The Pokemon School

Avril stared at the building in front of her. It reminded her of the place she just escaped from a little, causing a level of insecurity to arise within her. However, she also didn't want to leave her new friend. She had confidence she could at the very least escape if needed, but she was still unsure.

" You coming?" Charlie called back to Avril who had frozen still once she caught sight of the building.

Avril nodded and quickly followed Charlie along the fence, then between it and a neighboring building. Reaching around the back of the Gated area, they made their way to a small hole in the fence where the bars were bent out of shape allowing passage of very smaller bodies. This hole was hidden by a shed like building in the back corner of the gated facility, with a hole in it matching the hole in the fence. Outside the fence, out her city buildings closely linked it's edge, making the hole in the back well covered and almost completely unnoticed.

Crawling into the hole, Avril came out in a small shed filled with boxes, one of which, Charlie pushed over to cover the hole in the wall.

Charlie then grabbed Avril by the hand, as Avril scrambled to ensure she didn't drop Samantha, and pulled her around the perimeter of the backyard into the large building.

"Ok, now we need to be really quiet, stay close and follow me." Charlie whispered, in a rather loud tone. Avril was more concerned with Charlie making noise than herself.

Quietly making their way down the hall, Charlie took Avril up a series of stairs till they reached the third floor. At the end of the long hallway Charlie slowly opened the door ushering Avril inside, before checking to see if anyone noticed. Then slowly backing into the room, she delicately closed the door.

" ~Phew~ That was exciting, now be careful not to wake ... Hi Flora." Charlie had a smile on her face but you could see her knees tremble, and her hands twitch. She also had traces of fear in her eyes.

"~Hehe~ I thought you'd be asleep." Charlie said stiffly while looking away.

" I don't sleep well at night, You know this Charlie." Flora reminded Charlie with a glare.

" But ... I got you those sleeping pills to help with that." Charlie tried to argue.

" And it's because you were so insistent on giving them to me, I didn't take any tonight. Your really bad at being discreet. The only time your that persistent is if you want something." Flora placed her head in her palm sighing. Charlie looked away in embarrassment.

" That aside, where were you, and who is she?" Flora gestured over to Avril. Her tone was firm, and you could see Charlie flinch.

" Well, she is ... Um ... and I was ... somewhere? Yeah. You know?" It was then Avril realized Charlie really wasn't very good at this. At All.

" No, I don't know Charlie. Care to enlighten me?" Flora asked, her gaze hardening.

" Not really?" Charlie squeaked.

" Alright, then. How about you? Care to explain what's going on here?" Flora's attention shifted to Avril, and hardened as if attempting to be threatening, however Avril's dealt with far worse.

" I'm not sure. We were in a forest, I saved her and a boy named Kyle. Then I was dragged here." Avril kept it short and simple. "They were almost eaten by a Mandibuzz."

" A Mandibuzz, the forest? Say, did the forest happen to be near the mountains?" Flora seemed to be piecing everything together.

"Mn." Avril nodded in affirmation.

" Interesting." Avril caught a glint in Flora's eyes as Flora's frigid tone caused Charlie to freeze in her attempts to escape the room.

" You went into Paladine Forest, alone. Didn't you?" Charlie had a face of horror as Flora approached.

" N-no?" Charlie struggled to get out under the furious glare of Flora, only to find herself traped in the corner of the room.

Charlie was curled up in the corner of the room looking like she was being abused, as Flora began to berate Charlie about the dangers of the forest, how things could have gone wrong, how she shouldn't have been out anyways, and how Charlie shouldn't have done it without telling her. All the while Avril watched, as she sat on the floor grooming Noah and Samantha to the best of her ability, checking for things like ticks and other bugs while also brushing through their fur, however without a proper brush it was a little difficult.

" Sorry about her." Flora disrupted Avril's concentration. " She can be a handful."

Looking over at Charlie who was sitting on the ground, back against the wall, sleeping, Avril nodded her head. " It's ok. She's fun."

" Fun you say?'" Flora looked back over at Charlie with a complicated look. " I suppose. She can be really nice to be around, so peppy and full of energy. Too much energy for me." Avril nodded in agreement.

Slumping down on the floor and rubbing her eyes Avril noticed she looked really tired.

" Are you alright?" Avril asked

" I'm fine, nothing out of the usual, you needn't concern yourself over me. I'm more curious about you. Who are you?" Flora looked at Avril Questioningly.

" Avril." Avril stuck out her hand, which Flora took, shaking her hand.

" Flora Everglade." Flora reciprocated, " Now, if you don't mind me asking, where did you come from?"

" The forest." Avril responded. She didn't want to tell that much about where she came from, however she knew not answering would be rude and staying completely ambiguous would be suspicious.

" That's not what I meant and you know it." Flora deadpanned. " I meant before the forest where were you. Where did you live, before you got here? Where is your home?"

" In a cave ... that was destroyed." Avril was being completely honest, and Flora could tell that she was only going to get a headache from pushing further.

" Fine, I know you don't exactly trust me, so you don't have to tell me anything. Sorry for being blunt, but you look like a mess. I'll take you to the showers and help find some place for you to sleep. Think of it as an apology for Charlie dragging you around." Flora then lead Avril to a public bathroom, with showers in it. Avril wanted to refute, and tell Flora there wasn't a need, however, she needed a bath. Avril hadn't showered since she left the Labs, about a week ago, and dirt could only do so much to clean a person.

Showering was a little unusual for Avril as she wasn't able to take off certain articles of clothing. Her dress was apart of her, as well as the gloves and ribbon scarf. Acting shy, she managed to get away from changing in front of Flora, so she wouldn't have to explain anything weird.

While she was in the forest with Noah, and Samantha, she found out she could control her clothing to a certain extent. She could dull her claws to rounded stubs like human fingers and she could manipulate her dress, retracting it to look like she has nearly no clothes on, or extending it to down to her ankles. Essentially she could manipulate any part of her body covered in 'shadows' to a certain extent.

Avril hurried to finish her shower, as she also planned to wash Noah and Samantha too, they needed ones pretty bad as well. While Avril was showering she overheard the conversation between two people outside her stalz10l.

" Miss Flora, you had better have a good reason for being here at this hour." A grumpy, irritated, voice echoed.

" My apologies, Miss Donna, I didn't mean to wake you." Flora replied.

" Shouldn't you be in bed?" The lady's tone lightened and a tired sigh escaped her.

" I couldn't sleep again, and then an issue arose." Flora told the lady.

" What kind of issue?" The tiredness seemed to leave the woman and her voice got harsher.

" Charlie." Was all Flora said, yet the woman seemed to accept that response.

" Of course, I should have expected as much." The woman was quick to accept the answer so Avril assumed it was used a lot. " I expect a thorough explanation in the morning. Good night, Miss Everglade."

" Since your here could I ask for your assistance with something?" Flora stopped the Woman from leaving.

" What do you need?"

" I would like your assistance in retrieving one of the cots from the storage room."

" Why on earth would you need one of those?" The surprise in the lady's voice perfectly matched the contorted expression she made

" ... "

" You and Miss Mellan had better have a good excuse for this in the morning."

" Not to worry, you've never heard this one before." Flora said with a tired laugh.

" Please don't tell me now, I would like to get some decent sleep, you can tell me what she broke or blew up later. Now come along your shower can wait until after I've given you my assistance."

" Understood, just one second ma'am." Flora then rounded the corner and shut off the water on Avril. Flora placed her finger over her mouth and Avril caught a mischievous glimmer in Flora's eyes.

Avril heard the pair leave the room and after a moment of silence, she finished washing Noah and Samantha before drying them off and waiting for Flora to return.

Flora returned and led Avril back to her room, where there was a new small bed sitting in the middle of the room.

" Sorry it isn't much, but since Charlie drug you here this is the least we could do. Sorry about her." Flora said.

" No, This is far more than you needed to. Thank you for everything." Avril then let out a yawn. " Goodnight Flora. Sleep well."

" You too."

Avril crawled into bed snuggling with Noah and Samantha in the small bed. Flora Climbed into her own pressing her back against the headboard and watched as Avril slept. She didn't understand that girl. To her, Avril was a complete enigma. She was conveniently found by Charlie in Paladine forest. A place where numerous gym trainers have disappeared without a trace recently. There is no way she could have lived there for any amount of time, yet she insisted she was from there, and if what was said about her saving Charlie and Kyle us true ... Flora continued to speculate about Avril until morning. Trying to reason through what she was told, as the night slowly ticked by.

As the sun rose indicating the next day had arrived Flora let out a sigh. It appeared she wasn't going to get any sleep after all, not that she expected she would.

"Ouch, why do I hurt so much?" A moan resounded through the room, causing Avril to wake up, her eyes snapping open.

" It's your fault for falling asleep on the floor." Flora told the voice.

" ~yawn~ couldn't you show a little sympathy?" Charlie asked

" If it makes you feel better, I didn't sleep at all last night."

" ... No, that doesn't help." Charlie decided after a moment of thought.

Carefully and gently moving her sleeping buddies off of her, Avril sat up stretching out her arms before delicately leaving the Cot.

" How'd you sleep?" Flora asked.

"Great, way better than sleeping on the ground." Avril let out a yawn, then her stomach roared, reminding Avril she hadn't eaten since breakfast the day before.

" You hungry?" Flora asked snickering a bit.

" Maybe a little." Avril squeaked, she was embarrassed at the sound.

" We can probably find something for you." Flora said.

" T-there's no need." Avril said waving her hands. " I've already taken so much, you don't have to."

" Your right we don't have to, but we want to." Charlie said.

" She's right. Charlie brought you here, so your her problem until further notice." Flora said, patting Avril on the shoulder as Charlie nodded along.

" Wait. My problem?" Charlie looked at Flora like she had been betrayed.

" I'm not getting in trouble for you again, especially when I wasn't invited. Your on your own on this one." Flora smiled at Charlie. " Oh, and Miss Donna already knows something's up, so, good luck."

Charlie froze and Flora quickly walked over to Avril and pulled her out of the room.

" I'll take you to the cafeteria." Flora said, while

pulling Avril, however Avril was a little reluctant to leave.

" What's wrong?" Flora asked.

" Just a moment." Avril then left to get Noah and Samantha. Avril put Samantha in her ball hoping she'd stay asleep, while she softly shook Noah awake.

" Morning sleepy." Avril said tickling Noah's ears.

" ~ Yawn~ is it morning already?" Noah asked, shifting his head so that Avril was scratching behind the little tuff on his head.

" Let's go have breakfast." Avril whispered, delicately slipping Noah into her arms and carrying him out of the room.

" You know you could have left them here? Nothing's going to happen to them?" Flora asked seeing Avril leave the room with Noah in one arm and a dusk ball in her other hands

Avril shook her head in response. " I don't feel comfortable without them."

Letting out a sigh, Flora just shrugged her shoulders. She understood, since she too kept her pokemon with her at all times. " Follow me, It's not all that difficult to find."

Walking down the hall, and down to the second floor, Flora opened the doors to a massive cafeteria, that already had an assortment of children, talking, eating, or whatever else people do in a place such as this.

Avril was taken aback at the amount of children here. There were a lot more than she was used to, and it made her a little nervous. She never got along well with the other kids. She thought Flora, and Charlie were just anomalies.

" No need to be shy, they'll probably stare because of your clothes, or your pokemon, or the fact they've never seen you before, but I assure you they're not going to hurt you." Flora comforted Avril, as she could see the reservation on her face since the moment she walked into the room.

Pulling Avril along, Flora got herself some food, as well as taught Avril how to order. Then she got a few little treats for their pokemon, and a container of pokemon food.

Walking over to an empty table, "Neon, Valerie, it's time for breakfast." Flora called out.

Out of one Pokeballs came a small orange ball shrouded in electricity, Avril recognized as a rotom. The other contained a small white ball, with little hands and feet.

Avril stared at the little snowball in slight wonder. She recognized the creature, as a darumaka, but they were red anytime she's ever seen one. Even if they were just pictures, not a single one looked like the little snowball before her.

"What is that?" Avril asked curiously. Her eyes never left the Darumaka trying her best to understand the creature like a puzzle she has yet to find the trick to.

" Never seen this type of pokemon before?" Flora asked giggling a bit at the slightly scrunched face of Avril trying to analyze the pokemon. " It's a Galarian Darumaka. A rather rare find in this region, but it's all thanks to her that I'm alive today. That's a story for another time. Do your pokemon many some food too?"

Avril was left with her mouth hanging open at the revelation that the pokemon in front of her was a varient of the one she knew. She had heard about them, but never really learned much about them, to think she had found one in person, it both shocked her and made her really excited. She was broken out of her spell as the grown of Noah's stomach roared drawing her back to reality.

" Ah! Yes please, if you don't mind they haven't had a decent meal in a while." Avril's voice trailed off towards the end and she averted her gaze. She tried to keep them fed, but they were all only children in a dangerous place, so they had to make due with what they had.

Flora smiled at Avril and filled another bowl with some pokemon food. Placing them, one on the ground in front of Noah, and the other on the table.

" Actually, Samantha can't have solid foods yet, sorry to be difficult." Avril started to feel bad that she was so particular about the things she is being given for free.

" She's that young? I assumed she was just small." Flora said. " I suppose I didn't really have a good look at her though. how old is she?"

" I think about a little over a week? I'm not entirely sure, though. Avril said

" In that case give me a minute and I can get her a little bottle of moomoo milk." Flora then stood up and walked away.

Avril watched as the two pokemon, named Neon and Valerie, ate at a rather tame pace, while playing with each other a little. Her attention then shifted to Noah who was scarfing down food like it may disappear if he blinked before he finished it. A sad smile spanned Avril's face, and she bent down patting Noah lightly on the back snapping him out of his frenzy.

" Noah, slow down, your going to make yourself sick." Avril softly commented, Stroking his fur as he was choking down a mouth full of food.

Noah didn't react much but his food was disappearing at a slower speed than before. He must have been really hungry.

As the last remnants of Noah's bowl were being devoured, Flora returned with a small pink bottle filled with white.

"Here." Flora said, passing the bottle off to Avril. Her gaze went down to Noah and she noticed that the food was gone. " Does he need more?" Flora asked.

Noah's eyes begged Avril for more, causing her to hesitate. " Only a little." Flora nodded and left once again.

Letting Samantha out of her ball, and Avril shifted her into her arms cradling her. Samantha yawned and started to look around, before starting to get riled and panicked. Seeing Avril seemed to calm her down though.

Avril sat quietly with her eyes closed, nursing Samantha. She focused on what was around her and tried to wake up, as if it was all a dream. After everything that has happened she didn't know how to feel. She was scared, terrified of everything around her, but she knew the only way forward now was to keep on. The only thing she knew was that things were about to change.