speciesist and typeist prick of a headmaster.” Added Gael. “Typeist?” “He hates dark and poison types basically, almost by principle, and other pokémon he sees as dangerous like me. He has his excuses of “nature” and that bullshit which Demian only makes worse because of course he does.” Gael remarked angrily. “Damn...” I let out softly. “He also says poison types are all dirty, unmannered and unhygienic.” Gael added. I was perplexed. “I shower every day!!” “Which is more than the average pokéuman but hey, they’re not “dangerous” so it makes it totally different somehow.” Gael explained. “Hate to tell ya this, but we’re pretty much on our own, it’s... Probably for the best that we stick together.” He said with a warm smile, it was strange, seeing it from his sharp fanged carnivorous teeth but you could tell it was a nice, gentle smile and even despite the intimidating factor it felt... Nice, and I couldn’t help but feel comforted even with all that happened, so I smiled back, a little nervously, he noticed and I couldn’t help but feel like he felt similarly. “Let’s be friends Lex, ok?” Gael asked. I nodded. We were in silence for the rest of the walk, but it didn’t feel awkward, at least for me, I was unusually and strangely happy. We eventually made it to a large cafeteria and woahhhh it was packed to the brim, it almost felt like it had the same amount of people as the main hall!! Every seat, of which there were many of different kinds was taken and the line to get food was gigantic. “Shit, we’re late.” Said Gael. “Sigh Guess we’ll have to sit on the ground.” I shrugged. “Meh, I get used to it, how late were we.” “About a few minutes, give or take.” Answered Gael as he looked around for the start of the line. “WHAT?! Oh don’t tell me it’s one of those places where we have to get super early to be able to do anything!!” I groaned. “I won’t tell you.” He responded as he grabbed me with his claw, surprisingly painlessly though it did sting a little, through the diverse crowd once he spotted the tail of the queue. “Ow, that hurt!” I exclaimed once we made it. “Heh, my bad, unfortunately not much I can do about it with these limbs, but you’ll get used to it! I swear!!” He said with a nervous expression. It was jarring seeing act so differently from how he began, but then again what hadn’t been jarring the past week and a half? We pretty much spent an entire hour waiting, we were both getting extremely hungry, tired, and agitated being around so many people, which I could tell made the pokéumans surrounding us uneasy, they started to keep their distance from us, eventually, just before I started considering violence we made it to the end of the line. The counter was huge, there were plenty of options, though a few had clearly run out, most were typical heavy dinner options like sandwiches, a few jellies, a few cakes, I could also make out coffee makers and kettles in the back. There were various pokéumans wearing aprons working at the counter. ((Huh, kinda reminds me of that one cafe game.)) I chuckled, before being interrupted by a sudden: “And what would you like?” Attending me was a large, machoke, an imposing figure, I found myself getting paralyzed once I turned to look at him, he was so big and muscled... He was probably really strong and could easily squish me into clay. “Are you new here, kid?” H-huh? Oh, he was talking to me. “O-oh y-yeah, just got here, um...” Trying to distract myself to not take too lon on the queue, * and feeling a bit too tired for anything heavy, and a little homesick too, I got a simple tray of pan dulce and a plastic cup of milk, the machoke handed it to me and I ended up nervously grabbing the tray, hands trembling, I quickly looked around to see if I could find Gael so I could get out and stop thinking about it, at first seeming like a fruitless task before I noticed him motioning what I first thought was a claw but then realised was his tail towards me. I followed him and saw him sitting on the floor, patting an understandably small spot that seemed to be saved for me. We tried to talk but it was impossible to hear each other amongst the loud conversations of so many people, well, mostly for me he mentions, and I manage to make out that he’s got enhanced hearing, mine seems to have gotten worse, or maybe I’m struggling more to focus, I’m not sure. In the end we decided to simply eat and go back as we were both tired from the day, albeit we still enjoyed each other’s company, maybe things wouldn’t be totally bad... We both headed and back and though clearly we wanted to interact more, we both looked at each other that we were exhausted having to deal with so many people, so we nodded simultaneously and called it a day, he glided up to the top bed in, huh, what do you know, the same bunk bed as me, while I went to the bottom, now previously vacant bed and I drifted to sleep not soon after... I found myself once again in that mysterious void, this time no longer startled, was I getting used to it or was I getting here more smoothly? Once again, from the direction in front of me, regardless of if I turned my head any other direction, the same figure as all the previous times that I could only barely make out approached me, another toxtricity, low-key form like me, only pink instead of purple, a shiny. “Lex, can you hear me?” “Who are you?” “I don’t think I can answer that yet.” “Why?” He closed his eyes and stood still for a moment. “We still don’t have enough time yet, but don’t worry, you’ll soon learn why I’m here, young one.” “We shall meet again.” He said as a sudden bright light enveloped us and before I could react... I woke up with a jump after a loud blaring noise, someone was playing... Banda music? “Wow, look at you jumping and getting all scared like a baby.” Came from a voice I didn’t recognise very well, it didn’t seem to be Demian or Gael. “I rubbed my eyes adjusting to the sudden light, and though I still struggled with being covered in eyegunk (some things just don’t change with the transformation I guess) I could then tell it had been Dylan, the morgrem, who said that. “Get up.” Came from above me, I looked up to see Gael in a stern and serious expression, right, he puts up an act with Demian. Gael slid from the stairs in a sort of half glide, while I stood up and went directly to the bathroom. “Hey newbie, where do you think you’re going?” I suddenly heard as the imposing figure of a bulkier than already normal obstagoon blocking me from any direction. “I have to pee.” I replied with eyes barely open. “Alright, gee, no need to get so aggressive newbie, remember, today you’ll get to prove yourself to our gang, understood? You better not disappoint runt.” I scorned, what a hypocrite calling me aggressive, I simply waited for him to move out of the way so I could go clean my eye gunk, looking around the bathroom I could tell it had pretty much everything necessary, though the toilet paper seemed a little different... Whatever, probably fireproof or something. I also noticed there was no shower ugh, although really, I didn’t really feel the need to shower, which was interesting since I usually don’t like the sensation of not showering, I hope this is a pokéuman thing and not a poison type thing... By the time I left I noticed that Demian and his gremlin goon had already left. “Why’d they gone?” I asked Gael. “Huh?” “Sorry, I meant why’d they left already?” I corrected. “Well, I mean cuz of school, I only stayed because well...” He stopped for a moment, put his claw on the back of his head and swept the floor slightly with his tail. “I... Was curious about what classes you were in and all, just so I can remember.” “Oh um... I dunno, I haven’t memorized my schedule yet.” I said as I then went to get my schedule from my things in our desk. “Who was playing that music by the way?” I asked as I noticed it had turned off while I was in the bathroom. Gael groaned. “Demian. It was his alarm; he likes the stuff.” “Uy que naco…” I whispered. “Wait, before anything I should probably ask how old are you since grades are based on age. I myself am 15.” “Oh, I’m 14, I turn 15 the 20th of December.” “Oh, cool! That means we could be in the same group! Let me see!” He said excitedly, jumping a little and hovering in the air slightly, it was a little cute. On hindsight, it was applaudable how well Gael slipped into the role of a serious, cold bully, when his normal demeanour was anything but, he was shy and reserved like me, but even despite looking like a vicious hungry predator his emotions were a lot easier to read than mine… having looked at the mirror in the bathroom I could tell despite being a completely different species… my facial expressions didn’t change much, I still had a tired and frustrated resting expression that struggled to emote, if it emoted at all. Regardless, I chuckled against myself looking at Gael before I went to get my schedule, opening it up so that both of us could read it. “Class schedule, group 3-AM” I read. “Ah crap, that’s not my group.” Responded Gael, a bit disappointed, but we kept reading the rest of the schedule Monday:Breakfast period: 7:00-8:00 Maths 8:00-9:00 Spanish/Literature 9:00-10:00 History 10:00-11:00 P.E. 11:00-12:00 Social formation 12:00-13:00 Battle class (Electric) 13:00-14:00Lunch: 14:00-15:00Free period: 15:00-22:30Dinner: 19:00-20:00Curfew: 22:00-5:00 “Do you already know what battle class is?” Gael asked looking over from the paper towards me. “Yeah, they explained it to me already, I think.” I replied. Gael nodded. “Ok, battle class is at the same hour for everyone, instead of having it with your group or class you have it with all the other studying pokéumans, it only really varies for dual typed pokemon, for example I alternate between ground and flying battle class and it looks like you’ll alternate between poison and electric.” Gael explained once we finished examining the Monday schedule. “I see.” I spoke. “Ugh, why did maths have to be the first subject of the day, I already don’t have the energy to deal with that crap let alone after just waking up. Gael shrugged. “I enjoy maths.” “You are insane.” I responded. Tuesday: History 8:00-9:00 Maths 9:00-10:00 Battle class (Poison) 10:00-11:00 Geography 11:00-12:00 P.E. 12:00-13:00 Various sciences 13:00-14:00Everything else about the non-class schedules remained unchanged. Wednesday: English 8:00-9:00 Maths 9:00-10:00 Social formation 10:00-11:00 Various sciences 11:00-12:00 History 12:00-13:00 Battle class (Electric) 13:00-14:00 “Seriously, why is maths so early?!!” I complained loudly. Gael shrugged again. “I’d worry more about English if I were you.” I snickered. “Nah, English is a piece of cake, I’ll have you know I’m practically bilingual, even got a certificate for it though… obviously my clone has it.” “Wait? Seriously?! So, you can speak it?” “Yes, well… I struggle with pronunciations a little due to lack of practice but, yeah, I’m very much fluent in it.” “That’s pretty cool!” Gael exclaimed. “I struggle with it a lot… you don’t mind if-“ “Provided I don’t end up teaching my entire class, then no I wouldn’t mind helping you with it, ok?” “That good?” He asked. It was my turn to shrug, it might seem as if I’m showing off but to our standards my English was decently advanced, after all, what language are you reading this story in? Thursday: Spanish/Literature 8:00-9:00 Battle class (Poison) 9:00-10:00 History 10:00-11:00 P.E. 11:00-12:00 Maths 12:00-13:00 English 13:00-14:00 “Finally, a day where maths aren’t at the very beginning!! And followed by English, even better.” I mentioned. Friday: History 8:00-9:00 Geography 9:00-10:00 Battle class (Electric) 10:00-11:00 Maths 11:00-12:00 English 12:00-13:00 Social formation 13:00-14:00All classes are suspended on weekends, vacation periods and other important dates. “Guess that’s going to be my schedule from now on, huh?” I muttered out loud to practically no one in particular. “Hey Gael, remind me what day it is today? Wednesday, was it?” I asked “Yeah, so your first class will be English, I’d help you go but I got P.E. which is on the opposite side of the level, I can still accompany you to the above floor if you’d like.” He said. “Sure, and hey, English first means I’ll have a good start, if anything.” I added. Gael nodded and smiled with his now iconic toothy grin; it was nice. We first went to go get breakfast, which still ended up in us getting there late due to taking a lot of time checking my schedule, so we still ended up eating at the floor and dealing with an extremely long queue, and due to it being early in the morning we were even more tired and barely conscious, I’m pretty sure I saw someone faint like that one kid when singing the anthem at school. And the machoke from yesterday wasn’t at the counter which I quickly took to notice, instead I got served by a wigglytuff, the food was very good though and almost made it work, a lot of sweet stuff such as pancakes, crepes, French toast, etc. I grabbed two waffles with bacon and Nutella and a plastic cup of chocolate milk, whereas Gael got three pancakes with honey. After breakfast we then walked together through the halls on to a large stairway where a lot of pokémon were walking mostly downstairs to class, including eventually us as we made our way to the floor below us, which was the academic area of the base, we very quickly parted ways as Gael quickly spotted the gym where P.E. was held, and I had to use my map to find my group’s classroom. I eventually made it to a door that had the label “3AM/3AV” I thought to myself in nervousness, I took a deep breath and slowly pressed my hand in the pad beside the door, it slid open, and I was immediately blown away by all of what was inside. I was used to the grey, monotone look of usual classrooms once you moved beyond elementary level but… by god (arceus? That’s what everyone seems to be saying) this was bizarre, many desks of different shapes and sizes, there appeared to be some form of organization between them, the larger ones were at the back and the smaller ones at the front, but it was still extremely chaotic to observe. I mean I could spot a waterway running from the back of the whole class to the left of the whole thing, and even at the ceiling I could see a few bird perches with upside down desks probably for flying pokéumans, though there were only a few of these, it was insane, yet it was magical. What wasn’t so magical, yet just as chaotic was all the ruckus that the many pokéumans already inside were making, throwing paper airplanes, shouting several conversations, I saw two fish pokémon splashing water all over, and the professor’s desk being empty, clearly, it appears that I arrived later than everyone else but earlier than the teacher, frankly I don’t get how everyone has this much energy at this hour of the morning, it was the exact kind of disaster I disliked school for, but I would’ve taken all of it over every single person turning to look at me once I entered. I walked slowly trying to avoid being noticed, despite that being impossible, I felt like the characters from that one scene in The birds, trying to look around the room inconspicuously to find a vacant and fitting seat, in the end I found one close to the back of the 3rd row. The stares from all the other pokémon continued however and I sat there uncomfortably, some seemed intrigued, some seemed judging, some were hard to read, I could spot a pineco, a kecleon, a jolteon, etc. but I was getting sick of it, luckily for me, slowly, one by one, every person slowly turned away and resumed whatever activity they had previously been doing. Once everyone went back to not noticing me, I tried to get a look at my own desk, it didn’t seem far from the ordinary, it even came with vandalization, lots of swear words and… male parts, even an among us drawn all over with pen ink, markers, carvings and, interestingly, a few scorch marks? ((Must be a pokéuman thing)) I thought to myself, as I also noticed a large binder filled with empty pages of graph paper, and a packet of pencils inside it, how curious, was this for me? Eventually, all the commotion quieted down, even if it didn’t exactly stop, once the teacher, a breloom wearing glasses, about 40 years old looking, no idea how I could tell that but still, arrived and, since this story is told in English for your convenience I’ll add a small indicator when someone is talking in English in universe and when something is interpreted from Spanish, only for scenes set in this class though as every other setting it can be interpreted easily what language people are speaking through location and context. EN: “Good evening class!! Hope you’ve had a good weekend.” Said the breloom teacher. The class didn’t respond, clearly barely paying attention and not comprehending any of the words she was saying. ES: “Sigh Alright… Let’s just take assistance.” She said, going through various names, interestingly mentioning their species on each occasion. The breloom teacher seemed defeated at first that the class wasn’t even pretending to be interested, can’t really blame her to be honest, people from Mexico City are terrible at English. ES: “Ricardo Morales the staravia… oh?” as she was getting done with the m surnames her tone changed once she noticed an unfamiliar one, and I had a very good feeling about who it was. ES: “Looks like we’ve got a new student with us!” She said, causing everyone to once again look over at my direction. EN: “Now, I am Isabel Cisneros, but you can just call me miss Isa.” She explained, jotting that info down on the whiteboard. ES: “Here, why don’t you introduce yourself to your new group young toxtricity? now as we are in English class I would recommend you to do it in English, but if you’re unable though then I suppose it is no problem if-“ EN: “Hello, my name is Lex Mota, Not Alex, Lex, I am a low-key form toxtricity, I arrived here just about a week ago, I used to live in Azcapotzalco, but I actually come from Jalisco, I moved to Mexico City in 2019, I’ve been a fan of pokémon since shortly before sun and moon came out um… I’m also a bit into i-international football a-and… um, w-well, not m-much else.” I cut the teacher off, confidently at first but as my introduction went on I ended up feeling a sense of shame well up towards me causing me to stumble across my words and get quieter and quieter, it didn’t help that it felt super weird to address myself as a pokémon, it felt like something that would only happen in a fantasy of mine, and to be honest that bit at the end was somewhat of a rehearsed lie, I’m into many things but it’s stuff that no one, especially here, knows about so I never bother mentioning that detail. I sat down expecting people to either laugh mockingly or look at me with a sneer seeing me as a show off, but to my surprise most people seemed strangely… amazed? And confused, it became clear to me that no one here had any idea what I had just said, this introduction also made me realise I know few pokémon terminology in Spanish, I’m so used to watching pokémon stuff in English I don’t even know the Spanish term for Low-key! None of the student’s reactions could compare to the teachers however, her glasses had comically dropped to the floor with her jaw wide agape in a way that definitely had to hurt like some sort of bad cartoon. She stood there in that exact pose for what I’m pretty sure was over a few minutes before eventually snapping awake with a “miss?” coming from a random student. ES: “O-Oh…!! Apologies, but your English level is rather impressive! Your pronunciation could be improved but you’re practically fluent!!” ES: “Ahh thanks, I learned very early.” I explained nervously as I tried to draw attention off from myself. ES: “W-well, if you’d like to you could take a knowledge exam to skip this class.” ES: “Um… I-I’m good, thanks.” I responded. ES: “Well, if that’s what you want, we shall continue, though you should probably introduce yourself in Spanish as well, I’m not quite sure your classmates quite got all that you said.” I sighed and repeated myself, having to embarrassingly whisper to ask miss Isa about terms I didn’t know in Spanish and only causing her to become more surprised once I explained that I only play and interact with pokémon media in English, ooh boy. This class was going to be easy, but definitely not fun. Miss Isa continued listing names. “Victoria Nava, vanillite?” “Here.” “Carlos Nieto, sudowoodo?” “Here…” “Miguel Ñañez, Litleo?...” Eventually the rest of the class came to pass and once the hour was close to being over the bell rang, 10 minutes earlier than the schedule said but I imagined it was so that there was a small break in-between classes for people to leave and come back if they needed to, possibly bathroom breaks, and mainly for the teachers to take their stuff and get out before the next professor arrives and sets up their stuff. Miss Isa herself had already packed her bag to leave the classroom, but not before walking over to my desk and saying, in English: “Thank you for staying.” I just replied nervously in response, and she left the classroom. Shortly after she left a new professor, an espeon, wearing a bipedal shirt, tie and fancy blue waistcoast, arrived and maths class began. Once again, we started class by taking attendance, this professor was much sterner and it was clear as the classroom was a lot quieter than before, once again as he reached my name, he drew everyone’s attention to me. “So, my name is Tomás Roblero, I teach advanced maths, I recommend for you to get the book “Algebra I” from the library if you hope to catch up young toxtricity, now, once I get done with taking list, I will need you to stand up and help me solve a problem on the whiteboard.” Oh crap. I gulped, he went through the rest of the alumni fast, then writing down a problem that I had no hope of deciphering, and when he inevitably asked me, I could feel the other kids’ snickering once I was told to sit back down after answering “I don’t know.” To every question the professor had said, it was horrible. Class ended and I could feel the professor’s anger, almost literally, his forehead jewel glew, that can’t be normal. The next class arrived and the professor this time, interestingly, was a starmie, who’s gem glew everytime she spoke. “Good morning class, I’ve already been brief on the fact we have a new student, and I presume he’s already been introduced to all of you, so just to make things brief, hello, my name is Natalia Ocampo. You can call me miss Nat. I will be this group’s tutor so should anyone need it I will be available for counselling and help with a duty of care to everyone here, I also teach the subject of social formation, you might be vaguely familiar with it, it’s usually presented under different names, but essentially, we’ll be discussing ethics and how the law and norms of our base work, there will be a lot of what you’ve already learned in the human world above us, but there will also be different subjects and situations to talk about, treat and discuss differently due to our situation as pokéumans, something that people in the human world know nothing about, from our struggles with pokéxtinction and the internal divisions that can sometimes plague us that come thanks to everything from our geographical location to our cultural background, even to our own individual species, I’m sure you can already understand what I mean by this.” I was taken aback by her last sentence; it was almost like she knew what had been going on with my roommates and the headmaster. “Umm… I-I guess so?” I replied. “Very well, and now that everyone’s been caught up to what this class will be teaching, we can now begin.” This class went by in a flash, miss Nat. was very straightforward with her approach, going through the topic fast and completely undisturbed from anything the students did, and the topic caught my attention, it was the first subject that was truly different from how it’s taught above, with our pokéuman selves finally making an impact, it was fairly standard though, just talking about the laws and norms about our base, mentioning a few articles of our apparently independent constitution that also appears to be designed to mirror the country’s, but with additions to accommodate for pokéumans. This class intrigued me, and I found myself taking notes, hopefully I’ll learn more about how this society works, and maybe I can use it to navigate the seeming typeism Gael mentioned. Social formations over. Now it was time for various sciences, which was a similar subject to the previous one, only talking about stuff such as basic biology, chemistry, and physics, apparently each semester would cover each one and we were at biology, my preferred of all of them, I was so no looking forward to physics. Class was taught by a Lurantis, who introduced himself as Enrique Del angel, or Mr. Quique, he seemed fairly excited about his subject, albeit he did seem to be somewhat younger and less experienced than the others, the topic was by far the most interesting so far, since we were in biology we talked about the internal functions of pokéumans, and it was kind of crazy with how little we knew about how pokéumans worked, we were studying specifically about water and normal type biology as according to the professor. “Normal and Water type pokémon tend to be some of the closest to the biology we are familiar with from species found above, from humans to animals, just behing bug types which have a tendency to be almost identical to insects and arachnids as we have discussed last week.” I took notes of everything, it was fresh and unique information that I had no idea about, it felt like I was actually learning for the first time since the pandemic! Alas, class ended before I was prepared for and as Mr. Quique bid the class farewell, I suddenly got a question from a random student sitting alongside me. “Yo, new kid. Lex, was it?” Comes from a hitmontop. “Uhh… um… Y-yeah?” I replied, unsure. “What room do you live in.” He asked. “Uhhh…” “Are you from room 175?” He pressed. “Um, how did you-“ “Oh by arceus you are!” He said horrified, before the conversation could continue a loud throat-clearing noise rang throughout the room AHEM, AHEM “Good evening, Everyone.” Came from a deep, raspy and aged voice of a Tyrantrum, wearing a bowler hat and a cane bringing everyone’s attention to him. “I’ve been made aware of our new student so for quick introductions, my name is Amadeo Izaguirre. Professor Amadeo for short, I teach history, now, this history is very different both from the history taught above, but also from the history taught in a lot of pokéuman bases all over, this course will attempt to do its best to teach all of you about the past and important events of four different subject areas, human world history, Mexican history, Pokéuman history, and the history of our very own base.” He explained. “Now yes, everyone, I’m aware of the irony in a fossil pokémon such as myself teaching history, but I shall have all of you know, I pride myself in who I am, I find it to be perfectly adequate, I pride myself as well in being the oldest pokéuman in this very base, and learning history, of whatever place, region or culture, has always been a passion of mine since my days as a young human child, which yes, I do remember very vividly, but you all aren’t here to hear me ramble on about my life, no sir, so let’s begin our lesson for today.” I liked the professor a lot, and history was already one of my favourite subjects back home, and on top of everything being able to learn about the history of pokémon?! I should be excited!! Unfortunately, while the class progressed, I could make out the hitmontop that had approached me earlier whispering to one of the fish pokéumans in the waterways while giving me a stare, I tried to focus away from them but not long after I also saw another pokéuman on the complete opposite direction whispering something to a litleo, and I had a very confident guess the gossip had traversed throughout the classroom, luckily it seemed to stop with the very disinterested looking litleo, who I could still catch giving me a glare, but a very short one as he noticed me noticing him so he quickly turned away. I felt frustrated throughout the whole class, knowing now that the rumour of me “being part” of Demian’s little group was inevitably going to spread to everyone, though it’s not like I planned to interact with any of them at any point; It didn’t help much that the professor was discussing prehispanic history rather than new pokéuman topics, I guess anything involving the war is probably mostly speculation and, it was probably taught first before anything else. Eventually class ended, at first, I was simply content to stay in my desk unmoving until I noticed that everyone, not just the professor and a few students, but every single pokéuman was exiting the classroom, making me remember: “Oh crap, battle class!” Saved for last, very conveniently, was Battle class, the most enigmatic out of all the classes in my schedule, and an important staple to pokéuman lifestyle from what I’ve heard. I won’t lie, even with all the stuff that happened the previous class, I could not hide my excitement for the upcoming subject. It took me a while to find the battle class arenas, even with the help of the map I carried, I really had no idea what to expect, knowing it was taught in an arena very clearly meant that it would involve physical activity, but to what kind was all left for me to guess, I mean I wasn’t even really sure if we had moves, and how much from the game translates into real life, how much can be inferred from the anime, do we have to learn competitive strategy? That would be awful, the one thing I avoid out of pokémon, but then again, who can be certain? There was one arena for each type, all of them making very sure you could tell which one was which, the name of each type, in Spanish, was ingrained in large text in all of them and if that wasn’t enough, logotypes and symbols were present in each of them making it very clear what type it corresponded, these symbols seemed to take a lot inspiration from a bit of prehispanism, and a lot of lance wymann’s design contributions which can be seen in the metro and the 1968 olympics topography… they looked like the logos of the subway, in a nutshell. I eventually found the room corresponding to the electric type, it was obvious with the clear lightning bolt imagery of its corresponding symbol. With a deep breath, echoing the one I had when I first got to class, and I first got my dorm room, I entered. Staying true to its class’s reputation, the electric arena was completely different from anywhere else I had ever gone to in my life, it almost felt like somewhere I would be barred from entering due to not being official personnel, and yet here I was. For starters, there were a few tesla coils in the walls and ceiling of the room, which was enormous, though I had already expected something among this size, but the look was still surreal, the arena looked almost warehouse-like, like an energy plant or something, the floor was completely rubberized, probably with absorbent materials, in the walls there two small stands where I saw a lot of people were leaving their stuff in, and was the stuff in the ceiling cables? whatever I went to the stands to deposit the mysterious binder I used, once I did I continued looking around, I saw several wooden dummies pop out of the floor and being used to train with, all the pokémon here, as I expected, were at least part electric type, morpekos, eelectrikes, manectrics, a bird one I didn’t really recognise, etc. it made me sad to see that there didn’t seem to be any other toxtricities like me, maybe they were in the poison class? I didn’t have too much hope. I walked around trying to avoid most people possible, everyone else seemed too focused either training or being in conversation with each other, which was fine by me. Suddenly, however, barging in from the large door and stomping from the entrance to the center of the arena was a large and menacing electivire. “EVERYONE STOP YOUR TRAINING OR CHATTING AND GET IN THE CENTER OF THE ROOM, NOW!!!!” he shouted, which echoed throughout the entire space, rattling my skull and causing me to get disoriented, which in turn made my already unfamiliar with everything self struggle even more at following what everybody was doing. The electivire crossed his arms and closed his eyes in a stern expression before clearing his throat and beginning. “Students, as of today we once again receive a new member of our class, as per tradition, we shall begin this class by allowing them to introduce themselves and to help them discover their moveset.” The electivire explained. Several of the students groaned loudly, making it clear that by this point everyone was tired of the same old routine. ((Huh, so they do use moves then)) I thought to myself, glad I got that question answered. “SILENCE!!” The electivire shouted before he suddenly pointed at me with one his large fingers. “You. Low-key toxtricity, get to the middle of the arena, NOW!!!” I could see small sparks of electricity come out of him as he shouted. I jumped and quickly made my way over to the center of the room where he himself stood, a little clumsily and I almost tripped from nervousness, and I could feel myself sweating slightly from it, something I wasn’t even sure I could do (I prayed to arceus it wasn’t poisonous). Once I arrived the electivire, with crossed arms, serious expressions and his tails flowing around him, looked me over. “Hmm… what is your name young pokéuman?” He asked. I gave out my name and basic introduction for the bajillionth time today, his expression remained unchanged as he continued. “Well, my name is Manuel Herrera, you will refer to me as Mr. Manuel, I am an electivire as you can see, and I teach battle class for all the electric type civilians of this base.” He then turned towards the rest of the class “Students! Pay attention as Lex here is going to demonstrate his moves to the rest of the class.” He said while placing his hands on my shoulders, before suddenly another of those wooden dummies just plopped up from the ground, which would’ve made me jump had I not been held in place by the professor. After panting a little and calming down, the professor let me go and walked back several steps, looking around I noticed the entire room was, yet again, circled around me and the dummy and looking directly at us. I nervously looked back towards the professor, expecting, hoping that he could explain what it is that I was supposed to do. Mr. Manuel looked disappointed, he sighed audibly and murmured: “…I swear could one of these kids figure it out on their own for once?” He then simply replied, raising his voice. “YOUR MOVES ARE BUILT INTO YOUR MIND THROUGH INSTINCT, JUST THINK DEEPLY AND DO WHAT COMES NATURALLY!!!!!” I nodded, half-understanding but not very trusting of his vague advice. I closed my eyes to mentally prepare myself, at first, I simply stood there, no idea how to even begin using my move, but eventually I simply tried to picture how pokémon seemed to do it in what I remember from the anime and other mediums, I tensed my muscles trying to charge some form of energy or, anything. I could feel how awkward it was when I couldn’t really feel anything happening and I had no idea how I could even tell if it was working or not. “CONCENTRATE, LEX!! PATIENCE, EVERYONE ELSE!!!” The electivire professor shouted. I flinched slightly from the noise, but kept trying to focus, even if it felt pointless, I knew I had to figure out another way around this because this wasn’t working, I thought for a moment. This was electric class, so I probably should start with an electric move, problem is I still had no idea how to even generate it seemingly out of thin air, I thought even more, I knew all people had some degree of electricity within them, and it was how their brain worked, at least with humans, I realised I was producing electricity naturally as well once I remembered my electric mohawk and so I tried to focus on the energy there, meanwhile I started trying to think of everything I knew about electricity, how it’s generated and how it worked, electrons, static electricity, friction… I-It was a lot of nonsense mumbo-jumbo, but I think I was starting to feel something, and then, something clicked, on instinct I started to strum on the protrusions in my chest and as I did, I suddenly found myself generating little sparks of electricity, with my mohawks glowing brighter and larger as the sparks multiplied and grew stronger and more connected, before once again instincts guided me to direct it, it took me a while but I was able to concentrate it into one direct beam towards the direction of the dummy, making the bolt stronger, as I did a name came to me, one I was very much familiar with, and for some reason I felt compelled to… to… “THUNDERSHOCK!!!!!!!!!!!!” I roared as I opened my eyes, and I saw the large bolt of lightning hit the dummy close to its chest before I saw the electric shock spread throughout its body. I panted once it was over, it took a lot of energy out of energy out of me, that was for sure. I looked towards the professor, and he seemed fairly impressed. “Good form, surprising precision for a beginner, but we need to work on charging the attack, it took you far longer than usual, it could also be more powerful but that’s what training is for.” Mr. Manuel remarked. It was a little embarrassing being confirmed that I was taking too long, especially giving how all the pokéumans within observable distance seemed bored and tired out of their minds, except for one eelektrike strangely enough, he seemed contemplative, and I could barely make out a grin of sorts? “Well, don’t just stand there, a pokéuman has to have four moves at your age, let’s see what else you’ve got.” I nodded hurriedly, not wanting to waste much more time than I already had, this time I tried to channel a poison move, this time my instincts worked a lot easier as I already had an idea of what to do, this time they guide me into gurgling my throat, I could feel myself producing some sort of substance, which rose up to my mouth, it was a little gross I won’t lie and I was worried I would end up throwing it up all over but instead as soon as I spat it out I could feel a kind of neutral energy helping me aim it towards the dummy, and it hit, causing it to melt ever so slightly. I felt proud of that one. Though I think everyone else was a little grossed out. “Acid spray.” The professor explained. “Not bad, again we need to work on your charging time, I’m not an expert on poison types but I’m pretty sure we’re not supposed to see you produce the acid deep in your throat, now let’s see what else you’ve got.” I nodded once again, slightly embarrassed after hearing the professor’s description of my previous move, but I decided it wasn’t important to linger on that for now, so I once again tried to search for another of my moves, this time, I wanted to focus on that “neutral energy” I sensed when directing my acid spray, trying to see if I had any non poison or electric type moves in my arsenal, which was very likely, it was a bit harder this time but my instincts once again guided me well, I felt more of this unfamiliar energy, this time centred on my facial muscles, making me alternate between different expressions until, once again guided by my instincts, I opened my eyes to directly stare into the dummy with a completely serious and stone cold expression, I wasn’t sure what I was doing but I could feel myself performing a move and the energy that came with it so I did not even attempt to shift expression until I no longer felt that energy. Once I finished, I was left confused, Mr. Manuel was quick to explain, however. “I believe that was scary face, well done, same as always though, you need to learn to use your moves more naturally, now, one left.” He said. I immediately began looking for my final move, the previous ones very present in my mind but I wasn’t reaching for them, but off of them it was easier to reach out to the remaining attack, I quickly felt myself generating more and more electric energy, better than the previous time, only this time my instincts did not guide me to shoot the attack but rather to start running towards the dummy, opening my eyes so I could look at it, and charge while once again shouting: “SPARK!!!!” I crashed into the dummy, which ended up breaking after having endured all the previous attack, and I carefully positioned myself so that I wouldn’t get hurt from fall or recoil. Though it only partially worked, I stood up and brushed myself off expecting the professor’s response. “Nicely done,” he spoke. “I can tell that this is your strongest move, it is unusual for a toxtricity to lack any sound based arsenal, I suggest working on that. I do have one question though, why did you shout your moves’ names in English?” I completely failed to realize I had done that until he asked, and I had no idea how to answer or explain that I’m simply more familiar with pokémon moves’ names in English. “Uhhh, um….” Prof. Manuel could clearly tell just how paralyzed I was and so he decided to just get on with class. “Well, I suppose that’s not important, for now, everyone shall start training, since today is a new student day, everyone shall be free to simply train in whichever way the like individually or through spars.” And with that, every pokéuman went their separate ways, with several dummies popping from the floor and many of them had already began using their moves on them, I wasn’t sure how to continue now so after a while of looking around I noticed someone having stopped using one of the dummies and moving away, so I walked over and tried to use more of my moves, wanting to draw little attention I used a few acid sprays and circled across the arena a few times and back. ((I hope this freedom to do whatever you want is only for today and we actually get taught stuff, otherwise this will just be like that one horrible dance class I took.)) I thought, suddenly I was approached by someone, that someone being the eelektrik pokéuman that I had noticed previously, and that someone was slithering mid-air towards me at a large velocity, causing me to flinch when he almost crashed into me. phew “So? Lex, was it?” He asked. “I… yeah, w-what’s going on?” I asked, a bit nervous and a bit uncomfortable with the sudden social interaction. “Nothing, ‘d just like to get to know the new kid, sooo… I did want to ask you something, well a few things.” He said, floating through the air curiously. “I- fine, but how the hell are you levitating?” I questioned, confused. “How do you generate that electric mohawk of yours?” he shrugged. “It just sort of happens, but that wasn’t what I was going to ask.” sigh “Fair enough.” I said. “Now, you live in Demian’s room, right?” “H-huh??” I stammered completely taken by surprise. “HAH! That’s a yes if I’ve ever seen one, is your last name really that?” “Y-yes, why d-“ “How did your transformation begin?” “H-huh?” “How did you get rescued?” “I’i-m not gonna answer that!!!” I exclaimed, insulted at the extremely personal question. He seemed to react to my anger. “Hey hey, chill dude, I’m just trying to be nice here.” He said while floating about. I was perplexed. “Who even are you?” “I live right in front of your dorm.” He replied, confidently, not thinking much else of his explanation. I blinked. “O-ok… wait that doesn’t answer anything, I don’t know you!” The eelektrik rolled his eyes. “Ugh… fine, if you want it so much, I’m Raúl Nowak, been living here for about a year now, like I said, on the dorm room right in front of yours, yadda yadda, whatever, let’s spar now!!” He said while suddenly reading himself into a fighting position, trying to advance the talk as fast as possible and revealing his first intention. “E-excuse me?” “You look to be about my level, so c’mon, let’s do it!” He said, excitedly. My mind started racing to figure out any excuse to get out of this situation. “L-look I’m sorry I just got here, and I’m simply not interested.” Raúl didn’t seem to give up, but still determined, started to think for a moment. “Hmmm… what if I helped you train your moves today, and then we spar on Friday?” He asked. I thought it over with a slightly defeated attitude just wanting to get this over with without much more resistance. “Fine.” And so, he decided for the rest of class, which wasn’t a lot due to me wasting time walking around, Raúl “helped” me practice my moves, but he didn’t really make a good job explaining how electric or normal energy worked and he had no idea how to even help with my acid spray. Eventually the bell rang signifying the end to class. Pant pant “Phew.” Said Raúl wiping his brow with his tail, which I would probably see as unhygienic if he weren’t levitating. “Well, guess that’s that, see you on Friday then, or not.” And then he simply just left. I found myself annoyed at the attempt of befriending and I secretly hoped I wouldn’t have to encounter him again, I grabbed my things and went back to my dorm, once I made it inside, I noticed the room was empty, and it was clear the other three already headed out to eat lunch, so I decided to catch up by myself. Walking there was pretty difficult as a lot of other pokéumans headed in my direction, I even bumped into a weird orange sushi-like creature, we exchanged quick apologies before we continued our separate ways. This time I didn’t arrive as late as before, but the queue was still time-consuming, this time the menu was fast food, so I got a few burgers and a large serving of fries with a coke, hey, I never said I was a healthy eater, ok? I walked over and tried to spot a place, it was still very packed so, the floor it was again, I did however manage to spot Gael sitting by himself and he excitedly waved over once he noticed me approaching him. I sat down beside him, and I started chatting and eating, it was nice to be with someone you’re comfortable with for a change, to the point where I was alright talking about whatever. “Man, that machoke cook sure looks terrifying, right.” Gael said. “Mhm.” I nodded with my mouth full. “He looked super buff, I’m surprise he’s doing cooking rather than battling but, then again I don’t really know him.” “Yeah…” Gael seemed to say distantly. “Did you happen to catch his name?” “No?” I replied confused. “Why would I? guy’s terrifying, I could barely move when I looked at him, I was paralyzed.” “Me too! Well…” He cleared his throat for a moment. “It’s weird though I hear that usually only happens with types you’re weak against, and you’re not weak to fighting.” “Well, I’m quad weak to ground but you don’t see me paralyzed over you, even when I thought you were part of Demian’s bullies.” I said, grabbing several of my fries drowned in ketchup and artificial cheese. “Right, right… I guess it must be something else.” Gael said drifting off into silence, before he spoke once again. “Are you really going to eat all of that? That’s a lot.” “Yuffh… nmph shfft hffp.” I said with my mouth full. “Alright, suit yourself.” After finishing we made it back to the our room all the way in the bottom floor, and despite being in a low mood, I couldn’t even get to enjoy the privacy and peace of my own living spaces thanks to, the very same person currently standing in front of me, that I was barely able to get away from throughout the day: Demian the obstagoon. “Took ya long enough, both of ya.” He said, grinning like a maniac. Gael changed expression to his quiet disguise, and I simply looked at him, straight in the eye, expecting him to continue. “Well, seeing as we have the whole evening to ourselves, I think it’s about time for your proper welcome into our “gang of troublemakers.” As everyone likes to call it, you better not fuck it up. Is. That. Clear?” “…Yes.” I replied. “Great.” He practically growled, as he left with Gael and the morgrem, Gael looked behind towards me, and briefly broke his stoic mask to give an understanding look and motioned for me to follow them, I did so reluctantly. “I’m really sorry about this but it’s best that you just play along like I do.” Whispered Gael, almost inaudibly for me. “You’re doing well at putting up a face though.” “I’m not putting up a face? this is my normal expression.” I whispered back. He turned away in silence for a bit. “…Really?” he then said. I decided not to continue our conversation. Eventually we made it to the commercial level, in which Demian walked in front of us, leading us and looking around almost like an animal looking for prey, or rather someone to mess with, I could see every single person in our paths try to avoid us as much as possible and look at us in disdain. We walked aimlessly through smaller corridors through areas I barely explored when Rodri gave me a tour, or ones that I didn’t even explore at all, I tried to take off my mind from all of this by looking around at the architecture, it was fairly impressive, yeah it was grey and slightly darker but you could still very much feel the artificial sunlight from above as if it were real and it wasn’t too hot, which was good for my linking, I always preferred the cold, I could also occasionally spot a few interesting changes to the landscape, like various murals, and even a few glass displays of archeological findings I had never seen before, probably ones that pokéumans got to first, they reminded me of the sort of museums that were in a few stations of the metro. I could sense that we were slowly going faster and faster at faster, and going in much more specific directions, until at some point we were practically running as if chasing something or someone, until eventually, we backed into a darkly illuminated corner, stopping to catch our breaths and in front of us was a small, and completely terrified alolan sandshrew. “Thought you could escape huh?” Demian said to the small pokéuman before turning over and walking towards me. “Just before on lunch time, while you weren’t with us, this little guy tried to get funny with me by trying to snitch on me after I took his lunch from him, is no one allowed to be hungry and want seconds without waiting in line now? Now, of course, this is your test Lex, I need you, to rough him up reeeeal good, to show him that he should never, ever, attempt to mess with us.” He elaborated with a dark, malicious, lethal expression, before pushing me directly in front of the sandslash, and forming a barrier preventing me from escape. “Don’t leave us waiting, newbie!!” Demian shouted. I was sweating, unsure of what to do, I tried looking over at Gael but he was looking away. “What’s the matter?” Said Dylan the morgrem. “Come on already!! Use one of the attacks you’ve learned in battle class on him.” He continued with enthusiasm, and the approval of Demian. I looked over at the sandslash, the creature had a look, not just of fear, but of disdain and hatred for what I was about to do, still, I ended up starting to charge an acid spray, which, like in battle class, and not helped by my hesitation, took a long while, which caused Demian to grow impatient. “Oh, for arceus’ sake, JUST ATTACK HIM ALREADY!!!” “No.” I responded. “I’m sorry, what. Was. That?” He said, still as angry. “No, I’m not going to fucking do it, I’m not gonna just sit around listening to your bullshit about being cruel to others just because of some nature rubbish!!!” “I thought I made it very clear that you shouldn’t try to be funny with me-“ “JUST SHUT THE FUCK UP ALREADY!!!” I shouted, interrupting him. “DO I LOOK LIKE I GIVE A SHIT ABOUT YOUR PHILOSOFY, O-OR WHATEVER IT IS YOU WANT ME TO DO?!?!! Look, you can do, whatever the HELL you want, but I think I’ve made my decision, I’m not gonna be part of your imbecilic gang, so you can just leave me alone and-“ I was cut off myself by a sudden barrage of different charge attacks from Demian, which took me by surprised and I was unable to avoid them, to the point where I had no idea how many times he hit me and by the end I was very close to fainting, the sandslash had already escaped by this point and as I opened my eyes and barely managed to stand up and I wondered why he stopped, when I noticed Demian himself was debilitated… but how did- “Uarghhh…” He growled and pant like a desperate animal. “Arceus… fuuuuuuck, this is why I hate using take down, hnnngh…” We both stood there in pain for a while, mine was clearly worse than his, in the end with the help of the morgrem he ended up standing up and walking away, but not before giving me a final threat. “Once you get back to our dorm, don’t you dare leave it for the rest of the day, don’t even if I catch you outside no matter who’s looking I will continue, and I have three other moves I can use in case I get too exhausted, understood? I will have to decide what to do with you, but from now on, you are my number one target you disgrace of a punk.” He spat. “Gael, don’t follow him, my warnings go to you as well if you try.” Demian added, which meant he ended up having to follow him. I stood there for a while waiting to make sure they had been far enough, and I continued walking throughout the level trying to find a hospital, since I had no map, I pretty much walked aimlessly for what was probably a few hours, eventually I found it and I was quickly given a syrup the nurses said was made from oran berries, which helped me recover almost miraculously from my injuries and physical exhaustion, but my mental exhaustion from the entire day remained and so when the nurses questioned me about my injuries I just said it was a spar and I begged to leave. Eventually going to my dorm room which also took me a while to find without direction. Once I made it there Demian awaited me at the door with a hateful glare, and once I entered, he quickly hit me with fury swiped at my back, debilitating me once again, from then on all four residents of the dorm simply stood in awkward silence with each other for a long, long time, eventually dinnertime rolled around and the three of them left, with Demian looking back at me to make sure I didn’t leave. And frankly, I didn’t want to, I was tired. It didn’t stop me from feeling hungry however, and as an attempt to cheer myself up I used the alone time to check out the room a bit, I turned on the tv briefly to see what was on and checked the computer of our bunkbed to see what it had, but frankly it wasn’t much of either, and I did notice a lot of site were blocked off like youtube, probably to avoid getting leaks. But it made things much more unbearable. Eventually all three of them came back and Demian almost immediately and very harshly threw himself at bed and screamed at everyone to not bother him, which we already knew what would happen if we did, Dylan stood up for a bit in the corner with their own computer, I wasn’t interested in figuring out what he did, while Gael could do little more than give me an apologetic look, and give me a piece of bread he managed to swipe before gliding over to the top of his bed, I then proceeded to lay down on mine and just, shut my eyes for the rest of the day… I hated being here, I was getting sick of this stupid dark, empty void. “You must learn to be strong, young pokéuman.” Came from a voice, the toxtricity’s voice. I was frustrated, but for whatever reason I couldn’t bring myself to act in an aggressive way, it wasn’t worth it. “Just tell me who you are.” The toxtricity let out a warm and confident smile. “I am Kalleq, your dream messenger.”

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