Welcome to Gaia! ::

Reno would stop at one note that Eri gave him with her information. The rest of it seemed to be confirming a lot of what he thought: whoever this channeler was had an intense devotion to the Dark One. But the active fear and excitement portion.....that was interesting. Because it wasn't reverence like he would've expected from the cult Robin mentioned existing, it was more personal emotions. Emotions that implied a level of working knowledge of the Dark One closer to what Maya had. And then there was the chi converters. That had to be asked after. "I'm sorry, they just appeared attached one day? Do you have any idea who installed them or how they found them?" Reno questioned, preparing to listen for an answer whne Aile barreled in the door demanding a fast trip to.....wait, did he hear that right?

"Pardon, I am being summoned. I would appreciate if you answered my question and relayed the information to either Tsuki or....sure, the bug man over there." Reno told Eri as he gave a vague gesture towards Beau, pivoting and walking over to where Aile and Sol were.

"Sol. I feel slightly insulted. Of course I know where it is. The next time I got bored, I was going to teleport over and cook myself a wild roast out there and laugh." Cracking open a Pokeball, he would place his hand onto Aile's very sandy shoulder. "Now then, one teleport trip courtesy of One Winged Airlines."

---

Popping into existence on top of the Eye of Asado, Reno and his Alakazam would both look over to their passenger. "So why are we here and whose jaw am I busting?"

Mr. Hassell would finally arrive in the room and Tristen would give a nod in acknowledgement to the teacher of his attendance back into the academy. Though to his astonishment, the teacher didn’t go into anything beyond just mentioning it, which for that Tristen was grateful for. Even so, Tristen ended up realizing that as soon as the lecture started to happen that he just about all but said that if he had the choice, he would have just resigned himself to the headquarters. He was left to wonder if Freth knew the kind of pressure he was finding himself in. Even if she did, she’d still probably just say something along the lines of it being nothing compared to what Snagem has been known to deal with. It might be true, but it still didn’t feel great when you are woefully underprepared for a life like this.

Tristen would move such thoughts off for now and go on with what he was told; just focus on the class. Apparently, art came in all manner of forms, even in ways one wouldn’t think the art was as such. Still lifes were one such thing; just drawing everything as it stood as they saw it. Tristen would once again try to draw and just as before, and he was reminded that he wasn’t the greatest at it at all. Tristen thought back to his first day in this class where he ended up having to try to draw Penny as she drew him, and the differences between each other’s pictures were like night and day. Tristen would try to draw something close by. A small cabinet, nearby the large window with white curtains, overlooking the outside. A small plant was on top of the cabin, and next to it a few small jars of paint and a bowl with paintbrushes. It seemed simple enough, Tristen thought. He couldn’t screw this one up that badly, could he? The hour would go on by as Tristen intently tried to focus trying to drawing it and once the hour was close to up, he realized…it wasn’t that great either. The cabinets proportions were off. The bowl looked larger than it should have. The plant looked too small. Could someone tell if that was a window? Tristen grimaced. It was a blessing that Mr. Hassell didn’t judge on anyone’s skill, because the harshest critic to Tristen was himself. Maybe later he can ask Penny how she manages to draw so well.

Tristen would then take a note to himself, Mr. Hassell assigning the class to draw three more still lifes between now and and then. So, in the next two days. That one was probably going to take a bit of work. Tristen would then stand up, leaving the room, and to his astonishment, Penny was sticking around for the moment. As she spoke to him, Tristen nodded. “Yea, kinda glad for that. But now I got home ec with Mr. Sanguaro. Matteo is supposed to be in there.” Tristen said. “I hope he is still wanting to…well…be nice.”

After Reno had some time to reorient himself and observe his surroundings he'd find something that might cause a bit of reaction for him. A couple yard to his left were the remains of a camp site. Getting closer he'd notice the cold campfire with the remains of a charred spit erected over said former fire indicating someone had roasted something here, on top of Paldea's roast.

Reno's eyes would narrow as he stared at the campsite remains, the spit, and the campfire before he would yell into the distance, "I've been bamboozled, hornswoggled, beguiled, and hoodwinked! I'VE BEEN POACHED ON MY admittedly unoriginal IDEA FOR A JOKE!" Taking a breath, he would wander over to the edge of the mesa and look down towards where Aile was attempting to land and mess around with the base of the rock structure. Beginning to glow pink again, Reno and Kaiden would teleport down to the ground beside his passenger.

“I will. Thanks, Penny.” Tristen said to her as she broke off towards her class. Tristen would then proceed forward to Mr. Sanguaro’s class and Tristen found himself a bit nervous to while getting there. Matteo was going to be the issue at hand; especially during lunch time he’d imagine. Tristen played out a bunch of scenarios in his head, but he wondered just how valid they were and how many of them was just being played up on fears. Whatever the case, at least this trip to the next class was not troublesome to actually get down the hallways. God forbid if he ends up having to meet the press again.

Down the corridors of the academic halls, Tristen finally found his way to Mr. Sanguaro’s class room. He looked around the room and spotted near instantly Matteo there, nose in a book. Tristen wasn’t sure if he should even try to make the first move to test the waters, completely apprehensive as to how it was going to go. He would further make his way in and take a seat close by, setting his pack down. He didn’t really want to be rude, but he wasn’t really sure just how to approach Matteo either, not with the circumstances that had transpired only a couple of weeks before. Just play it by ear, Tristen could only think. Just leave him to his book, let Matteo make the first move. He was the antagonistic one, let him be the one to man up. That was probably the best way to go about it…maybe.

Concern? For Tristen suddenly? Tristen withheld his surprise, but he wasn’t going to let an opportunity get away like this. Maybe it’d give him more insight into the going-ons since he’d been gone. If nothing else to finally see if Matteo’s chill now; this was perhaps the most conversation he had with him since before the tournament. “I’ve been better.” Tristen said. “I’ve been back since yesterday and I’ve been a nervous wreck since. I’m trying to hang tough though. What about you?” Tristen said as he started to pull out his writing materials to get ready for the class. “You’ve made it through okay? I heard that the academy was out for two days before it got back in session.” he then asked, showing the same concern in return.

Maybe the ‘good’ was him mentioning he’s hanging tough? Who knows at this point. Not many could read Matteo, in the first place. Tristen shook his head. “I think I heard something about that cleanup.” Tristen said to Matteo. “Though, while that happened, I was in a coma for three days, and spent a couple more on a bed trying to recover after that. The stuff that Team Star had going on messed me up a bit, so I kinda missed out what had been going on and only been getting bits and pieces as I go along.” Tristen wondered if one of them was going to pull the trigger, address the massive Copperajah in the classroom. Even barring the mushrooms, Tristen knew that Matteo wasn’t thrilled with him up to the tournament, and probably immediately after up to whenever those mushrooms came into play. But what was he to say about that? Tristen didn’t have anything to apologize for. He never lied to him…well, apart from the Thunderbolt attack that he actually had and how he evolved in actuality, but that wasn’t the issue there…is it? There was not a good way to even talk to him, was there?

Matteo would grimace at the mention of Team Star, trying not to show it as he kept his nose in his book but it was clear the boy could not hold back his disdain for the group. Letting that feeling of anger pass over him as he took a deep breath, like he was taught to, the boy spoke. "Well...you didn't miss out on too much...at least you're okay though." He said. Was that a bit of kindness that slipped through? Concern and relief for Tristen? It was small but it was at least something.

Before more could be said the teacher would enter, Mr. Saguaro entering a few minutes before the bell rang and would immediately go about preparing himself as he waited for said bell to ring. Once it did ring he would already be standing behind his desk and staring at the class, only speaking once it had finished ringing. "Hello class, nice to see you all here, young Tristen too." He said, giving the boy a nod before moving on. "Today class we will be learning about meal planning and the budgeting that goes into it. Since you are all in pairs you will each pretend your class partner is your life partner and together you have a child. And! I want no snickering or jokes, okay? This is serious." He said, scowling at the class that didn't make a sound, they all knew better that despite his outfit Mr. Saguaro was a tough man. "Good. Now then, you will be given a budget and-"

Mr. Saguaro would carry on explaining the assignment. They were to use the advertisements that were passed out detailing what shops sold what and for what cost to plan out the food they would purchase for the week for a family of three and were to stay within their budget. This was largely a math assignment but the stipulations and restrictions given were they had to plan out three real meals for each day with recipes from the cookbooks and each of their 'child' had preferences so it made it a bit more than a math assignment. As the students worked however Mr. Saguaro would go around the room and throw a 'wrench' into their planning as he would give them unplanned expenses to account for. It was basically to show them how real life could be with a family to take care of. Matteo would actually treat this assignment seriously and aided Tristen in figuring it out.

At the end of the class Mr. Saguaro would then surprise them all with a gift card to Deli Cioso, one of the stores whose ads they were given and a sponsor to the academy, loaded with three thousand Pokedollars to buy whatever they wanted. With those handed out the bell would ring and class would be dismissed. Matteo would address Tristen as they left the room. "...want to walk to the cafeteria together?" He said, looking away in mid sentence. The boy was really trying but man did he struggle.