Chapter 22

Author note: Spike won't refer to himself as Dilon just yet. There will be a short time of transition before he can let go of his old name. I did have a reason for him to hang on to his old name, but I think I missed the window to fit it into the story without it seeming out of place. Oh well. I might mention snippets of his past when it seems relevant, though.

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After meeting his roommate and neighbors, Spike dropped off his travel pack and left the dorm with Mara, Ares, and Aria. Outside, they met up with Carrie and Flannery by the fountain, though an additional straggler joined them there. The extra person was a girl around the same age as Spike and Flannery, but her stature was shorter than both of them by several centimeters. She had wavy brown hair cut around shoulder length and large brown eyes that looked like walnuts still inside their shells. In contrast, her small nose and mouth made her look younger than her actual age.

Flannery basically dragged the girl up to Spike and excitedly introduced, "This is my roommate, Lydia! Lydia, this is Spike."

"H-hi. Nice to meet you," Lydia quietly greeted with a small nod.

"Nice to meet you. My actual name's Dilon, but you can call me Spike if you want."

"Okay."

On the side, Flannery basically did a double-take and asked, "Are you alright?"

"Uh, yeah? Why?"

"You always tell everyone to call you Spike, though."

"Ah, yeah. I'm just a bit tired of doing that every time I meet somebody new."

Flannery squinted, tilted her head, and asked, "Then, do I call you Dilon now?"

"Call me whatever you want."

"I'm used to Spike being Spike."

Spike shrugged and looked at Lydia again. Seeing her brows wrinkling in confusion, he smiled in a friendly manner. In response, she smiled awkwardly but then averted her gaze and scratched her cheek.

"Oh, right!" Flannery exclaimed, smacking a fist into an open palm. "Lydia wants to look at everything in the school with us since she came here without her parents."

"You didn't need to mention that last part, little lady," Carrie chided while bonking her daughter on the head with her knuckle.

Spike glanced at Lydia again, but she didn't show much reaction toward the mentioning of her parents. Since she was a stranger, he left it at that.

'Still, kids are way too brutally honest sometimes, aren't they? I keep forgetting Flannery is still a kid until moments like these,' Spike mused with a wry smile on his face.

With that, the group started their tour around the campus. Mara pointed out things she remembered from her school days as well as new additions. One such new addition was an enormous gymnasium containing ten battle arenas, six separate exercise facilities for different types of Pokemon, and three different exercise rooms for humans. One of the training rooms for humans even had a section walled off with a net which made it look like a batting cage. A few students who looked at least a year or two older than Spike, Flannery, and Lydia practiced throwing pokeballs at targets, half of which moved around at varying speeds. To top everything off, there was a giant pool built into the gymnasium roof with an artificial island jutting out from the center of the pool like the back of a Torterra. Spike and Flannery discussed swimming there at a later date, whereas Lydia mumbled something about how her 'Windy' would love the place.

After checking out the gymnasium, they inspected all the buildings containing different classrooms. Each building looked almost identical, but they were separated into different school years. Bronze lettering above the front doors indicated which building held classes for each school year. First, they entered the building labeled 'First Year Building' and checked out all of the classrooms. Aside from a classroom containing some strange machinery and gadgets, the rest looked like general education classrooms. Each subsequent building grew in size and added more specialized classrooms. By the time they reached the Fifth Year Building, there were even rooms specialized for studying the biology, habitats, and traits of specific Pokemon types.

Next, they toured through the Aggron Tower that served as the administration building. Aside from the administration offices, everything else was open to students and visitors. The entire West Wing of the building contained an enormous three-story library crammed to the brim with books. Spike nodded in appreciation and made a note to study here in his free time to both expand his horizons and find information unavailable in the Pokemon games, anime, or manga that he knew of. Next to him, Lydia's eyes glimmered at the sight of the treasure trove of knowledge. On the other hand, Flannery yawned. Books didn't interest her at all.

In the East Wing of the Aggron Tower, they found an office area full of desks where teachers spent most of their working time outside of classes. Although their group spent less than a minute touring the room, Mara mentioned that students could go there to ask teachers questions outside of lessons. There was also a counseling office there.

A short walk behind the Aggron Tower brought them to a group of buildings containing entertainment zones and a large cafeteria for the students, teachers, and their Pokemon. There was something for everyone. Even a small simulated volcanic region and a sandy beach filled large auditorium-style spaces inside the different buildings.

By the time they finished exploring everything, Spike's mind was blown. Rather than an intermediate school, he felt like he was touring through a university campus. Then again, when he recalled that he had seen people growing faster in this world than back on Earth and that they were considered adults at the age of fifteen here, it indeed started to make sense for the school to be like this.

Finishing off the tour after checking out the walking park by the dorms, they dropped Lydia off back at the girls' dorm before heading into town to fetch the rest of their belongings from the moving company. On the way there, Spike looked at Mara with brows furrowed in concern for a while before asking, "Mom, couldn't you get an apartment here in Rustboro so I can visit you more often?"

As a gut reaction, Mara shook her head, but a moment later, she stopped and frowned. She fell silent for several painfully long seconds before looking down at her son, sporting a wry smile, and saying, "I'll… discuss it with your father."

Spike nodded and dropped the subject. To his surprise, however, Carrie spoke up with a suggestion.

"If you're interested, you and I could split the rent on a house or apartment here. I was already planning to do so after selling my house in Petalburg."

Nibbling her bottom lip, Mara stared straight ahead without saying anything. Eventually, she sighed and replied, "I'll let you know later."

Carrie gave her a wide smile and said, "That's fine. Just call me if you want to share a place here."

Mara rubbed her temple and nodded.

In the middle of the conversation, Flannery looked back and forth between the two women while thinking it might be weird for Spike's parents to live together with her mom.

Interrupting the heavy silence, Carrie said, "Oh, Flannery. There's a cake shop over there that I used to visit when I was younger. Do you want to go?"

"Oh! Definitely!" Flannery instantly answered with a vigorous nod.

Carrie then smiled at Mara and mouthed that she would buy her some cake before dragging her daughter over to the small pastry shop. Once the two redheads left the scene, Spike held his mother's hand, prompting the woman to smile at him.

"Thanks, Dilon."

Spike, or rather, Dilon, smiled at his mother without saying anything.

"Dilon," Mara suddenly said, "become a good husband and father when you grow up, okay?"

Raising a brow, Spike blinked a few times while processing the seemingly unprompted plea, but after thinking for a bit, Davi's face popped into his mind. Some old memories from his previous life then followed within his mind's eye, causing him to glare into the distance with hard and callous eyes. Then, he firmly answered without hesitation, "I will."

'I've tried not to think about them after losing them. Anyway, I've done it once, and I can do it again. Nothing will get in my way this time.'

"Even if you have more than one woman, you still need to be a good husband, got it?" Mara suddenly added.

Spike's stern attitude instantly vanished. His head whipped around, and he blankly stared at Mara with eyes agape.

"Excuse me?"

"Got it?" Mara sternly reiterated.

"Uh, got it."

For the rest of the day, Spike wondered why in the world this woman would tell her own son such a thing. Eventually, he speculated, 'Did Davi have other women or something?'