Regaining Control - Pokemon Dictatorship

[AmethystWallflower]

Hello @Yanaike
This first post is just going to be the outline of everything, including my characters. If you want, I'd be more than happy to add your character to this as well. This is so we can refer back to something and it's all in one place. I hope this helps you if you need it.

----

The Plot
The region of Kalos has fallen under a strict dictatorship over the last century; each ruler even crueler than the last. The new King, King Samuel Kraken, is by far the worst. All the traditions of gyms, the elite four and champions have been abolished. The King has convinced most of his people that this new way of training, this program, is the way of the future, a way of perfecting the training process therefore creating Elite trainers. If interested, you enrolled in this four-year program at the age of 16 with only one pokemon. For the first few years no one minded it and everything went smoothly. It wasn't until the first wave of Elite trainers graduated from the long program and proved to be the best of the best. Their pokemon beastly, with their trainers to be just as intimidating. Seeing these amazing results people began to sign up. What no one saw was that King Kraken was creating the ultimate army of soldiers, both human and pokemon. These Elite trainers exited the program with complete loyalty to the king, the pokemon following suit. It almost seemed as if they were drones, but to notice you have to look almost too hard. Looking that hard can get you into trouble with the new King.
The Program, which is more like a school on route 14, is an enormous building standing seven stories tall and with a basement underneath. The outside of the building was painted in the colors of the King, brilliant royal blue with softer powder blue trims. It had no windows except for those on the fourth and fifth floors. The wide double wooden doors of the building were painted in the same soft powder blue with the words "The Program" painted plainly in large, thick lettering, 'Long live the Kraken! King of Kalos!' was elegantly painted in smaller swirling letters underneath. On the inside each floor that does not contain windows is artificially light using light bulbs that acted as if they were casting actual rays of sunlight in the spring months. The castle grounds consist of extensive training grounds to train Pokemon in the field.
Building Layout​

Main first floor; Pokécenter - Besides acting as both a hospital for the students and their pokemon, the trainers are required to store their pokemon here at the end of every day before going to sleep; many general facilities, large rooms for speeches, a recreational room, and a dining room.
Floors two and three; Filled with regular classrooms, simulators, hand-to-hand combat training and battle arenas.
Floor four; Offices for staff
Floors five and six; Bedrooms~ These floors resemble the floors of a hotel rather than living quarters. Each room can house up to 5 students comfortably, one gender per room. The girls are on the right side of the hall and the boys on the left, this goes for both floors. The interior of the hallways is painted in the same Royal colors of royal and powder blue. The best of the students get to have their own rooms.
Basement; The Lab~ Only a handful of people know what this floor really consists of. To those outside selected staff and King Kraken himself, this floor is a sort of honor's course where they can receive special training to eventually qualify to be among the King's personal Guard. The front half of the basement looks much like, well, a super gym. There are machines that regulated strict workouts hooked up to other machines that monitored the body levels on one section. In another section was another simulator, this one much small and only geared for one trainer and his team. The back half of the floor held the Lab.
Roof ~Aircraft and Pokemon landing area

Extras​

After Enrolling~ After registering for the four-year program at the nearest Pokécenter at the age of sixteen the Entry Trial begins. Once the group of potential students is collected in the survival area, they are released and hunted by a group of hand selected older students.
Each year the program gets more intense and difficult, as if it were a school strictly for battling. The courses can eventually get to the point that not every trainer and pokemon are physically and mentally up to the task, suffering injuries from minor to fatal, and in some cases, death. Although all students are permitted access to all upper levels of the building, only those who excel the quickest and show the most promise are permitted entry to the Basement. It should go without saying that very few know the Basement as what it truly is, a Lab. Most of the students see the Basement as a type of honors course that's designed for the best of the best. Those permitted entries to the Basement have their skills 'properly honed' by mind and body altering drugs and extreme training on both trainer and pokemon. Most of the students strive to be among these hand-picked trainers, not aware of what awaited them should they ever make it. After such outstanding results in the first wave of trainers that graduated The Program, Kraken has begun toying with the idea of introducing the drug to the rest of the students in The Program; increasing the already fierce loyalty they harbor.

Being Accepted; At the start of each year the group of potential new students is dropped in the fields surrounding the castle with only a single Pokemon and the students of second grade and higher will hunt on the new students with full teams. There is no Pokécenter and only the students that are able to survive for 3 days may enter the Program. Each potential new student is given a tracker device. This allows for the judges, the teachers of the program, to be notified when a certain number of students are left. When this number is reached, the remaining students are automatically accepted no matter how much time has passed.

Uniforms; Dark blue fabrics with light blue trims. Simple military style overall look. Males wear slacks, while females are permitted knee length skirts.
Acquiring the rest of your team~ The rest of your team is acquired through field missions, tests, exercising and some are even given as rewards. The pokemon that are gifted to students by the Program tend to be higher level or have passed through an evolution and tend to be harder to train as they were not caught by the student.

Graduating the Program; The Gauntlet - A final test in which students that King Kraken does not consider among the top rank must pass in order to keep the 5 pokemon they acquired during their stay in the Program. The lowest ranking trainers must battle each other in an arena type setting with the rest of the students of the Program watching. The arena is capable of adapting battle terrain once, possibly twice, per battle in the advantage of one or the other – this is controlled by a chosen Teacher. That way only half of the lower ranking trainers keep their pokemon (of course keeping the original). Kraken doesn't consider a high percentage of students 'high ranking' enough to avoid the final test, taking input from the student's teachers, ensuring that, roughly 55%, of the school graduates with full teams. If they fail the test, they do not graduate, are labeled something less honorable than a failure and have to permanently turn in all but the pokemon they chose when they were 10.
Life outside The Program; King Kraken only allows his regular inhabitants to have just a single Pokémon. In that way, choosing a first Pokémon is even more important, as it will be the only Pokémon you can have.

The Good Guys​

The rebellion group; Ditto~ A group called Ditto sees through the illusion that the King has painted for the people about a school that can perfectly train you and your team; that it's a favor from the King to his people. Most everyone accepts the favor with a renewed spirit for the otherwise strict dictator, except for a small group that slowly grows in numbers almost daily as people notice the difference in the children that are enrolling in The Program. There are people that had even taken notice that there was something that just wasn't right about the first group of Elites that graduated from The Program. They didn't seem to maintain their personalities as much as the rest of the graduates seem to. Their loyalty seemed to... forced. Will you join Ditto to destroy the iron grip of dictatorship that the King has over the land; or will you chant along with the rest of the drones?

CHARACTERS

Name: Samuel Kraken
Title: King of Kalos
Age: Forty-three
Personality: At first glance Samuel seems charming, polite, honorable and kind with a jolly and overall happy demeanor. All aspects of a great King that his people love. Behind closed doors, away from the eye of the average commoner of Kalos, he rules with an iron fist. He has a firm grip of the reigns of his region and is icy to those near him. He sees his role as King to gain even more power beyond the reaches of his kingdom. Driven by greed, power-lust and dishonesty he gets what he wants by any means necessary. Putting himself first, Samuel is more like a pirate made King.
History: Not much is known about Samuel before the age of seventeen. He seemed to be somewhat of a no body, just gliding under the radar of anyone that mattered, until he surfaced out of seemingly nowhere challenging the Elite Four of Kalos without any gym badges. The first few challenges he made to the Elite Four went unnoticed, waved off by the guards just outside victory road. It wasn't until he finally challenged the guards themselves to a battle, bargaining that if he beat both men without a single one of his pokemon fainting, they would allow him to gain entry. Thinking that this boy, with no badges to prove his strength and knowledge of pokemon, couldn't beat them, let alone do it without a single pokemon fainting, accepted with boasting egos. When he wiped the floor with them, he finally entered victory road without being stopped. Beating everyone that waited for him inside, news of him being there spread quickly, and before he emerged at the end of victory road, the region knew his name in constant whispers. He was elected king before the age of thirty when the king at the time, King Ron Rois, died unexpectedly and named the Champion his heir.
Starter Pokemon: Pancham
Pokemon Team: Xerneas. Pangoro. Aegislash. Lucario. Aurorus. Goodra.

Name: Aron Pendleton
Age: 20
Gender: Male
Title: Fourth Year Student
Loyalty: His loyalty lies with Ditto. He joined the program to gain the intelligence and skills the King so graciously offered to his people to use against him. His father is a co-founder of the rebel group.
Personality: With the passion to learn and battle Aron is also strong-willed and seeks glory. Having a good head on his shoulders and a good sense of right and wrong, Aron has no problem challenging authority when authority is wrong. He is a natural problem solver and thinks logically and thoroughly before acting both in battle and life situations. He's very outgoing and gets along with just about anyone. He can be blunt and even sarcastic at times, but it's never meant to cause any negative feelings, it's all in good fun. When it comes to his friends, family and pokemon, Aron has been known to be very protective.
History: Before registering for The Program when he was 16, Aron lived with his parents in Laverre City. He was well taken care of and has grown up knowing about Ditto, both his parents had been founders of the group since their rough beginning when the people of Kalos started to realize King Kraken wasn't as humble as he was pretending to be. His mother was killed in during an interrogation session in the depths of the King's castle. She had been among the three captured during a raid of a smaller out-post of the rebel group. Word had gotten out she lasted the longest of the taken trio, but held strong and gave nothing up. Aron had only just received his first pokemon. Afterwards, Ditto relocated and Aron fully immersed himself in the group alongside his father. Eventually the idea was proposed, by Aron himself, that he attempt to enroll in The Program to learn what exactly was happening behind closed doors. It would also finally give Ditto a location of the training grounds the King used for said Program.
Starter Pokemon: Deino Team: Hydreigon. Zebstrika. Alakazam. Rhyperior. Marowak (Alohan). Walrein.​

 

[AmethystWallflower]

The walk up to the powder blue doors seemed to happen too quickly and the feeling of freedom was seeping out of Aron the closer he got. There were still things to do that The Program restricted him from, Ditto needed him, and he wasn't finished enjoying the last few moments of false freedom the mission allowed before a new year started. Aron had feigned travelling difficulties to arrange a meeting with the rebel group before returning to the castle. He loathed taking The Program; he saw the blue building as a communist college disguised in royal colors and bright flowers and trees to make it seem more appealing. It was alluring to the eye, almost pretty; he couldn't deny that, Kraken knew what he was doing when he built the place. It fit in with all the other glorious and beautiful buildings in the bigger cities in the Kalos region, even if it was hidden and off the beaten path. To be honest, Aron hated the place, and so did his pokemon, even the ones he acquired through being here, but he was lucky enough to have a team that understood why they did what they did. Taking a deep breath and swallowing the bile he could feel rising up the back of his throat, Aron rolled his shoulders in a weak attempt to relax and once the heavy wooden doors were in arms reach, grasped the handles and heaved them open.

The sight inside made Aron sigh heavily - young trainers were milling around the open area in front of the Pokécenter baring the battle wounds from the Opening Trial last few days. Some held their weak pokemon in their arms as they awaited their turn at the counter. The rest of the obviously beaten up newcomers leaned against the walls with arms crossed or folded behind their heads, looks of superiority across their faces as they spoke amongst themselves, their backs to the poorer trainers. Those were just a select handful of kids, their pokemon exhumed the same smug attitude as their trainers. Aron knew right away these were the wealthier kids, the ones that had a better chance of catching the King's attention, the more lethal of the newcomers. They didn't seem to have the most serious of the injuries, and their pokemon didn't seem dangerously close to fainting, yet the group had pushed their way to the front of the line to get their pokemon healed before moving off to get themselves patched up ahead of the more roughed up kids.

Aron was familiar with students like these. They were brutal and cruel, strong and relentless, they were exactly the type of trainer the King wanted to churn out of this place. By the end of each trainers four-year stay they all ended up like them anyway. He had the unfortunate pleasure of sharing the same skill level as those students - just of his own age class. However, Aron didn't share the same cruel outlook on the poorer classes as his peers. He would often pass right over the crude jokes, or demeaning remarks aimed at the weaker trainers during conversations with the more advanced students, and his pokemon usually refused the opportunity to pick on the smaller, younger pokemon. Aron obviously stood out against the basic upper class, but as someone who simply wasn't as harsh as the rest. He was viewed as someone who was once poor, but excelled through The Program to become one of the best and now pities them.

It was common for a student that entered the Program poor to graduate as cruel and mean as if they entered wealthy. Their loyalties fell to that of the King and their brethren instead of their villages, childhood friends and their families. They often chose to ignore them completely in favor of their new life as Trainer to the King. The shift in the trainer's attitude usually began in their last year – this year for Aron. So far, all he could tell that would cause such a shift in loyalties and personalities would be the intense need to excel in missions and classes and increase the amount of training if not chosen to avoid the Gauntlet. Not many were chosen to avoid the graduation test, and the seniors had to wait the duration of the entire year to find out the group of trainers that were lucky enough to sit in those permanent seats in the stadium. Generally, the entre graduating class already had an idea of who the King would choose to sit alongside him during the Gauntlet, but it never stopped the seniors from pushing themselves and their teams to their absolute limits. Strength and power were propelled and fueled by the fear of losing the pokemon they had come to create relationships with.

Aron was no different. He trained his team every opportunity he had, and spent every ounce of his free time in the gym practicing his own hand-to-hand combat skills or in the battle arenas working out the kinks in his team. It was all in part to distract his heart of the place he was forced to live in the last four years, but mostly to keep his head in the right place – on keeping his pokemon. From the very beginning he needed to ensure that he would be among the top of his class, there had to be no doubt he would be allowed to keep all six of the pokemon allowed to him; he needed them, and they needed him just as much. Even as pokemon they recognized Kraken's cruelty, they understood the need to stick together and ignored the foul taste that battling weaker opponents left. Aron wanted to ensure that even if King Kraken didn't choose him to sit out the Gauntlet, he would be able to defeat any opponent he would be matched with no matter the circumstances or terrain. The new year had barely begun, he hadn't even turned in his reports of the mission, and he was already feeling the anxiety of the Gauntlet.

As much as he hated the Instructor that assigned him the practice mission, he silently thanked the man for it. If it weren't for Aron going out on the field test to extract a false rebel group in the far south-east, he would have been part of the group of seniors that milled around waiting for their turn at the Pokécenter and he wouldn't have been able to meet up with Ditto and his father. It may have only been a test to see how he would do out in the field on his own with precise instructions to locate, extract information from, and eliminate a rebel group, but it was still a brutal two-week trek across the region that left him dirtied, slightly battered, but better off than he had hoped he would be halfway through. Aron was the only high ranking trainer that didn't enjoy taking part as a Hunter in the Opening Trial, but when he was handed the thin powder blue folder that held the instructions of the practice mission, he pretended to be just as bummed about missing the Trail as the rest of his peers were for him. Only offering them a shoulder shrug and a quick, "Give the newbies something to aspire to be, boys!" that was met with a few hollers before backing out of the auditorium and to the Pokécenter to collect his team.

Doing the best to avoid as many of his peers as he could, Aron made his way through the main floor and to the elevator. A few 'hellos' and welcome nods were forced from him in passing, but he was able to maneuver through the crowd effortlessly. Protocol strictly stated that after each field mission a student was to report back to the assigning Instructor to be debriefed before being allowed to retire their team to the Pokécenter and take care of themselves. The elevator welcomed him inside with a gentle gust of chilled air, carried him up to the fourth floor, and with a soft chime the doors slid open and allowed him access to the floor. Staff members buzzed around the floor, not a single Instructor acknowledging the young man standing there, mud and dried blood from his own wounds caked on his skin and uniform. A woman, however, was unlucky enough to need to pass by him to enter the elevator and her nose scrunched up at the smell of his two-week excursion, Aron only smiled to her.

"Come in!" His Instructor's voice boomed from behind the closed door just as Aron raised his fist to knock against it. Instead, his hand changed its motion and he swung the door open, stepped through and closed it behind him. Aron took exactly five steps inside the office, clicked his heels together and did the mandatory greeting, "Good Evening, Sir." His hand snapped to his side after the salute while his eyes fell over the Dusknior that must have alerted Seanix of his arrival. It's eye narrowing on him as it always did when close to Aron. He resisted the urge to shift his weight at being in the same room as the ghost pokemon and waited for Seanix to initiate further conversation. He estimated it took another three full minutes before Seanix looked up from whatever he had been scribbling down and leaned back in his seat to study him. "Jesus Christ kid, you look like you've been to hell and back." Seanix made no effort to hide the amusement from his voice and before Aron could say anything in response, he motioned for the Dusknior to retrieve the field mission report from Aron – who barely had enough time to pull it from his ruined overcoat before the pokemon snatched it from his hands, leaving a cold shill that travelled up his arm.

Aron opted for silence as Seanix read through the report. It detailed every single move Aron made from the second he left the Program to the moment he re-entered the grounds. Of course, a few things had been altered and faked, but for the most part it was the truth. Locate the false rebel group; check. Capture a member foolish enough to either get left behind or go out on their own; check. Use unnecessary force to extract the desired phony information about the group they belonged and take care of loose ends; check. Completely dismantle said fake rebel group and cease all illegal actions; another big fat fake check. It was really astonishing how much effort the instructors and the King went to make sure these practices were really drilled into the heads of these kids. Every class, every battle, and every field mission was geared to better the minds and skills of the students so they would be the best of the best.

Seanix seemed at least mildly pleased with the report, because he passed it back to his Dusknior who filed the report away for him and turned back to Aron. "Besides the incident that caused your half-day travel delay," Seanix paused to narrow his gaze on Aron and leaned forward, resting his elbows on the desk and his chin on his folded hands, "which I don't entirely understand how a bunch of wild dugtrio were able to do as much damage as you claim. Your skills far exceed that of any wild dugtrio, I risk to go as far as saying, no matter how many." Seanix paused again, apparently waiting for whatever excuse Aron had prepared.

"They just got the jump on me, sir. I was arrogant and didn't stop at the local Pokécenter before heading out on the route. I thought my team would be strong enough to make it to the next town, but I wasn't expecting the dugtrio, sir." Aron looked the instructor in the eye as he spoke, but his tone was what convinced him the most. He must have accepted the lie, because he leaned back in his chair and waved a hand through the air; even his Dusknior seemed to relax a bit and the feeling of agitation lifted from the room. "You're dismissed. You may visit the Pokécenter," and with a look of mild disgust added, "and see that you get yourself a new uniform. I'd be revolted to hear the King saw you looking like that, regardless of what you were returning from."

With the obvious dismissal, Aron didn't relax his posture until he was back in the elevator headed back down to the main floor. He ran a hand through his dirty hair and leaned back against the wall of the elevator, a heavy sigh lifting off his chest as the chime and re-opening of the doors came all too soon. He shoved himself off the wall with his foot and made his way to the back of the line that had shortened significantly since his first trip through. His legs screamed at how tired he was, but he fought against them and patiently waited his turn, ignoring the looks he got from the older students for not pushing the freshman out of the way to claim the head of the line.

 

[Yanaike]

Just by appearance one could tell she was different from most students enrolled in the Programm. Whereas many students, even girls, wore short practical haircuts, Ailyna could be familiarized by her long waving gold-blonde hair. Her skin was slightly tanned by the sun, compared to the pale-skinned creatures that inhabited the castle. Their pigment had long been gone by the countless hours they spent in fake natural environments inside mechanical simulators. On schools as strict as these, an uniform seemed obligatory, but again Ailyna was different. She hated uniforms, especially the female kind. If Ailyna wished to wear a skirt, she would do it in her own way, not those boring unisex school skirts that were just there to tell you apart from the boys. No! Ailyna had her own style. And while on formal occasions she always wore an uniform, just like anyone else, outside of those formal occasions she went with a more casual look.

Ailyna walked through the corridors of the castle in a powder blue tank top going down just below her hips. She wore tight black pants and blue sporting shoes, the same hue of blue as in the school uniforms. She had a vest wrapped around her waist in the same color as her shoes. It hid her white waist belt with her full team of six Pokémon in pokéballs attached to it, in such a way that she was able to call on them quickly, if needed.

From the corner of her eye she noticed one of the teachers, mr. Jacobs, watching her from the doorway of his classroom. He shook his head unapprovingly. From the first day in the Program, Ailyna and him had been enemies. Just the way he looked crept Ailyna: his sloppy uncombed orange hair, his narrow eyes and glasses, his ugly brown-green sweaters worn over his sheart. Blergh! He was like a rat. The type of guy that would lynch his own family if they didn't live by the book. Ailyna knew all he wanted was to gossip about Ailyna's 'disrespectful behavior' in the hope that either the headmaster of king Kraken himself would get Ailyna expelled. But they didn't. Of course they knew about Ailyna and her habits. They knew Ailyna didn't wear her uniform. But they also realized she was one of the better students. Not only that, but she seemed to have an improving effect on other student's skills as well. Expelling her would be a loss for the school. And that made the poor teacher powerless for now. Ailyna turned her head and gave him a cheerful smile.
"Gooday mr. Jacobs"
Besides a low grunt, there came no response.

Ailyna and her 'gang' of boys continued on their way to the staircases leading down. Suddenly, out of nowhere a girl appeared from the side, storming through the hallway. Without looking she bumped into Ailyna. Ailyna kept her balance, but the girl fell straight down on the floor.
"Oi, watchout where you going!" Zack said, one of Ailyna's friends. Slightly threatening he stepped closer to the little girl.
"Leave her alone, Zack" Ailyna offered the girl a hand. It was one of the first grades, one who survived the test.
"Thanks" the girl responded as she grabbed Ailyna's hand to get up.
"Wait" Ailyna said as soon as she saw the girl's face. "I recognize you. You were the girl with the Gothorita right? What's your name?"
The girl nodded.
"My name is Shelley" she said with a very timid voice.
"Shelley hmm…? You remind me of myself when I was around your age. You did very well during the test, you can be proud of yourself."
"Thank you, miss" she bend her head down, blushing a little.
"You can call me Ailyna" Ailyna said with a welcoming smile on her face. "Now tell me Shelley, what was your starter Pokémon?"
"It was a Mareep…" she fiddled with her fingers. "I know it's childish and…"
"Who told you that? Every trainer should have its own style. Ampharos can be a very bulky addition to a lot of teams." Ailyna paused for a moment. "You know what… have you ever heard of mega evolution?"
She looked up when she heard the term.
"Yes, of course I have, but I also heard it's pretty rare to find all requirements."
"Yes, I think king Kraken wants outsiders to believe that mega evolution is a myth." From a pocket of her sports jacket, Ailyna revealed a pearl-like gemstone with an orange-like sparkle in it.
"This is Ampharosite. I found it, but I don't require it myself. It will allow your Ampharos to evolve in to mega-Ampharos. You can have it… on one condition."
A playfull smile appeared on Ailyna's face.
"If you can defeat my friend Zack in a three on three battle, the mega-stone is yours!"
The little girl's eyes started fonkling.
"Really?" she asked. Ailyna simply nodded.
"From now on, I shall train even harder." She looked around in a sense of hastiness. "I will start immediately!" she said before she turned around and rushed away.
Ailyna laughed, then turned to Zack. "I want you to train as well. Pick your three strongest Pokémon. There is no way I allow you to lose to a first grade."

 

[AmethystWallflower]

Aron ignored the sneers and hushed as he patiently waited his turn for the Pokécenter. When his time came, he passed over the belt containing the six pokemon assigned to him, ignoring the familiar pang of sadness at having to turn in the team. With other things to attend to, his team would need to be stored for the night. However, they needed the rest just as badly as he did. As Aron walked away from the counter his hand went to the empty space of air where his pokeballs usually sat around his waist. He let out a sigh, remembering the tales of when every trainer was allowed a full team and were never required to turn them in at night for the sake of 'progress'. It was a dream he often found himself getting lost in, a dream often fueled by his father's speeches of freedom and true peace.

Aron made it to the elevator and managed to skirt passed any who attempt to engage in conversation once more and slid into the tiny compartment. As he stood alone in the small space the daydream shifted from happiness and hope for a future Aron could see himself thriving in, to the awful news Ditto may have uncovered in the recent weeks. He found it more than difficult to wrap his head around, and wouldn't have even told it to his pokemon if they weren't already out of their balls. As the elevator chimed to notify his arrival to the housing floor, Aron shook the remnants of the meeting from his head to assess later and made his way into the hall.

His hearing caught the conversation before he rounded the corner and nearly slammed into the group. He caught a quick mention of Mega-evolution and his eyes narrowed, his feet slowly before he fully made his presence known.

"Yes, I think king Kraken wants outsiders to believe that mega evolution is a myth."
"This is Ampharosite. I found it, but I don't require it myself. It will allow your Ampharos to evolve in to mega-Ampharos. You can have it… on one condition." "If you can defeat my friend Zack in a three on three battle, the mega-stone is yours!"
"Really?"
"From now on, I shall train even harder."
"I want you to train as well. Pick your three strongest Pokémon. There is no way I allow you to lose to a first grade."​

Aron sucked in a breath. He recognized those voices, and while one wasn't particularly awful and cruel, the others took over for her. Nonetheless, all were loyal to the King. Putting on a casual posture just as the freshman passed by him in a rush, Aron walked around the corner putting himself in full view of the group. "I couldn't help but catch the end of that last little bit," He put on a smirk and motioned with his head in the direction of the young freshman, "Planning on giving the girl her first lesson? I've got my money on whoever is going against her." Aron looked to Ailyna and winked; he would never let on he over-heard about the Mega-Stone, but being in the same place prompted some sort of acknowledgement of the small situation taking place, else he seems like he was intentionally listening in

 

[Yanaike]

Just after Shelly had ran away, another student appeared from the hallway where she'd ran off to. He looked familiar and Ailyna guessed he was a fourth grade too. The probably shared a few classes together, but Ailyna never had much talks with him before.
"I couldn't help but catch the end of that last little bit. Planning on giving the girl her first lesson? I've got my money on whoever is going against her."
What kind of lesson was he talking about? Did he suspect Ailyna's actions as a way of showing who the boss is? Did he suspect Ailyna for knowingly humiliating a first grade in front of the entire school promising an in reality unobtainable reward? No way! Ailyna wasn't like that. She genuinely wanted to provide the first grader with a mega-stone. And it wasn't about the battle, nor about winning, it was all about the preparations the girl would take. The way she would continue to train her Pokémon and fearlessly stepping into a battle with a boy three grades higher. Even if she would lose, Ailyna would still consider offering her the Ampharosite. But, she wasn't so sure if the girl would actually loose. In the Program students were trained to battle choosing the most optimal attack in every situation. New students didn't have that training and instead battled more instinctively using a less optimal strategy, in rare cases leading to a huge reward. If for one thing, she had the element of surprise on her side. Besides that, she sure had potential, she showed that during the entry test. Ailyna had been watching her. She might seem like a shy girl at first, but every time she accepted a battle, she turned into a confident skilled trainer that battled as hard as she could for her win. She reminded her of herself.

Ailyna made a gesture with her hand, instructing the rest of her gang to move on. They did as she asked and continued through the hallway on their way to the common room. When they were out of sight, AIlyna did one step closer to the boy, moving a little too close to him. She inspected him from top to toe. Blond hair, blue eyes, a little bit longer than Ailyna and looking quite strong and confident. His uniform looked messy and dirty. Since most of the fourth graders came out of the first grade hunt with little to no dirt on their clothes, it made Ailyna wonder. Had he even been part of the hunt? Maybe he went on another mission? Or was there something else he had to hide? Ailyna moved her hand through her long blonde hair. She licked her lips as a quirky grin appeared on her face.
"You really wanna bet your money on my friend Zack?" Ailyna asked. "How much?" At that point she extended her hand. "By the way… I think we've never formally introduced each other. My name is Ailyna. You're Aron isn't it?"

 

[AmethystWallflower]

Aron looked over his shoulder after the group of boys as they went down the hall ahead of him, somewhat amused at the fact that a flock of them could be commanded like Growlithe with just a flick of her wrist. When he turned back to Ailyna, she had gotten considerably closer to him, making him take a half-step backwards. He couldn't imagine being this close to him would be like standing in a garden of roses, but he had to give kudos where it was due - she didn't run or make a face like the last female. She seemed to study every inch of him before licking her lips and grinning at him. Something he was used to, but not in such close proximity of the one staring. He leaned against the wall and stuffed both hands in the front pockets of his overcoat, adopting a relaxed posture. It seemed he wasn't going to be able to move past this conversation in favor for solitude and hot water.

"Well, when you put it that way you make it sound like the freshman would have him beat in a sec. You got me second guessing myself; maybe I should put my coin on the girl." He maintained the playful tone to his voice, adding a light chuckle, not wanting to step on this girl's toes by poking fun of her group of friends. He reached out and gripped her outstretched palm, giving it a sturdy shake before releasing it and stuffing his hands back into his overcoat pockets, "I'm Aron. Please excuse my appearance," he glanced down at the front of his shirt and slacks then back up to her, "I was unfortunate enough to miss the Trial and go gallivanting through the region looking for fake spies." Aron tried to sound genuinely bothered at the idea of missing the Trials, adding a roll of his eyes at the mention of the spies. "I hope I didn't miss too much."

 

[Yanaike]

He did a half-step back, but besides that he looked pretty calm and confident. Ailyna moved another half-step closer to him, to make up for the half-step he took back. She sighed, slightly bored by Aron's reply regarding the freshman. There was no fun in doing a bet with someone as doubtful as him. A moment ago he told Ailyna that he would bet his money on the one who would be up against her, and now he completely changed his mind and thought about betting on the first grader. His handshake was firm and again contributing to the relaxed, confident vibe he was trying to emit.
"I'm Aron. Please excuse my appearance,"
Ailyna looked down to his clothes. They were quite dirty, which she already concluded from the first time she'd inspected him. Aron continued his talk.
"I was unfortunate enough to miss the Trial and go gallivanting through the region looking for fake spies. I hope I didn't miss too much."

Ailyna looked back up again in a moment of disbelief. At the beginning of her third grade in the Program, one of Ailyna's friends was absent during the Trials. He had a serious sickness. But the doctors almost had to bound him to his bed to make him stay. He tried denying his sickness. He tried escaping the castle. He tried everything just to be there, hunting down the first grades. Of course, eventually, he couldn't made it, and Ailyna had to spend almost two weeks to his obtrusive complaints and questions about the Trial. He literally wanted to know everything: the most promising first graders, the losers who still managed to made it on the list, the battles Ailyna had, the Pokémon she used, the Pokémon they used, literally everything!

'I-hope-I-didn't-miss-too-much', the words of Aron repeated in Ailyna's head. Meaningless words in Ailyna's opinion.
"Let's cut down on the lies, shall we?" Ailyna said with a pleasurable grin on her face. "I think we both know that you didn't care about the Trials at all. Tell me… why not? Isn't it fun being out in the open, behaving like a beast and hunting down those little brats?"

 

[AmethystWallflower]

For someone who outwardly looked bored, she sure was taking an overly investigative interest in Aron. Yet, she seemed to pin his lack of investment in the Trials fairly quickly. He answered her with a shrug, his eyes never leaving hers. "I just have an undeserved soft spot for them, I suppose. However, claiming me to be a lair is a bit of a stretch, don't you think? But, if I'm being completely honest with you, Battle Queen," Aron added the nickname as a jab at the idea of taking on the beastly mentality of hunting 'those little brats' as she so lovingly put it, "As tedious as a training field mission is, I recognize the overly beneficial tactics I've learned from them. Seeing as training field missions would help me excel better than the Trial would, I took the mission instead, hoping to hone my skills with a little more challenge than that of a potential freshman."

Aron ignored the passion flaring in his chest and decided on stroking the girl's ego a bit. He didn't actually know Ailyna, but Aron knew of her, and that was enough to tell Aron she would more likely be one of the chosen to sit out, right next to Kraken himself; possibly one of the first chosen. He pictured her sitting at the King's right side, back straight, uniform pressed, starter pokemon at her other side looking regal yet absolutely terrifying, looking sinister herself as King Kraken's Right Hand Trainer. "I recognize you, now. You're one of the top in our class, aren't you?" A hand lifted to grip his dirt crusted chin, the other arm hooked underneath it in support. "I imagine you were among the Hunters this year. How many actually seemed to make it in? Or rather… how many did the Hunters seem fit to enroll?" He eyed Ailyna's expression as she spoke about the trial. It was then, in that moment of staring while she spoke, that he began to feel the first strands of irritation that day. Not because of the fact Ailyna was one of the many who reveled in being a Hunter, but because she was highly perceptive to just about everything; he was going to have to watch her more carefully than most of the others this year. He bit down on the words he wanted to spit out every time the Trial was mentioned; that she was cruel just like the others; that hunting young kids just to see if they qualify for the Program instead of welcoming everyone was immoral and wrong; the same speech his father chanted to rally his supporters and light the fire under their asses.

 

[Yanaike]

He kept staring at her, and as such Ailyna stared back with her green eyes, trying to keep eye contact. With a pleasant smile on her face she carefully listened as Aron explained his view. Her smile briefly disappeared for a doubtful expression when Aron mentioned 'battle queen'. Was she supposed to take that like a compliment or was it meant like an insult? In any case, Ailyna was never really fond of nicknames. They labeled a person for what they were, instead of for who they were.

Ailyna's smile returned when he continued explaining how he thought that a field mission would increase his skills more than the trial. His explanation was absolutely flawless: giving up one of the few 'fun'-things of the Program in order to train even harder. It was perfect! So perfect that Ailyna almost threw up. He either was the perfect slave of King Kraken, or he had a huge secret to hide, which made Ailyna very curious. A sparkle could be seen in her eyes as she bit on her lip thinking of ways to hunt down his possible secret.

"I recognize you, now. You're one of the top in our class, aren't you?"
"Am I?" Ailyna chuckled for a moment. "Is that how they speak about me?" She felt amused, it seemed he was trying to please her. "I don't really agree though" Ailyna answered, suddenly rather serious. "It's all just a matter of perspectives. You see… I have a lot of strengths, but I have a lot of weaknesses too. Overall I might be one of the best, but when it comes to some individual characteristics I definitely ain't! 'Being one of the best' implies that I've got nothing more to learn, and I don't really want to think about myself like that."

She paused for a moment, before the smile returned on her face. "If you wanted to know about the Trials, you should have been there in the first place! I ain't gonna tell you anything!" She laughed playfully. "I've got to go now, it's been nice talking to you!" Ailyna turned around and walked away, before she briefly turned back again.
"Oh, and you don't have to call me Battle Queen" she added quickly. "Just 'Ailyna' will do fine!" She gave him a little blow kiss and after that she continued through the hallway.
Ailyna was about to hand in her Pokémon for the night, but she had one more important destination before she would go to bed.

A few moments later Ailyna found herself in one of the corridors on the fourth floor of the castle. She stood in front of one of the oak-wooden chapel-like doors. She rapidly knocked on the door. Three times. A voice could be heard from the other side.
"Enter!"
Ailyna opened the door and entered one of the teacher's offices.
"Good evening Mr. Davidson"
The teacher, who had been staring out of the window, turned around. His Rowlet, who sat on a little tree branch planted in a pot, turned his head as well, both were curious what the familiar face was doing at this time at this place.
"Good evening Ms. Cross", the teacher responded. "How can I help you?"
"I was hoping you could me do a favor" Ailyna asked carefully. Mr. Davidson was one of her favorite teachers. He looked strict, yet righteous. He was a good man, recognizing Ailyna's talents and even though he would never publicly admit it, he didn't mind doing her little favors. "Tomorrow we'll be having a field test, right?"
Mr. Davidson nodded. "True, I'll divide the class in random groups of two and you'll have to do a few minor tests and a couple of double battles. I can't tell you more than that."
Ailyna smiled. "Random groups you said? Could you help 'faith' a little and group me together with Aron."
The teacher grinned mysteriously. "I see what I can do" he said without making any promises. "May I ask why?"
Ailyna thought for a moment before giving her answer. "Let's just say, I want to see for myself who I'm dealing with…"

 

[AmethystWallflower]

Ooc; Sorry, this took longer than anticipated.

Aron arched an eyebrow as she blew a kiss at him, twirled on her heel and walked away. He found himself silently thanking whatever power that be he hadn't had an interaction with her prior to today. If he was being honest with himself, he wasn't entirely sure he ever wanted to interact with the girl again. It wasn't that he didn't like her, she was blunt but he could see why people flocked around her; what bothered him was she had a look in her eye that told him she had more questions than she was ever going to ask but still do her best to find the answers to anyway. He rolled his shoulders as she disappeared around the corner and made the mental note about her obvious distaste of the nickname with a smirk.

The rest of his night was spent alone. Aron put in the work needed to get his own room but hardly put it to good use. He really only slept and showered there, while the rest of his free time was spent in the training sections of the building. Once inside Aron's eye was immediately caught to the powder blue envelope that was silently waiting for him at his bedside table. In a few quick strides Aron was at the envelope and tearing at the weakly done seal. His eyes scanned over the brief, to the point message before letting the entire thing fall into the trash bin. He rubbed both hands over his face, marched over to his dresser, then to the bathroom. By the time Aron exited the small room steam rolled out from the top of the doorway and disappeared halfway into the bedroom.

It was possible that Aron was asleep before he actually hit the mattress. He couldn't remember peeling back the sheets and lying down; nor did he remember setting the alarm clock that was currently screaming at him to wake up. The bright red numbers flashed 5:45 and seemed to get brighter with each violent flash at him, as well as the noise getting louder. Today's agenda held a field mission of some sort and Aron had a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach that it was a paired mission. He really did hate being part of a pair, but teamwork was a big thing here, with the King creating groups to patrol the region. 'A successful team leads to a prosperous region.' Aron chanted the one of several mottos that had been relentlessly repeated over the course of the last four yours in his head. It normally made Aron scoff; the hypocrisy of it was ridiculous. A region made prosperous by successful teams only chosen by the King was impossible. There were too few teams and trainers to cover the entire region, yet somehow they seemed to be doing it. With a scary forced it seemed, as well.

By the time he got to the PokeCenter to retrieve his team, the mantra was playing like a broken record that he couldn't turn off. He used it as a bit of motivation, each of the mottos the instructors taught them, but not in the way they were intended. He used each one like a poison barb in his brain. They all had their tips pointed and pressed at the right angles against his mind to continuously propel him forward through the Program; if he were to stop or lose track of why he was here, Aron convinced himself they would jab him and cause irreversible damage.

It was too early in the morning for most of the younger students to be up and moving, so the line for the 'Center was wonderfully short. The big burly man behind the counter resembled the build of a Machoke, but his face was as rosy and kind as a Chansey. The typical Nurse Joy had been done away with right before the Program was officially launched in favor of this supposedly scary looking man. Aron had seen him battle on the rare occasions that he was called to, and he was obscenely strong. The soft hands that cared for the pokemon at night were not something to be messed around with. It was rumored that this new 'nurse joy' was a champion back in his younger days when the region still had the elite four, but Aron always doubted that.

"Buck up, boy!" Oliver's voice was more cheery than Aron felt at 6:30 am. He didn't wait for Aron to speak before he disappeared to retrieve his team. When he returned he had a tray gently clasped between his hands, 6 balls rested on the soft dark blue cloth. Aron was all too eager to reach out and secure them to the belt around his waist. "Good luck out there today, boy!" Oliver winked down at Aron, who gave the burly man a questioning look, then waved him away to help the next senior. The big man seemed to always know what was going on in the school but never made any mention of it until Aron saw him patiently waiting his turn in the back of the room during the Ditto meetings, a Munchlax always at his side or comfortably sitting in his lap. Aron had gotten used to the knowing winks that Oliver gave but never explained and figured it had something to do with the day's lessons and did his best to prepare himself for anything. When he reached the field he was supposed to be in, his Marowak burst from it's ball and began keeping pace at his side. There weren't many student's on the field yet, but the familiar groups were already being formed as they waited for the instructor.