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Tristen had a few assignments to do at his dorm and they were in generally the same direction. Though he did need to maybe see Mr. Salvatore about the language assignment as well. Tristen shook his head, he could stand to take a few-minute detour. He wasn’t going to let this stand that easily. He knew what was eating away at her; didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure that out. He went on pursuit towards Fela before she got too far away. “Fela!” He called out to her to catch up with her. Once he did, he’d walk at her pace. “You didn’t like what Mr. Jacq had to say, did you? You got real attached to Vivillion, didn’t you?” he said, not so much as accusing her in a bad way, but instead more empathizing with her. He didn’t want her to lose sleep over this after all.

Tristen grimaced a little bit, realizing that she had went over the edge, upset over the whole entire thing. He needed to help get her out of here and back to her dorm. He took a double-take up and down the halls, put his arm around her shoulders then started to nudge her forward. “Come on, we’ll talk along the way.” He said. “I have to admit that I kinda saw this coming. That day when you left Vivillion with me when it was still a Scatterbug before your trip to Kalos.” Tristen said. “All that stuff you got for it; its special food, its swaddle, nature sounds CD, all that stuff…you probably told yourself you had to take extra care of it because it was a science project but it ended up something more. A lot more. And the more time you spent with Vivillion, the more that turning in the assignment and eventually releasing Vivillion wasn’t really anything you thought about. Or if you did, you didn’t really want it to happen, or didn’t think it could happen like this. You took extra special care of Vivillion, especially while I was gone during that two weeks…well, up until it evolved and ran away to find me. ‘Vivillion has been a close friend just as any of our other friends, there’s no way that it could just fly off so easily’.” He said to her.

“Fela, if we were any sort of friends like that to Vivillion, we got to understand that we got to let Vivillion do what it feels it needs to do. And if that’s to…find another Vivillion to spend time with, maybe even make Scatterbug eggs itself, then we got to let it. It’s not our place to stop it. Anyone dealing directly with Pokémon…trainers, rangers, professors, all of them, have a responsibility to them and one of those things is to not interfere with nature any more than needed just as the Pokémon know they all have a role in nature. And regardless of all of that, maybe there’s a chance it’s not goodbye forever.” Tristen said. “Maybe Vivillion will show you its kids one day. Who knows? But its not going to do any good having Vivillion see you like this. You’re going to need to be strong for Vivillion, let it know you will be okay while its gone. It might be hard at first, but Vivillion is going to be okay. Its all going to be okay.”

Usually, Tristen wouldn’t have minded giving Vivillion back to Fela. However, there was that second hesitation out of him that wondered if Fela was going to do something stupid between now and turn in time with Mr. Jacq. Something that Fela would end up regretting. He reached back to take out the Premier Ball and handed it to her, but before she pulled back to stash the ball, he put his other hand over the ball, holding on to her hand and he looked her dead in the eyes, a bit more serious, but still trying to remain empathetic to her. “It will be okay, Fela. Just remember that. And also, before you let Vivillion out, be sure to straighten yourself up a little…” he said, pointing about her face, the faint trails the tears left behind on her face. “We don’t want to give Vivillion any ideas of anything being wrong. This is Vivillion’s big day coming up. Not ours.” He then would back away a step, giving a sigh. “Anyways…I got stuff I gotta take care of too. I need to see if I can’t catch Mr. Salvatore before he leaves so I can get on the right track with his homework today. Then hopefully I can go somewhere to finish the homework assignment for tomorrow for Mr. Hassel’s class…kinda hoped that I managed to do that in Homeroom today, but well…you know…”

Tristen would watch Fela make her way off the rest of the way to her dorm, waving back at her when she waved to him. Once she was gone, the boy couldn’t help but to sigh, then rub his eyes a bit, wincing a fair bit while he was at it. A sudden wave of lethargy hit him. He only just now realized he ended up with a second wind after all that got him through the day from his lack of sleep from last night but it was starting to putter out a bit and he still had several hours in the day to go still before bed, which consisted of homework and dinner for him and his Pokémon at bare minimum. He needed to get started while he still had the will to be able to. He would then turn around and find his way off back for Mr. Salvatore to hunt him down.

Tristen was left a little in thought as he made his way through the halls, still a little worried for Vivillion’s and Fela’s sake. Tristen hoped that he did not make a mistake in giving Vivillion back to Fela for the time being. Tristen would sigh and figured he’d find out one way or another. In the meantime, he had to focus on other things. He would turn in and give a knock on the door to Mr. Salvatore’s class room. “Oh uh…Buena tardes, Senor Salvatore.” Tristen said, at least trying to make some sort of an impression in trying to pick up Paldean. “Did…I say that right? Oh?” he looked down, seeing the Persian being a bit affectionate, welcoming the Manetric hybrid in the classroom in its own way. Tristen would lean down a bit, stroking the back of the Persian as it made a lap around the teenager and pulled away when the Persian got called back. “I’m uh…here about trying to make up some of the work that you gave me. The Kalosian language stuff you gave me?” he said as he got more into the room.

Tristen would make his way over to Mr. Salvatore’s desk, taking a chair along the way with him to sit down and take out his folder. “You know…you would think hanging around with at least three other people almost every day that are from Kalos themselves, you’d pick up a thing or two from them.” Tristen said. “I guess its never that easy, especially if they don’t really say anything Kalosian around you anyways…uh anyways…its just honestly trying to memorize it, Mr. Salvatore. I’m usually trying to find some sort of relation between what I speak and the Kalosian language to help me remember it all and I can’t really find any…like…” Tristen started to look through the worksheets. “Like just simply saying ‘My name is Tristen’ to someone is ‘Bon…bonjour, je m’appelle Tristen?’ And I am feeling like I am confusing myself trying to see how that is ‘Hello, my name is…’ and go on from there. Or am I just going about it all wrong?”

Tristen paid close attention to what Mr. Salvatore was explaining, trying to follow along with this impromptu study session. Each phrase was a task in and of itself to Tristen as he tried to wrap his mind around the lesson in question. Every thing he focused intently, trying to pick up on some key hints here and there as to how he can figure the language out easier. Time practically flew on by as the Manetric hybrid focused intently; for every thing he seemed to get down, there was yet a new screwball that seemed to undermine his understanding. It started to occur to Tristen that this in fact would probably be the hardest class he was going to have, for better or worse, and it pretty much bothered Tristen. For someone who had traveled a good chunk of the globe to face various threats under the Snagem banner, he knew nothing about how to speak to someone like this if push came to shove and it was honestly worrisome.

Tristen jumped when the Persian hopped on top of Mr. Salvatore’s desk, his focus so jarringly broken by the Pokémon insistent on its next meal. Tristen stared at the clock and it was still fairly early for him or his own Pokémon for the moment. It was still going to be at least another hour and a half before Tristen went for anything to eat. “I can try, Mr. Salvatore, but I might end up having to see you tomorrow if you don’t mind. I got to admit I am not feeling confident with it yet, but I think I might have some idea.” Tristen said to him. “Thank you for your help today. I really appreciate it.” Tristen told the teacher.

Leaving Mr. Salvatore’s class, Tristen still had an hour and a half before needing to figure out food for himself. He still had an unfinished picture he was mostly done with, but still needed another picture to try to make for Mr. Hassel’s art class tomorrow, plus he needed to start on his history assignment and get to researching on the Darkest Day, never mind needing to make a call to someone about a computer for his dorm. He’d figure for the time being to take on two proverbial Pidgeys with one stone and make his way back for his dorm. Before doing that, however, Tristen would take a detour to get a Pokémon from a PC since Vivillion was with Fela for the time being.

Once again with a full party, he’d return back to his dorm room. A wave of fatigue hit him as soon as he closed the door. The second wind was well on its way out at this point. Tristen would pull off his pack, putting it back on his desk. The boy took off his uniform jacket, tossing it on his bed, followed by pulling off his tie as well and tossing it aside on his bed alongside. Tristen went to the chair at his desk and just flopped down on it, staring at the ceiling for a second. He then took out his SNAG, going through his contacts and started to signal off for his adoptive father. As the connection tried to go through Tristen grabbed the drawing that he was working on, then looked over at his subject material, the Pokémon food bowls, their food…but it was missing the Pokeballs that he had there. He hastily put the Pokeballs back on the counter and sat them roughly where they were. “Blizzard.”

“Blizz!” Tristen called out from across the room.

“Tristen?”

“Yea! Hang on…” he quickly sat the Pokeballs, sure that he wasn’t really going to get it exactly how they were last night then rushed back over towards the SNAG. “Hey Blizz. How’s it going?”

“Fine over here, I guess. Kind of hit an uneventful lull in the trip. The next gym is still a bit of a trek to get to. I think I may end up having to find a place to camp out at if I am reading the map right.”

“Part of the Pokémon journey, right?” Tristen would then say, looking over towards his arranged props of sort and starting to try to draw what he was seeing.

“Usually.”

“Speaking of, Blizz, I think I gotta warn you.” Tristen then spoke up.

“Of what?”

“Remember when I told you about Nemona? The girl that beat me in the tournament a while back ago?” he asked.

“The one that you were saying was maybe as good as Red?”

“Yea. Her. She’s probably going to try to find you.” Tristen said. “I don’t think anyone told her yet that you are the ‘Noble hybrid’ because it caught to her as a surprise that you’re the one who taught me how to Pokémon battle and I did tell her that you were supposed to become Gym Leader at the Mahogany Town Gym, and despite two obvious clues, I don’t think she put it together. I kinda don’t think she cares too much either; she just wants to battle really strong trainers like…all the time. I tried to tell her that you don’t have any of your stronger Pokémon with you and that you might not be willing to battle because of that, but she’s dead set on it by trying to raise a fresh team. Apparently, she’s trying to get a Chimchar egg to come in from Sinnoh somehow.”

“That insistent huh?”

“Oh yea. She’s…really excited to see you. And she might hound you. A lot. Because she could be fresh off a battle and be right for another one. She’s just loves Pokémon battling that much.” Tristen said. He ended up going wide-eyed just then quickly trying to correct a mistake he made on his picture then grimaced when it didn’t come out as well as he thought it was.

“So what you’re saying is, I potentially got myself a stalker. Great.”

“Yea, figured you might wanna know before something happens.” Tristen said. “Also, I want to ask you something too.”

“What of?”

“Do you think I can get some help getting a computer for my dorm?”

“A computer? Why?” Tristen grimaced once again, now at the confused tone that came from the SNAG. He had the sinking feeling that he’d have to justify himself and he hoped it was good enough.

“Well, apart from something to do in the off time, because I…kinda don’t really have anything in here at all. No TV or anything like that if you remember. And apart from that, for classes and stuff, it would be a big help and convenience. Right now I’m having to go across the academy every time I need to get a Pokémon exchanged out of my party. Or if I need to do research projects that’s going to take a lot of time. In fact, I got one now that I might have to go to the academy’s library and computer databases for, provided GRAY isn’t able to help me at all. And if what you told me one time, there are probably going to be times that the teachers might want me to type stuff out instead of write it as well.” Tristen said. “And I’m not even sure if I can do that much in the library.”

“I’m sure they can, though they might charge you for it. Pocket change for copies, mind, but yea…” A pensive silence.

“I mean, even if I could see if the school might sell or rent computers for me to get a hold of would be fine too.”

“You really don’t want those computers.”

“What? Why not?”

“Because more often than not, they are old computers if not possibly refurbished pieces of crap, put through their paces and there’s honestly no telling what students that had the thing before you have been playing or seeing on that computer that isn’t school work. Or doing in general on or around it. They’re not usually the price to buy or rent. End even so…do you really need a computer? Strictly speaking? And do you even know how to type?”

“Freth showed me some. I’m not…fast at it though. I don’t do it a whole lot.” A silence would come over the SNAG; Tristen could tell his adoptive father was thinking. Tristen couldn’t help but to grimace for a little bit. He practically stared at his SNAG, stopping drawing out of the sheer suspense of his answer.

“…I guess give Sub a call. It shouldn’t be that late back at headquarters at this point. See if he can’t get a clean one to you.”

Tristen leaned back in his chair. Well…it wasn’t a no. So…small victories. He shook his head, giving a silent sigh, and proceeded back on his picture. “Alright I can do that. Maybe I can ask what has been going on over at the headquarters too.”

“Don’t worry too much about what’s going on at the headquarters, Tristen. You’ve only been gone since Sunday anyways. That’s barely two days now.”

“Well, what about Aden? He still wasn’t that great when I left the other day. What about anything Freth found out about Area Zero? You and I might have to do something if anything comes of that.” Tristen said, holding up his picture then brought it around to compare to his subject matter. Tristen couldn’t help but to sweat drop over just how bad. He was still his own worst critic.

“Sure, ask about Aden or whoever’s wellbeing you can think of. But don’t worry about Area Zero or anything Snagem mission related. If there’s that much of an emergency in Paldea, Sub would probably get me to take care of it, if not assess the situation then make the call to drag everyone here. If nothing else, he’d expect you to safeguard the academy. Mr. Clavell would probably expect the same of you and would probably call on you because of your experience in Snagem. Until you hear otherwise, just focus on the books. Freth won’t probably let you hear the end of it if you start end up failing because you’re distracted over Snagem matters, and I probably won’t because she’ll suspect that I had encouraged it. Understand?”

Tristen laid the picture back down on the desk with a sigh. It took him a couple of seconds, but he finally would utter “Yes, sir.” A bit dejectedly at that.

“Look, everything will be fine. Okay? Besides, we already got one of us worrying if the world is going to go to hell in a handbasket. Don’t need you doing that too.”

“Okay…” Tristen said. “Oh, by the way. Speaking of the academy…I ended up getting a feel for how everything is after the whole incident.”

“Uh-huh?”

“Apparently everyone is well…normal. Though everyone knows about me being a Snagem now.” Tristen said. “It…hadn’t been too bad though. Teachers aren’t bringing anything up and the students aren’t really…saying anything. Well, other than one that is, and that was to try to help her make fun of someone else which I put a stop to. Oh, um…that one that I told you about? Matteo?”

“The kid that had a beef with you over the tournament?”

“Yea. We ended up talking yesterday. We’re good now, I think.” Tristen said. “Between jealousy to start off with and those mushrooms not helping matters, Matteo was having a rough time. We spent a while talking to each other yesterday and got to understand each other better.”

“That’s good. So, everything wasn’t as terrible as you thought it was.”

“Not right now at least.”

“That’s good. Well, go on ahead and give Sub a call before it gets too late back at the headquarters. I still got a bit of a ways to go and I think I’m about to get into some tough Pokémon territory.”

“Oh, okay. Be careful out there. Let me know when you get your next badge, okay?”

“So, you can tell that Nemona friend of yours?”

“No…that’d just probably make her run to find you quicker.” Tristen said.

“Later, Tristen.”

The transmission ended and the boy sighed for a moment. He did feel a bit better now having a conversation like that. He wasn’t really sure why though, it wasn’t like he felt like he was in any trouble. Who knows. He’d stash the picture he was working on for safe keeping, then grabbed his SNAG to search the contacts once more. He had his father’s blessing to ask, so might as well. He reached Sub’s name in the SNAG and started to give a call as well to the Snagem leader.