CitW Revamp: Ch. 3- An Interesting Couple of Days

“Who do you think the kid is?” A feminine voice asked, sounding slightly garbled, kinda like it was being processed through a voice changer... A really bad one at that.

“Dunno,” muttered another, this one sounded like a regular teenage boy. “But, I guess we were bound to get another dorm mate... Right?”

“Yeah... Should we wake him for breakfast?”

I groaned, attempting to open my eyes. They felt heavy. Very, very heavy.

“I don't think that's necessary.”

My eyes cracked open, I was lying on my side and staring at me with eyes full of curiosity were a Porygon-Z and a Charmeleon.

“Shorty's awake!” The Charmeleon smiled, his fangs showing.

I'm sure I was a second away from going into panic mode until I remembered everything that had transpired yesterday.

Oh yeah... I'm a Charmander now in a base with... Pokeumans...? Is that what they're called. I'll have to get used to that...

I threw my covers off and sat up on my bed with my legs dangling off the edge. It felt so weird having a bed where my feet could dangle, made me feel like a kid again!

The three of us just waited there in an awkward silence. I looked back and forth between the two. The Charmeleon was wearing a pair of glasses while the Porygon looked pretty normal.

“Soooooo...” The Charmeleon said, standing to his full height. “Let's get some introductions goin'!”

“I'm Samuel, your new roommate!” I flinched back a bit. He just happened to share the same name as my brother. He turned to the Porygon. “This lady here. She prefers to go by the name of Zee.” The floating Pokemon reminded me of a duck for some reason. She waved a... flipper?... at me.

“Nice to meet you, little Char~” Her garbled voice chimed. “So, who are you?”

I looked down at my feet bashfully. I was never very good with meeting new people, it was a miracle I was able to make the friends I had at my old school. Now, I was back at square one.

“Aww~” Zee squeed. “He's just so adorable! Nothing like you, Sam~” Zee teased. Sam put on a face of mock hurt and pushed Zee a bit.

“That wasn't very nice!” He said, a stupid grin on his muzzle.

I just sat there, watching them interact with each other. Then, they turned their attention back to me. “So, what is your name, kid?” Sam asked, crossing his arms and nudging Zee every once in a while.

“O-oh!” I stuttered, twiddling my claws. “I-I'm Nicholas...” This time, Sam flinched a bit, and I noticed. But I decided to shrug it off 'till later. I sat there silently again then...

GROWL!

I blushed furiously, I was starving! Sam and Zee giggled in unison. “Maybe you two should get some food, it is breakfast in a few minutes~” Zee smiled... I think it was a smile at least. Her eyes turned into that weird symbol above the six key on a keyboard.

Sam shook his head a bit, he seemed to have spaced out a bit. “Oh, yeah!” He put on a smile, walking to the door. “I'm famished!” He raised his right hand, the door sliding open.

I cracked a small smile at the thought of food and jumped off my bed, sauntering over to the door.

This place is so much different in the day! I thought in. The walls and ceiling were a white-grey color, running in streaks across the walls were patterns made of opal, I didn't see a light source anywhere, yet everything was lit up. A few stray Pokeumans wandered the halls, talking with others.

“Wow...” I mumbled as Sam placed his claw on my head.

“That was my first impression.” He mentioned, leading me through the halls. “Luckily, the dorms and the cafeteria are on the same floor. Even better, we got a dorm close to it.” We passed through several hallways, I was taking note of the directions since I was going to have to do this on my own at one point.

“Right, left, left...” I was taking in the directions as fast as I could. I was so engrossed in this that I almost failed to notice Sam glancing back at me every once in a while. He may have just been looking back at me to check if I was following, but it seemed like he was nervous. Maybe he's just trying to make sure I have a good first day... I thought as we made it to the a pair of double doors labeled 'cafeteria'.

The two of us walked through the doors and for the second time since I got here, I was in awe. This place was huge! Then again, it might have just been from my new point of view. Tons of Pokeumans of all shapes and sizes were in here, and all of them seemed to have enough space to be comfortable around others. I whistled.

“Well, seems like everyone's already gotten their food,” Sam pointed out, “we get an easy ride through the line~” With me behind him, we breezed through the non-existent line. A Hariyama stood behind the buffet, smiling.

“Samuel!” He bellowed heartily. “Good ta see ya, how're your classes going?”

Sam simply shrugged, grinning toothily back. “Decent, you know, same stuff we've been learning about this week.”

“I see!” He laughed a bit as the Charmeleon grabbed a few pancakes and sausage patties with a side of eggs.

Sam looked back at me. I just realized I had been standing there silently, the Hariyama noticed this and looked at me curiously. “And who might this young lad be?” He asked. Sam looked back at me expectantly while I just twiddled my claws behind my back, trying to avoid their gazes.

“Not much of a talker, is he?”

“I don't think so.” Sam sighed.

The Hariyama reached under the buffet table, a little beep was heard and a platform about the size of the table popped up with a set of small stairs, this was probably made for those who weren't as tall. “Come on up here so we can talk at the same level~” He smiled.

I nervously walked up.

“Hello~” He said in a lower tone, not wanting to scare me away. “I'm Mr Morrison, head cook here. You name it, I can cook it!” He chuckled a bit, outstretching one of his giant hands towards me.

I shook his hand at bit. “Nicholas.” I mumbled shyly. He ended the shake and grabbed a plate out from under the buffet, piling it with several things.
“Well, you seem like a nice kid!” He announced, handing me the plate. “And you must be starving!” As the plate was shoved in my face, I just realized how delicious it smelled! “Now, go and eat it before it gets cold~” He shooed me off, the warm smile never leaving his face.

I got down from the platform, it disappeared behind me and I shot a wave back at Mr Morrison who returned it.

“Good to see you hit it off with Morrison!” Sam chuckled. “He has a soft spot for the shy kids, must remind him of his son...”

I didn't question this. Soon enough, we found spots at a table. Zee was there waiting.

“There you two are!” She scolded in an exasperated tone. “It was hard holding these seats you know!”

Sam stuck his tongue out at her. “Well, Nico here had to meet Morrison!” He said. I stopped in my tracks. He sounded way too much like my brother when he said that. Both of them were looking at me weirdly. “O-oh, do you not like to be called that? I can call you someth-”

“N-no!” I cut him off. “It's just that you sounded like my brother.” I sat down, digging into the food without another thought. Sam and Zee shot looks to each other, looking uncertain. But Sam finally sat down, starting on his food.

The three of us had a silent breakfast. Both of them looking between each other and me, but I tried ignoring it. I never even really tasted the food, I was just too preoccupied thinking about how I'd never see my family again. Nonetheless, I quickly ate my food; feeling full.

“Well,” Zee said. “I guess Sam and I had better head to class, maybe we can talk more after school?”

“Sure, I guess...” I replied, picking up my tray and throwing away my garbage.

The three of us exchanged some goodbyes before heading out separate ways. Better get my schedule. I thought, trying to remember my way back to my room. I stood there for a good few minutes, trying to remember as Pokeumans flooded out of the cafeteria in waves.

“I think that we came from...” I turned around, looking at the cafeteria doors and tried retracing my steps. “That way.” I said, taking off down the hall to my right. The place was honestly like a maze. After a few wrong turns and some directions from others, I finally made it back to my shared dorm.

I was about to open the door when I noticed a square on the wall glowing a bit with a mark that looked like a mailbox.

“I guess we get mail.” I smiled a bit at how much this place ran like a miniature town. I inspected the tile a bit, trying to figure out how it worked. “Is it like the doors?” I mumbled out loud, raising my claw to the tile. An electronic beep was heard as the tile slid aside, revealing a brown box.

I removed the package as the tile slid back into place, no longer glowing.

“Huh...” I huffed, examining the box and finding a note on the side, it was stuck to the side by some green slime. “Davidson?” I thought, now curious to why he would send a package. Before reading the note, I made my way into my dorm and plopped down on the couch in front of an HD TV. This place really had everything!

With my new claws, I cut open the top of the letter while being careful to avoid the slime. As soon as I was able to get the letter out, I threw away the envelope and unfolded the letter.

“Hello, Nicholas! I'll keep this short and sweet, lots of paperwork and such to do. Mr Schmidt asked me to get these little momentoes from your human life, thought it might be nice~”

We get to keep stuff?! I thought excitedly, sliding my claw over the tape which easily cut it. I opened all of the flaps, seeing how there were quite a few items.

My 3DS with matching charger...

My drawing tablet...

...My family picture... I paused a bit to stare at the picture before setting it aside.

I stopped and stared at the last object in the box, I think part of my heart broke when I saw my vest neatly folded at the bottom of the box. I remembered Miss Reddings' explanation yesterday, I believe she mentioned that a clone would replace me. “But... If that clone has the same personality as me... How did they get this away from him? Wouldn't he have been wearing the same things I would wear?”

I sighed, trying to not think too much on it. It wasn't until now that I realized that I had been clutching to the article of clothing like my life depended on it.

I sat on the couch for a good while before slipping on the vest. With my new stature, this thing was more like a cloak now... But it was nice to have it. Everything was still in it even!

I collected the rest of my things, finding them places around my side of the room. The tablet I placed by the computer that I had failed to notice until I had actually looked. The DS I could just leave on my bedside table. But the picture, I decided that I didn't want the others digging through my stuff, so I stuffed it under my pillow.

I felt a bit of paper under my pillow and pulled it out. It turned out to be my schedule, guess I never bothered to put it away last night.

I quickly made my way out of the dorm after that, staring intently at my schedule.

“First period is Art with Marry Greenhill...” I muttered absentmindedly, looking up and around. “I think this whole floor is dorms... minus the cafeteria...” I sighed, pocketing my schedule and wandered for a while. “A map might be helpful...”

“Well, I'm no map, but I think I can manage.” A familiar voice said from behind me, I nearly jumped out of my scales. I spun around to see the familiar and smiling Typhlosion leaning on the wall behind me.

“You nearly gave me a heart attack!” I exclaimed, clutching my vest. He seemed to completely dismiss the notion of me having a heart attack and swaggered on over.

“I have the next few days off thanks to my team being upped in rank.” He said as I looked at him confused.

“You do realize that I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about.” I mentioned, grabbing my class schedule out of my pocket and handing it to him. He read over it quickly before smiling down at me.

“I'll make sure to give you the shortest route to all of your classes!” On that note, he scooped me up,-much to my surprise-placed me on his shoulder, and took off. I was blushing like mad.

'Why IS he being so nice to me.' I thought, glancing at the Typhlosion a bit before focusing on the path that we were on. In the back of my mind, I was still pondering Tyler's treatment towards me, but that was something for later.

“So,” the fire type started, trying to spark a conversation. “What's with the vest?” He asked blandly, his eyes not leaving the path ahead.

I looked down at my wear. I guess it would make sense that he would question it, by the looks of it, most of the Pokeumans didn't wear clothing. So it might've looked a bit strange for a two-foot tall Charmander to be wearing a vest that covered just about his whole body.

“I-it's a keepsake from before...” I stuttered. I really hated my stutter, it was there for about no reason besides my social awkwardness.

We were walking down a flight of stairs now as a school bell rang. By the time we made it to the level below us, the halls were filled with Pokemon of their respective shapes, sizes, and colors. We made our way out into the hall, Pokeumans parted as Tyler walked through with looks of awe and respect... Then, they saw the vest-wearing Charmander riding on his shoulder. I was completely and utterly embarrassed, riding on someone's shoulder wasn't my choice way of travel... But if I wasn't up here, I perobably would have lost sight of Tyler from my low P.o.V.

Tyler shot me a glance, his blue eyes shining with worry. “You gonna be okay, kid?” He asked, placing a paw on my shoulder reassuringly, “you look like you're about to be sick...” I quickly shook my head.

“N-no,” I stammered, noticing that my scales had paled a bit. “It's just that...” I inhaled a bit to steady my nerves. “P-people are staring...” I managed to get out. He looked at me sympathetically.

“We're almost to your first class.” He said, trying to make me feel better. The two of us seemed to exist in an awkward silence between us, I barely noticed the looks that the other Pokeumans sent me. After a bit more of awkwardness, we made it to room C366. All of the doors looked the same to me, though, there was a great deal of graffiti displayed on the door... it was definitely eye-catching.

Tyler waved his paw in front of the door, prompting it to open. The inside of the room was just as colorful as the door! Sketches, paintings, and everything in-between covered every wall. Without another thought, I hopped down from my position on Tyler's shoulder and gawked at the pieces in front of me.

“Well, who do we have here~” A sweet voice mused from the other side of the room. I twirled around, finding a Lucario standing there, she seemed to be pinning something up... but, something seemed off about her.

She noticed my curious look of curiosity and giggled a bit. “Were you able to see through my guise?” She smiled a bit, her form wavering a bit before changing entirely. In the blink of an eye, she had gone from a Lucario to an exact replica of... well... me!

I just stared a bit. Part of me was addled at what had just gone on, but it didn't take long for my brain to put two and two together.

“You're a Ditto!” I exclaimed, I couldn't help but fanboy a bit. All shyness that I usually would have felt being replaced by wonder. “That is so cool!” I circled her a bit, she didn't seem to mind. She looked exactly like me.

Tyler was watching my actions with a bemused expression. “Mrs Greenhill, meet Nicholas. He's the first period student you'll be receiving tomorrow.”

“Is that so?” She asked, smiling. You have no idea how weird it is to see someone smile for you with your face. I blinked again and she was standing as a Lucario again. She keeled down to my level and put out a paw. “I can't wait to see you in my class tomorrow~”

Another bell rang in the background, but I barely noticed as we got as close to a handshake as Pokeumanly possible. Before I knew what was happening, I was being swept off of my feet and placed onto Tyler's shoulder again... I felt like a parrot...

The sight must've been a bit funny since Mrs Greenhill let out a little giggle.

“It was really a pleasure, Marry,” Tyler spoke in a kind tone. “But we have quite a few more stops to make before we call it a day~” Marry simply nodded, turning back to hanging up some pieces of art.

“Alright~” She mused, now staring intently at the wall before her. “You two have a nice day.”

We exited the classroom, I managed to get out a 'goodbye' before the door closed behind us.

Without saying a word, I jumped off of the fire type's shoulder which surprised him a bit. “I don't need to be carried everywhere.” I grumbled, dusting myself off.

The Typhlosion simply shrugged with a smirk. “Just keep up!” He baited. I didn't realize just how short my legs were until that moment. I had to jog just to keep up!

We made our way down another level in silence, aside from from the sound of my tail-fire. We soon reached the third floor, it seemed to be one big doughnut, double doors spread decent distances from each other, in the center was the center which only had one set of double doors.

“Welcome to the arena floor.” Tyler gestured around us. “On the outer perimeter is the basic classes for all of the different types and in the center we have the main arena used for tournaments and such.” He spared a glance at my schedule again. “And your Battle Class is in Arena 345! That used to be my class~” He mused, getting a faraway look on his face. It took a bit of poking on my part to get him back down to Earth.

Once I was sure he was completely here, we made our short journey to A345. The fire type arena.

I didn't give another thought to entering. The first thing that hit me was the heat. Tyler and I didn't really mind due to our typing, but if a grass type or any type for that matter were to walk in here, I don't think they'd find it quite as bearable.

Just about ever fire type I could think of was in this room. Each of them in a sparring match against another, I was in awe at watching actual Pokemon battles. Also on the battlefield was who I assumed was the teacher; a Charizard in an aviator jacket and matching goggles. He was walking around the arena, weaving between matches and sometimes stopping them to show a more effective way of doing something.

When I looked into the faces of the Pokeumans battling, I didn't see fear, I couldn't quite place what emotion I was seeing. And it wasn't just one or two Pokemon that had this expression, everyone I looked at had it, just hidden behind different faces.

“You seem to have an interest in fighting.” An unfamiliar voice next to me said, causing me to jump in fright for the second time today. I quickly hid behind Tyler, peeking around his leg to find the Charizard from before standing there with a soft smile on him. “I'm sorry, little Char, didn't mean to startle you!” He chuckled, bringing a clawed hand to his mouth.

“John!” Tyler exclaimed, he didn't seem to notice the teacher until he spoke up either.

“Tyler!” The Charizard replied with just as much enthusiasm. “Good ta see ya, boy!” The two suddenly embraced each other and I was left without cover to hide behind, so I hid behind a bench which caught the Ch-John's attention. “And who's the shy little guy here?”

I looked over the teacher analytically. He was obviously a bit old from his voice and obvious wrinkles, he had a scar over his left eye, and had darker scales that the game versions of his species... He noticed me gaze and his grin got even wider. His grin looked like one that a grandpa would give to his grandson.

“And wouldja look at that!” He said, “it's not everyday that we get a thinker in here! I usually need to teach them to think before acting.” He walked over to my hiding spot, causing me to shrink back more. “Don't worry, I'm not gonna hurt ya. Lemme just get a look at ya.”

I stayed behind my cover for a bit longer before stepping out shyly, holding my tail in my arms like a child would a doll. Now was John's turn to look me over... It's really unnerving when you're on the other side of that look.

“Hm...” He mumbled, getting uncomfortably close to my face which caused me to lean back. “Yeah, I think I can work with this...” He poked me in several places, “though, we may need to put some muscle on you...” He stood up to his full height again, the grandfatherly look returning to his muzzle.

“I can't wait to see you in class tomorrow.” With that out there, he returned to his class.

I stood frozen in place. I hardly registered being picked up and taken out of the arena. I snapped out of my daze shortly after we reached the stairwell to the classroom level of the base. Tyler seemed to notice without glancing at me.

“Yeah, his stare tends to do that to people their first time.” He chirped, poking my face.

“Dude!” I complained, “I hear ya, I hear ya...”

The next class we visited; Pokeuman History, that went by very quickly. I almost, ALMOST got into a lecture from that teacher about a whole history of Pokeumans from start to finish. I was only saved by Tyler reminding him that he had a class to teach.

We both let out a sigh of relief as we left the room. Both of us confessing that we didn't like history. We both shared a laugh at that, something we actually had in common! We stood outside of the room before I thought of something.

“Hey...” I asked, looking to him from my position on his shoulder. “Isn't it lunchtime?” Both of our mouths were almost literally drooling at the thought of a nice lunch. Neither of us spoke a word as we climbed the stairs to the dorm level. Just as we made it to the cafeteria doors, the bell rang. Since no one was here besides Mr Morrison and several other staff members.

We breezed through the 'line,' Morrison serving us a generous amount of mashed potatoes and gravy with ham, and a side of broccoli. On our way by the soda machine, I grabbed a couple of coca-colas.

I realized I was still on Tyler's shoulder as Pokemon started filing into the cafeteria. Not like I minded much anymore, I'd say I spent a good amount of the day up here.

“So,” Tyler spoke up, “where should we sit?”

I balanced my tray on one hand and pointed to a table off in the corner. “That's where me and my dorm-mates sat this morning.” I stated, my stomach felt like it was trying to eat itself. With a simple nod, we were off, some of the Pokeumans had already sat down and when we passed by them, they shot looks of awe at Tyler, and I heard some mumblings about me.

“Is that Charmander really hanging out with the Tyler Blaze?!”

“I'm so jealous!”

“Who's the mander kid?”

“That's not the question, it's why he's hanging out with Tyler!”

I was as red as a beet by the time we got to the table. I took my seat next to the Typhlosion who seemed to be ignoring the comments as best as he could. This continued for a good few minutes before I decided to end the silence.

“So, you some sort of celebrity here?” I asked casually, eating a chunk of my potatoes.

He was silent for a while, taking a chunk of ham and chewing on it slowly before swallowing and answering. “Y-yeah...” He replied a bit nervously. He seemed to be the complete opposite from the Typhlosion who had walked into the cafeteria.

“Hm...” I muttered, not seeming too interested and spinning my fork between my claws. This certainly shocked him a bit.

“What?” He inquired, “no, 'Oh! That's so cool, Tyler,' or anything like that?”

I simply shrugged, I had finished off my ham at this point. “I honestly don't care.” I voiced my answer and he was definitely taken aback.

“How could you NOT care that he's a celebrity!” An all too familiar and garbled voice asked in shock. I turned my head seeing Sam and Zee gawking at the sight before them.

I sat there for a good minute with a blank expression before I spoke six simple words. “How long have you been there?”

“W-we just got here!” Sam said, appalled at how I was talking so casually. “But nevermind us, why is the-”

“Just stop...” I groaned, “guys, this is Tyler, he's had the day off so he's been showing me to my classes.” I turned to Tyler next. “Tyler, these are my dorm-mates, Sam and Zee. Now, the introductions are out of- Zee, what are you doing?”

Zee, not having food or a real need to eat had gone and clung onto Tyler's arm. She literally had hearts in her eyes.

“Tyler, I'm, like, your biggest fan!” She was fawning over him.

“Uhm... Thank you?” He seemed uncertain.

I sighed heavier than I had all day, it had only been for a little while now, but all of this admiration was giving me a migraine.

“What the hell did you even do to become so popular?!” I asked, probably sounding more offensive than I meant to.

Now Tyler was blushing, he scratched the back of his head with the arm that wasn't being pinned down by a computer-being. “W-well, my team has the best ratio of successes to failures for rescues.”

“And this ratio is...”

“Six-hundred and seventy to zero~” Zee butt in, Tyler's arm still in her death-grip.

Now was my turn to be shocked. 'Over six-hundred successful rescues without a single failure?!' I would have continued being impressed if I didn't see Tyler trying to peel the Porygon off of his arm... And Arceus, she was persistent!

I sighed in amusement, jumping on the table and walking over to the arm Zee was clinging to. She didn't even acknowledge my existence. I have to wonder what was going through her head. I looked at Tyler who shot me a pleading look. Looking back at Zee, I figured out the best plan of action. I leaned forward, she still didn't pay me any mind until I licked her forehead.

The look of disbelief that crossed her face when I did that was priceless, I couldn't help but giggle a bit.

“W-what?!” She sputtered, confused and a bit offended.

With a grin still on my face, I simply put. “If you don't stop squeezing his arm like that, it might loose blood circulation.” I swiftly finished my food after that and left like nothing happened.

After Tyler was done eating and managed to make it out of the cafeteria alive, we continued to scout-out my classes, it was pretty easy considering I only had two actual classes since fifth was a free period.

By the time we were finished, it was about the beginning of fifth period, leaving us with the rest of the day to do anything really.

“Tyler.” I said, getting bored really bored. “What is there to do for fun here?” I was resting my elbow on his head, but he didn't seem to mind. He crossed his arms, wracking his brain for something fun.

“Well, there's an arcade down on the fourth floor, same with the cinema...” He turned his head to me with a smile on his muzzle. “Or, we could give you a head start on your Battle Class training and head to an empty arena, there are no Battle Classes for fifth and sixth periods.” I was about to pick the arcade, but my the arena... I don't know why, but it seemed like what I really wanted.

“The arena.”

Tyler shot me a shocked look. “I was just kidding, ya know!” He chuckled a bit nervously.

I looked at him blankly. “And I'm not. I wanna know what I can do.” I was staring at my claws as I said this, stretching them out.


Tyler smiled a bit. “Fine, you win, I'll take you to a practice arena.” He began walking towards the closest stairwell. “Just as a warning, other students who have a free period usually practice there as well.” I simply nodded, gulping down a bit of fear that manifested in my throat.

It wasn't too long before we came to the familiar roundabout hallway, we took a left from there and entered 'PA134.'

Just as he had said, there were a lot of Pokeumans there, some in sparring matches, others training a their moves against wooden or steel dummies. It was quite a sight to behold. Some nurses stood on standby in case of serious injury.

I hopped off of Tyler's shoulder, looking around in awe. Ty guided me to a small area off to the side, the only one relatively close was a Pikachu who was practicing it's moves on several wooden dummies. I was so caught up in watching him that I fell back when several practice dummies popped up in front of me.

“Ow!” I cried as my head made contact with the ground. I writhed on the ground a bit, hearing Tyler trying to apologize through his laughing fit. I sat up, glaring daggers at him as I continued to rub the back of my head.

“Ha ha ha...” I huffed, closing my eyes and blushing a bit.

“Are you okay?” A voice asked, causing me to crack my right open and I saw the Pikachu from before making it-HER-way over. I was now blushing furiously, half from just realizing that she was a girl and the second, it was clear that she had seen the whole thing.

“I-I-I'm fine!” I stated quickly, trying to not make eye contact. In reaction to this she stifled a giggle.

“Oh, so you're new here!” She smiled, helping me up from the ground. Part of me questioned how she knew I was new, but I guess it was a look. “Now it makes sense why you'd fall from a dummy~” She teased. She continued talking for a bit, me on the other hand, I stood there uncomfortably while Tyler watched from afar, getting way too much enjoyment out of my social awkwardness. I wasn't hearing much of what she was saying; her personality seemed to be the exact opposite of mine.

“My name's Carol by the way~” She chimed as I finally tuned into what she was saying. “Who're you?” She put out her paw, expecting a handshake. She seemed a bit sad when I didn't shake her paw, but she smiled nonetheless. “Okay, well, I'd best get to the showers. It was nice to meet you Charmander.” She scurried off after that.

I turned around only to be immediately flicked on my forehead. I gripped my forehead and looked up to find Tyler standing over me. “What are you doing disappointing such a cute girl like that for?” He asked in disbelief. I swear, I invented a whole new shade of red at that moment. The Typhlosion sighed a bit in a teasing way. “You're a mystery.”

He walked over to the dummies again. “Anyways, these four dummies represent your four moves.” It was amazing how quickly he could turn a conversation. I couldn't help but be nervous, how was I supposed to use moves? “Don't over think it...” Tyler said, probably seeing the look on my face. I swear, I wear my heart on my sleeve.

“Just let your mind go blank for a bit and imagine that these are enemies.” I stood there for what I assume was ten minutes before I felt something. My right arm twitched.

Tyler meanwhile was messing with a panel on the wall, the left most dummy twitched to life and started walking towards me. I was still trying to find a move, it was standing right over me when.

“Slash!” I yelled, swinging my arm. I had my eyes closed when I did this since I didn't know if it was even going to work. I heard the sound of something hitting the floor and when I opened my eyes, turns out I had sliced the thing clean in half from the hips. I was gawking at what I had done, I felt a twinge of pride.

I looked at my right arm. White energy was around it, it seemed to resemble a sword. The energy faded and I was left staring at my plain-old arm.

“That was so cool!” I cheered, breaking into a genuine smile at Ty, who smiled as well.

“And I haven't seen a Slash attack like that before~” He added. “Guess everyone can make their moves look a bit different!”

He meddled with the panel again, two of the dummies stepped to the center of the stage. “Now, let's try a non-attacking move, if you have any.”

I stared down the dummies before I got something. I inhaled deeply, allowing something in me to smolder before exhaling, spewing out a thick, black smoke. Soon enough, the entire part of our arena was filled with it and I was gasping for air from breathing out for so long. I could hear Tyler coughing from where I was standing.

“N-nice-*cough*-nice Smokescreen!” I heard some beeping before all of the smoke was sucked out of the room. “Two-*cough*-more moves to go!” He didn't mess with the panel this time, leaving the dummies in the middle. “Go ahead.” He gasped a bit.

I seemed to be getting the hang of this since my next move came to me faster than the last. I didn't even have to think about it this time! A red-ish aura surrounded me and my flame grew to a significant size. I opened my mouth, allowing a red and black stream of energy to completely demolish the dummies.

“Dragon Rage! Good move!” Tyler cheered me on, moving the last dummy to center-stage. “Last one!”  I slowly walked up to the last dummy, feeling a sudden wave of anxiety. “Well?” Tyler asked expectantly.

'Okay, last move...' I told myself, 'just get it out there.' I slowly inhaled, my chest started to feel extremely warm, my last move-Flamethrower-was ready. I knew that I knew this move, but my mouth wouldn't open, no matter how much I wanted to open my mouth, I couldn't. I stood there for two minutes before the fire in my chest went back down, I sighed.

“Sorry, that's all I've got...” I muttered to Tyler who walked over, a skeptical look on his face.

“Are you sure?” He asked, “You seemed to be charging up the perfect-”

“I'm sure!” I snapped at him, storming off. I ended up leaving the arena, frustrated and embarrassed.
Flamethrower was pretty-much a signature move for fire types! Of course I'd be embarrassed at not being able to perform it when I KNEW it was part of my move set.

Apparently, even when I'm angry and flustered, I can fail to get lost if I know my way around a place since I found myself walking right into the door of my dorm. I fell back for what seemed like the millionth time that day. Before I knew what I was doing, I prepared a Slash attack and started hacking at the door, letting all of my frustration out on the door. After I was done, not a single scratch was still on the door. I had to admit, they were really well made.

I sighed, letting my Slash fade and I simply entered the dorm where I flopped down on my bed, pulling out the picture of my family. I stared down at the picture for the longest time, letting a few stray tears fall onto it's surface.

I found it weird that I missed stuff from my human life. I missed my sister and her stupid comments, I missed my brother and his cockiness, I missed how my mom could always cheer me up, I missed my dad even if he didn't do much anymore...

After staring a bit more, I stashed the picture under my pillow again and allowed myself to drift off into sleep.

()()()()()()()()()

BEEP BEEP BEEP!

I groaned, my stomach felt absolutely empty, I swiped my hand at the air to my left, coming into contact with whatever was making the noise... I was confused at first since it felt... round. I opened my eyes and looked at what I was touching. Turns out it was Zee, she continued to make the annoying noise even after I woke up. I guess she was imitating an alarm clock.

I sat up completely, reaching out and pressing Zee's head down a bit which stopped the noise.

“Good morning, Nick!” She chirped. “Today is Friday, May twenty-fourth. The weather in the halls today is sunny with bits of wind here and there.” I was confused about why she was giving me a weather report, but I didn't voice my concerns at the moment.

“Um... Thank you, Zee.” I muttered tiredly, rubbing my eyes. I threw off my covers and went and washed up a bit in the bathroom; taking a lava shower and brushing my teeth. By the time I came out again,  I was feeling much more awake. “Hey, Zee? What was with the weather report?” I asked, walking over to my bed and straightening it up.

Zee hovered over, fluffing my pillow a bit with psychic. Luckily she didn't pick it up and see the picture. “The base replicates weather here since some of the Pokeumans here need sunlight, and it's just nice to have outside weather here, makes things interesting.” Sam walked into the room a few seconds later, carrying two trays of food.

“Good morning, señor sleepy-head!” He greeted, handing me one of the trays. “You were asleep, so I went and got us breakfast. Morrison noticed you weren't at dinner yesterday, so he gave you a bit more~” I took the tray and was drooling at the smell and immediately dug in.

“D-did Morrison have anything for me?” Zee asked a bit a blush appearing on her face. Sam nodded, handing her a flash drive.

“He knows how much you miss food, and he said it was hard to do, but he was able to do as you asked.” Zee held the flash drive to her beak and.. plugged it in? After a few short moments, she seemed to relax physically, her body actually lowering onto the couch.

Sam sat next to me.

Part of me wanted to question what was going on, but in reality, I already knew what was happening. So, the three of us 'ate,' sometimes taking a break from eating to talk and soon enough, we were done. Zee offered to take the trays and left while Sam and I got ready for our classes. It was pretty silent between the two of us, Zee probably was already heading to her first class, so we left the comfort of our dorm and waved goodbye, heading to our respective classes.

My first day in art was pretty boring actually. Turns out they were on their last week of an art project and Mrs Greenhill knew that I wouldn't be able to finish it in time, so she gave me leave of this project. I ended up just doing little doodles in an art notebook that every student got. I decided to draw all of the Pokemon forms that she had decided to take during that period.

“That's pretty neat!” A Mawile next to me whispered. I blushed, quickly closing the notebook.

“P-Pokemon are about the only thing I'm good at drawing...” I mumbled, hiding my face in my vest. “I find it kinda embarrassing that that's the only thing I can draw... And even then, I'm not even that good.”

“Quit being so modest!” She and her extra mouth smiled. “Sure, there are places that you can improve, but everyone can improve! Don't drag yourself down so much~” Not too long after that encounter, the bell rang, I collected my stuff and left.

I wormed my way through the flood of Pokeumans who were trying to make their way through to their own classes. Us small Pokemon have an advantage, being able to squeeze between others to make progress. Soon enough, I found myself at the stairwell and making my way down. I made my way into the fire type arena.

The class seemed to already be assembled in the center of the arena, chatting away with their friends. I walked over to the bleachers where everyone else's stuff was, finding a spot I knew I was going to remember and was about to leave when I looked down at my vest. I sighed, taking it off and placing it on my stuff, knowing it would probably just get in the way.

I made my way to the mass of Pokeumans just as the class was starting.

“Good morning, class!” Mr McCloud greeted, his old smile seemed to be infectious, since just about everyone smiled when he walked in. There were mixes of 'Mornin' and Yo and Sup' from the class in response. “Today we have ourselves a new student!”

I froze on the spot, fearing what came next. “Nicholas, would you please come up here?” The class started looking around for me, none of them thinking to look down since most of them were taller than me, only the fire types that were about as tall as me noticed me, noting how I didn't move and gave me a helpful push to get me started.

I stumbled out of the group after almost face-planting when I tripped over a Braixen's paw. I turned around, noticing how everyone's gaze was fixed to me. I felt like my heart could have burst out of my chest at that moment, it was beating that fast.

“There you are!” He flashed a toothy grin at me, probably ignoring my obvious discomfort. “As you all know, we have a tradition in this class. So, who would like to be Nicholas' first opponent in battle?”

There was murmuring among the fire types as they debated.

“I will!” An all too familiar voice called. The crowd parted, revealing Sam, he walked up to the front of the class.

“Good!” The Charizard smiled, gesturing for the class to head to the bleachers while we took center stage. Sam and I stood across from each other. Fighting one of the people I shared a dorm with wasn't my ideal first battle, and I was honestly terrified. The dummies were different, they didn't fight back.

“Okay!” McCloud roared from the sidelines. “This is the battle between Samuel the Charmeleon and Nicholas the Charmander! You may battle however you'd like as long as no one is hurt too badly! All moves are permitted! Begin!”

I was caught off guard by the sudden start and wasn't even close to ready. By the time I knew what was happening, Sam was already in front of me, his fist glowing orange. “Power-Up Punch!” He called, punching me in the gut and sending me flying, the only thing to stop me was the wall several yards away.

I curled up on the ground, grabbing at my stomach. I couldn't breath. 'I'm not made to fight!' I thought, looking up to see Sam walking over to me, his claws covered in a dark energy. Shadow Claw.

I tried to get up, but my muscles were locked into place. 'Get up!' I screamed at myself, but my body still refused to move. 'Come on! I need to move!'

'Why move? You are no fighter, you said so yourself!' I think I may have gone unconscious without realizing it, since I was in a weird padded room staring at... Well... Myself. He was confined to a straight-jacket which was chained to the wall.

“Well?” He-I-it asked, leaning forward. “You said you were no fighter, so why do you want to get up?”

I didn't know what to say. Had my brain finally snapped after all of the times it had hit stuff? But I felt obligated to answer this... Thing.

“W-well, I... uh...”

“You what? Do you need to prove something?” He smirked, “like prove your brother was wrong? 'Cause it takes a real wimp to fall unconscious from on Power-Up Punch!”

I got up from where I was sitting, readying a Slash and pointing it in his face with a growl and glare.

“Don't call me a wimp!” I snarled, he didn't even flinch, but he did smile.

“There's your fire!” He encouraged, baffling me. “Now go out there and show everyone else that same fire!”

“Who are you?” I asked, absolutely confused.

“Nothing more than a figment of your imagination.” He said with a shrug. “Someone your brain concocted to help you realize why you need to fight! After all, it would be utterly ridiculous if you had two people in your head!” He chuckled, I couldn't help but smile. He reminded me of what I was like as a kid; ready for whatever was thrown at me.

The padded room began to fade and I was faced with reality again, Sam was standing over me. He was just about to swing.

'Show them your fire!'

He swung down at me, and I countered with Slash, surprising him. The two of us clashing moves, I quickly charged Dragon Rage and fired it before he could react. This knocked him back a few yards, giving me time to get up. This earned me some excited cheers from the class.

I looked across the arena to see Sam recovering from my move. He was obviously surprised, but he couldn't help but smile. We stared each other down for the longest time before we charged each other, both of us smiling like the idiots we were.

()()()()()

“Owowowow!” I whined as Mr McCloud wrapped some bandages around my middle after applying some sort of strange lotion to it.

“Hey, you did this to yourself you know!” He stated through a smile. “You and Sam really did a number on each other!”

“But it's your fault for not calling a draw before we did beat each other up this badly.” Sam pointed out, catching the teacher off guard.

“Well, um...”

“Got nothing to fall back on now, do ya~” Sam teased as I just watched. After a bit, the Charizard put up his claws in defeat.

“Alright, ya got me~” He admitted, stepping away. “Now, you two run along to your classes, it's about a quarter through third.” I jumped off of the table I had been sitting on, assessing how much I'd gotten hurt. I had a few scrapes here and there, my stomach had bruised over from Sam's initial punch, I had a few bandaged cuts here and there.

Sam had a few cuts as well from my Slash attack, his nose was also bruised since he'd landed on his muzzle when I hit him with Dragon Rage.

“Thanks, Mr McCloud!” Sam and I said in unison, leaving the mini-infirmary and grabbing our things.

I quickly put on my vest and picked up my things. The two of us walked to the door, chatting up a storm as the next class started.

“-And that was a great Dragon Rage by the way! I never knew you could charge a move like that so fast!”
“And your Shadow Claw-Power-Up Punch combo almost got me there near the end! Maybe you could try making it a bit faster!”

The two of us sighed, walking to Pokeuman History together. “It's been a while since I've had that much fun during a fight, Nico.” He said.

“And that was a pretty fun first battle, Sammy.” I said, as soon as it left my mouth, Sam stopped in his tracks, a look somewhere between disbelief and happiness crossing his face. “What?” I asked, tilting my head a bit.

“You just called me Sammy~” He smiled as I began blushing.

I turned away from him, crossing my arms. “D-don't think too much into it! It was just a slip of the tongue!” I huffed, walking off with the-now happy-Charmeleon in tow.

History class passed by in a breeze, as did the rest of the day. When we got to lunch, Zee fretted over us, asking what happened and if we needed anything. We were quick to tell her that we were fine and that it was just from our battle.

Turns out Zee and I had the same English class, there, she introduced me to some more of her friends, most of which were girls. They all called me adorable with how much I blushed and just my demeanor, one of her friends, a Medicham, even went as far as to pick me up and cuddled me. Let's just say that I don't remember much after that from how frazzled I was.

My free period was utterly wasted with trying to find some kind of map of the base. Having a map would definitely make traversing the halls much easier.

Sixth period, Algebra. Not my best subject, the good part. The teacher was extremely nice! The bad part. I hate Algebra class. I almost never got a thing about what we talk about in that class. I would mostly just daydream during that class, nothing interesting happens in that class.

I was sitting in my seat, half paying attention to the lesson, half daydreaming about a world where humans and Pokeumans coexisted. It wasn't much, but that's how most of my daydreams started out, then I'd add things to it that clearly couldn't happen in real life.

I was so engrossed in my daydream that I was almost startled out of my scales when the bell that ended the day went off.

“Alright, class!” The Houndoom at the front of the room said, putting down the marker he'd been using to write on the whiteboard with. “You all have a nice weekend! Class dismissed!” Everyone began collecting their materials long before he started talking. I had just jumped off of my chair when a slightly familiar ball of yellow fuzz walked in my jump path and I crashed into it.

“AH!” We both screamed, falling into a heap on the floor, our school materials scattering.

I landed on the floor with a thud, closing my eyes in pain as something soft landed on my stomach. I cracked my left eye open to find a pair of beautiful crimson eyes staring back at me. It took me a second before everything that happened caught up to me and just what situation I was in.

“Wah!” I cried, the two of us scrambling away from each other, blush obvious on both of us. “I'm so- I was just- Ah- ah- I.” I couldn't seem to find any words, my scales changed to a completely different shade of red and my flame seemed to be having just as much trouble as I was since it was changing sizes rapidly. Without thinking, I rushed out of the room, sprinting as fast as I could down the hall.

“Wait!” The Pikachu shouted after me. “You forgot your-” I didn't hear her finish that sentence since I was already too far gone.

I was running blindly through the halls of the classroom floor that was pretty much abandoned at this point besides the few stray students. I was barely able to register that I was running on all-fours through the fog that covered my mind.

After running for quite a while, I was able to think straight again and I realized I had no idea where I was. I was in a part of the base that I had never seen before. I stood on my hind legs again, taking a good look around me.

This part of the base was poorly lit by dying florescent light bulbs which gave it a very eerie feel. The place obviously wasn't very well kept and no one came down here often due to the startling amount of dirt, dust, and cobwebs that adorned everything in sight.

“Where am I?” I asked no one. There was a deafening silence over everything and I couldn't help but visibly shiver. I had half a mind to just turns around, turn around and never think of this place again. But curiosity got the best of me.

I wrapped myself in my vest and delved deeper into the unknown. I wandered for a good while, coming to the obvious conclusion that this was an abandoned wing of the base. But abandoned for what reason? I continued down the hallway I was in until I came to an intersection. I opted for going left. Luckily my clawed feet were leaving a trail in the dust so I could follow it back.

Down the hall was a right turn with a sign on it. After what must've been years, the letters that used to decorate it's surface were worn down so it read...

E__RGR___  G___TI_  R_SE____  W_NG

I peeked around the corner but couldn't see a thing too far ahead. I rounded the corner, hugging my tail to my chest. The hallway was decently short, leading to a set of steel double doors. I quietly padded over to the door, pushing them open, the hinges giving an ominous creak that resounded off of the walls.

The room smelled heavily of old chemicals. Cabinets of various things lined the walls and there were autopsy tables were here and there. “Was this some sort of surgery room?” I inquired to the silence around me, releasing the grip I had on the door and it slammed shut, that sound probably carried though-out the whole wing. I stood frozen, hoping with all of my heart that nothing living resided in this place.

I stood stock-still, waiting for something to happen. Waiting a bit longer. Still nothing. I relaxed a bit, but stiffened when I heard a groan coming from a closed off office to my left. The groan sounded like someone was just waking up.

The door to the office opened slowly, allowing a very groggy-looking Tyranitar to step out. “Hello?” He asked, rubbing his right eye. He was wearing a white lab coat with a patch on the front reading “Clark Nickelson.” He was also wearing a pair of correctional lenses and it was obvious that his rock-hard armor had seen better days since scratches adorned it's surface. “Hello?” He repeated, bringing one of his massive hands away from his face, blinking a few times then looked directly at me.

“Oh!” He exclaimed, “my bad! You caught me while I was sleeping!” I relaxed again, he didn't seem to be a bad guy. “So, little Mander, tell me what brings you to the Evergreen base's genetics research wing?”

I looked at him in surprise. “T-that's what that sign said?” I asked. “It was so old and worn that I couldn't read it very well!”

“Old?” He questioned, seeming surprised as well. “How long was I asleep? It felt like a few hours, but who knows. If we aren't careful, time could slip right by our heads...” He shook his head, “nevermind, you didn't answer my question.”

I looked down at the dusty floor shyly, the blush on my face hidden by the poor lighting. “I-I accidentally jumped on a girl, she landed on me and I panicked...”

“So you ran here blindly?” I nodded. “Hm...” He looked towards the ceiling then shook his head again.

“Actually, now that I think about it, I should really be getting back,” I muttered, looking back at the double doors. “My dorm-mates might be worrying about me...”

He seemed to completely disregard anything I said and looked back to me. “Have you ever wanted to be special? Like being able to do things others wouldn't?” I looked back at him, confused. Had he not heard me, but I thought it would be rude to just not answer him.

“Sure,” I shrugged, “I always have had daydreams where I had amazing powers and such! My daydreams are the only place where I can do whatever I want!” I then went into a description about all of the daydreams that I had made while I was here, even if it hasn't been very long. I was so into telling him that I didn't even notice the smirk that faintly showed up on his muzzle before he walked over to me.

The smirk disappeared just as I turned to him with a dazzle in my eye.

“Well, I think I've kept you long enough.” The Tyranitar said, a light and wispy tone to his voice. “I'm sure your friends are waiting for you.” He placed one of his massive hands on my head and lead me to the door. I didn't think anything of it. When we were about to pass through the door, I felt a prick on the back of my neck; I reflexively reached for it only to feel nothing. I suddenly felt very groggy, my eyelids becoming heavy, I turned my head to Clark to see an evil smile on his face as he held a half empty syringe.

“Though, I could keep you a bit longer~” He sneered, placing the syringe on a table next to him and bent down just in time to catch me as my body went limp. “You were meant for great things. I'm going to give you a gift to help you, you will be more unique than anyone in this base. My gift shall help you in the future if you choose to unlock it...” I was barely able to hear that last part, the anesthetic taking effect and knocking me out.

()()()()()()()()

“Nicholas!” A voice called. I moaned, cracking my eyes which were only assaulted in return by light that looked to belong to a sunset. After a while, my eyes adjusted and I could hear someone calling my name more clearly. “Nicholas!”

I identified the voice as Mr Davidson. “Over here!” I croaked, a splitting headache hitting me as I did. Luckily, it was loud enough for the head master to hear and he rounded the corner, sighing in relief at the sight of me.

“There you are!” He declared. “Where have you been?! Samuel and Zenobia have been worried sick about you!” I clutched at my head and unsteadily got to my feet, using the wall steady myself.

“I... don't... know...” I mumbled. I tried taking a step forward only to have my leg give out under me, Davidson managed to react fast enough to catch me.

“Nicholas,” He said softly, “I'm taking you to the nurse, you look sick...” I nodded, not finding it in me to argue. I felt like I was about to barf all over the slime-covered dragon anyway.

With him taking the lead, he guided me in the direction of the infirmary, only sparing a glance at the hallway I had been collapsed next to, next to the entrance was a giant yellow sigh with the words-

CONDEMNED! DO NOT ENTER