The sun crept over the treeline for over the horizon, and kissed the day with its radiance. With it came the cries of Spearow and Torchic to begin the day. The air was still chilled from the night prior, but the sunlight brought a pleasant warmth as it washed over the wild, untamed scenery.

Professor Hazel basked in the glory of the sunset. The sky was aflame with mesmerizing colors, a cacophony of pinks, oranges, and reds that painted the sky in a way no human hand ever could. In her old age, she had come to find that no matter how many times she watched the sunset, it never grew old to her.

Idly, she sipped her coffee, watching various Pokémon take to the sky to start their own morning. Professor Hazel rarely started her day with the caffeinated drink anymore; she had been told many times that it would be the end of her before she finally broke the habit, yet here she was, still holding a steaming mug. Today was a special occasion, though, and she would need the energy to keep up with her students. Today was an important day after all.

For the students, today likely started like any other day. So far, only a few weeks had gone by, and most of that time had been for basic conditioning while the students got adjusted to their facilities. Now, as she looked down, a few early birds were already starting their day. Hazel smiled at the notion. These young up-and-coming trainers seemed to have an unlimited reserve of energy. Like they were fueled entirely by their ambitions. She chuckled at the notion, then finished her coffee and retreated into her room to prepare for the day. She had roughly an hour before class started, and she was not about to be late

The training field still carried traces of the night's chill when Kaius arrived. The sun had only just begun climbing above the distant treeline, casting long shadows across the grounds and painting the world in soft gold. Most of the academy still slept. A few lights glowed in distant windows, but the majority of the campus remained quiet. Just the way Kaius liked it.

This wasn’t a workout, not yet. He began to move.

The sort his father always called, waking the body up before asking anything serious of it.

Slow laps around the field. He focused on controlling his breathing.

Then, transitioning to footwork patterns drilled so many times that they no longer required conscious thought.

Forward. Pivot. Reset.

Forward. Pivot. Reset.

Years of repetition carried him through the motions while the rest of Team Breakwater slowly assembled around him. He’d released all of them once he’d set foot onto the training field, and let them wake up, wonder about, and then do their own morning routines.

Umbreon, his shiny Umbreon, sat near the edge of the field, watching with the calm patience of someone who had witnessed this exact routine hundreds of times before. His tail flicked once as Kaius passed. No greeting was necessary between the two lifelong friends. They had already acknowledged each other.

Across the field, Rook moved through her own drills with unwavering focus. The Riolu's Macho Brace rested securely around her limbs as she practiced footwork sequences with almost academic precision.

One. Two. Pivot. Reset.

One. Two. Pivot. Reset.

Kaius glanced her way. Rook immediately straightened, "Riolu." Which meant they were ready. He nodded to them, and they nodded back. Entire conversation complete.

Nearby, Aegis was attempting stretches with enough enthusiasm to suggest she believed flexibility could be conquered through sheer determination. The Hisuian Growlithe had somehow transformed a simple warm-up into a personal challenge.

Umbreon watched this develop. His expression suggested he had concerns. Several, in fact.

Sitting atop a nearby fence post, Wattrel sat and, with a loud squawk, interrupted the morning. As he watched and judged, while pretending to be involved. The fact that his wings occasionally mirrored portions of the stretching routine was clearly unrelated. At least according to Wattrel.

A shadow drifted overhead. Kaius didn't bother looking up.

"Morning, Hex," came his husky morning voice.

A purple cloud drifted lazily into view upside down, "GASTLY!"

The tone suggested Hex had discovered something extremely entertaining, and nobody asked what it was. Experience had taught them that asking usually made things worse.

And as if summoned by the mere mention of chaos, Abra appeared in a brief flash of psychic light several yards away.

The Psychic-type sat quietly in the grass. Holding a spoon. Watching.

Kaius wasn't entirely convinced Abra had been there five seconds earlier. He wasn't entirely convinced Abra hadn't.

The morning continued with footwork, conditioning, and movement. The familiar rhythm settled over the field as naturally as breathing, and for a little while, there was no academy, no tournament, no expectations. Just another sunrise. Just another day of training.

Eventually, Kaius slowed to a stop and took a drink from the water bottle he'd left beside the field.

The academy grounds were beginning to wake now. More lights were coming on. People began to move about. Students preparing for the day ahead.

Kaius rested the bottle against his shoulder and looked toward the distant buildings.

A small smile crossed his face, "Come on," he said, glancing toward the team. "Let's get breakfast before class."

Six different reactions followed immediately. Somehow, against all reasonable expectations, it worked remarkably well.

Lucida "Luz" Prieto

Two hours before class started, with the first rays of the early morning sunlight just starting to peek through her curtains, the alarm that Lucida had set on her phone went off. Its shrill ringing filled the quiet dormitory as the figure hunched under the covers of the bed began to stir.

An arm appeared from beneath the sheet, grasping blindly for where she had left it the night before without having to lift her head from the pillow. Her hand slapped down next to it and felt only fake, varnished wood cold to the touch. Her hand jumped to its other side and touched the edge of its case with her fingertips as she accidentally pushed it further away. Target found, her hand came down unerringly on where it lay, only for her phone to fly out of the way and hover just out of her reach.

"Ugh, not todaaaaay." Lucida pulled the covers down, exposing her head for the first time and revealing a disastrous mess of bed head and a grumpy expression. She glared at her Rotom phone, the perpetual smiling face on its screen only making her frown deepen. Reaching out with her hand again, she made grasping motions towards it as it stayed just out of her reach. "Come 'ere."

The phone floated further out of her reach and then the volume of the alarm increased.

Letting out an exasperated sigh Lucida pulled the covers back over her head for a second, before throwing them entirely off of herself and sitting up in bed. "Fiiiiiine~. You win this time."

---

Lucida was more awake as she finished tying her hair up, the reflection staring back at her in the bathroom mirror looking less bleary eyed than when she first saw it. She then turned her attention to her makeup, getting ready to apply the eye liner and sparkly eye shadow now that her hair was out of her face.

Her hand moved with practiced motions and a steady hand, far more used to doing this in the middle of nowhere with a hand mirror, or even while on the move, than the luxury of a dormitory bathroom. That was still something she was getting used to actually; having her own bathroom, among other things. After spending several months essentially homeless, intermittently hiking, camping or spending nights in cheap hostels and Pokemon Centre lobbies, all while trying to maintain a certain level of physical appearance appropriate for camera appearances, having semi-stable living conditions again was a little weird.

She now had a bed that couldn't be rolled up and stored in a backpack. She had easy access to running water and electricity. She had privacy; as much as a semi-celebrity who readily posted details of her own life could get. She had a schedule that was set by other people that she had to adhere to. That last one was a bit of an annoyance really, but was also the cost of the opportunity she had been given.

Returning her attention to the mirror, she just had the coloured contacts to do for now. Her nails could wait until after she got to class. The sensation of pressing something against her eye was never pleasant, no matter how used to it she was, and she blinked rapidly once they were in until they settled.

With everything done, the face that now occupied the mirror was a familiar one; not too different from her own, it was just a little make-up after all and 'Luz' was not an entirely separate persona, but there was still something of a transformation involved. Her own face, enhanced, painted in bright colours like aposematism that drew attention as much as it warned people.

Looking at herself, Lucida couldn't help the camera-ready smirk that stretched across her face.

---

Lucida walked out of the bathroom, fully dressed, and carefully stepped over Chunk, her Clodsire, who had made himself at home in the most inconvenient spot in the room. She collected everything she would need for the day and put it all into her bag, before returning Chunk to his Pokeball and putting that in there too.

Approaching and opening the door to her doom, Lucida held her bag open and her Rotom phone smoothly and readily flew over and slipped inside. Closing and locking her room behind her, she began to walk towards the stairs that would take her down to the communal areas of the building.

There should still be enough time to get breakfast, before class started.

Felix Charron

Felix tried to steady his breathing, but felt a tremor in his hands nonetheless. He only had three Pokémon. The tournament called for teams of four. Somehow here he was in the finals. There had been no margin for error. Venus was his strongest Pokémon, and so she had to carry most of the weight. Nin and Royal had to beat at least one opponent each. If Venus ever had to fight more than two, the burden might be too much. They only had so much time to rest between matches. They just needed to keep it up.

Felix was wondering if he shouldn't have just caught a Zubat or something to fill out the fourth slot.



"Go, Litleo!" Aimeric sent out his first Pokémon. In that case, there was really only one option. Fire types were a bit of a problem for his team at the moment.

"You're up first, then!" Felix sent out his Nidorino, Royal.

They started out with a horn attack. The move was dodged, and they attempted to fire back with an ember, but now Royal was in melee range. A quick double-kick caught Litleo off guard, snapping its jaw shut before the ember could fire off. A headbutt from Litleo then clashed with another horn attack from Nidorino. It seemed to be an even exchange at first, with neither being pushed back. Then Nidorino shook its head, seeming momentarily dazed from the impact.

Their opponents went for another ember, able to get it off this time. Nidorino charged right through, tanking the flames and jabbing back with a poison sting. As the poison took hold, Nidorino was able to follow-up with another horn attack, landing it cleanly this time. Litleo was thrown down and could not get back up. They were off to a good start. Royal wasn't unscathed, but neither was he breathing hard. He had plenty of gas left in the tank.

"Mrr!" Venus threw her arms up in celebration from where she stood at Felix's side. The field was even. The math was now mathing more in their favor.

Aimeric recalled Litleo and took a deep breath. "Duosion, you're up next!"



BEEEP! BEEEP!

Felix jolted awake, not quite used to his new surroundings yet. He felt like he'd only just barely gotten to sleep and now his stupid holo-caster was screaming at him to wake back up. He hit snooze. He could wait a bit. He wasn't ready to be alive again just yet.

"Mrr!" No sooner had he closed his eyes than he was being shaken by Venus.

"Oh come on, I'm jet lagged..."

"Mrr?"

"Yeah, I know we took a boat. Same difference." Felix pulled his pillow over his head. "I'll just skip breakfast. It's fine."

Venus let out an exasperated sigh and trundled across the room to where Felix's trainer belt was hung. She tapped one of the balls and a moment later a Dunsparce, Rolls, popped out. He let out a confused rasp before Venus whispered something to him. His head whipped around as if dumbfounded, or perhaps offended. He then quickly inched over to the bed and began to slither up the side... as much as such a rotund creature could.

"What are you-?" Felix peeked out from under his pillow, just as Rolls was aligning his head against Felix's ribs. "Don't you d-" The next thing he knew, he was being catapulted out of bed, landing in a heap on the floor. With a growl, he grabbed the edge of the bed and pulled himself up. "Why you!" He leapt back over the bed, tackling Rolls... but a moment later found himself flying right back across the bed and landing just as ungracefully as he had before.

For something so squishy, Rolls sure was strong.

The Dunsparce let out an impatient rumble, having been told it was time for food. Felix knew he wouldn't rest now until he was fed.

"I'll remember this," Felix grumbled, once again hauling his upper body up onto the bed so he could glare across it at Venus. The Mawile just folded her hands innocently, seemingly only slightly embarrassed that things had escalated the way they did. That said, one could be almost certain she'd known exactly what Rolls would do when told breakfast was on the line.

In an act of pure pettiness, Felix took his time getting dressed, making sure his outfit was immaculate before heading out.

"Oh wow, he's kinda pretty."
"His clothes look expensive..."
"Is he a celebrity or something?"

Felix did his best not to react. He was aware he'd gotten into the habit of putting about ten times more effort into his appearance than the average guy, and he dressed a little flashy on top of that. He didn't love being gossiped about, but comments like that weren't exactly hurting his ego.

"He's so short."
"Isn't he from Kalos?"
"Ugh. Kalos..."
"Didn't they almost end the world? Twice?"

Then again, maybe it'd be best if everyone just shut the f-

Felix was assaulted by the not-so-dull roar of the cafeteria as Venus ushered him through the extra-wide double doors. Since he'd been dragging his feet, it was already filling up with people and Pokémon looking for their first meal of the day. Hopefully these people would all be too busy eating to pay him any mind.