The Eon Academy [S.S. Wishmaker Side-Story]

[[Desolate Divine]]

A shorter episode!

Episode 3: Blood Ties

Spoiler:

“Check this one out…” Abbee said to Charlotte, before swiping across on her phone, and gesturing to Dylan. “You check it out too!”

Dylan made his way to the front table of the classroom where the two girls sat, looking at Abbee’s phone. On it was a photo of Chris dancing with Justin, who wore a short dress and black wig, with everyone else in the dance class staring at them. Chris wore a scowl, as Justin just tried to enjoy himself, before Abbee flicked to the next photo, where Chris was holding up his middle finger to the camera.

Charlotte burst into laughter. Whilst she really wanted to follow them for the date, she had been exhausted from the days prior, training to win the battle, and when Abbee volunteered to tail them and get photos, Charlotte was willing to give it a miss and get some sleep.

It was the Monday of the second week, and so far they had already had one class for the day. Whilst their Tactics and Strategy class was supposed to last until 10am, Jon had cut it short at 9:45, saying that their Raising Pokemon Class would begin at 10. He left the room, saying they had a guest tutor, and he needed to fetch him from the gate. As soon as he left, Chris and Justin, who had both been early for that morning's class, much to everyone's shock, had run back to the lodge to get some food, leaving Charlotte and Abbee, who tried to include Dylan, betting on whether they would make it back on time.

“We’re back!” called out Justin, as he panted into the room, hunched over. The clock on the wall read 9:57am, as Charlotte looked at Justin, and Chris who had also just entered the room, surprised.

“Who are you and what have you done with Chris?” Charlotte asked, as the pair found their seats, and Dylan made his way back to his own.

“I am sick of you beating me,” Chris said with a grin. “No more. If you’re gonna beat me again, I’m gonna make sure you work your a** off to do it.”

“Don’t flatter yourself yet,” Charlotte retorted. “You still have catching up to do…”

Before they could go any further, Jon entered the room, followed by someone that all of the trainers recognized.

Steven Stone.

Jon and Steven made their way to the front of the room, as Steven noticed Dylan.

“Dylan! I’m glad to see you,” Steven said, making his way to Dylan’s desk, producing a flash drive from his pocket. “I compiled all my resources on taking care of Beldum for you.”

“Wait, you two know each other?” Justin asked.

“You have a Beldum?” Chris asked, knowing that its final form, Metagross was on the same level of power as most Pseudo-Legendary Dragon Types.

“Jon let me come along to his training session with Steven last week,” Dylan mumbled, before thanking Steven for the flashdrive.

“Mad invite,” Justin said sarcastically, causing Jon to laugh.

“The rest of you were otherwise occupied, if you don’t remember, or do I need to get those pictures from Abbee?” Jon asked, as Abbee chuckled at the implication while the other three students slowly realised what he was referring to. “Steven had a Beldum that wouldn’t have done too well in the wild, and thought Dylan might be a good fit.”

“Do you have Beldum with you?” Steven asked enthusiastically.

“Yeah, do you want to see it?” Dylan replied.

Steven nodded enthusiastically, as Dylan looked on his belt for the right Pokeball, and let out Beldum, who began levitating about the table, humming happily.

“Wait, that’s not a normal Beldum,” Chris said.

“That’s why you didn’t release it to the wild?” Charlotte asked. “You didn’t want any shiny hunters targeting it?”

“Exactly,” Steven said, as he looked over Beldum. “You’ve had it half a week, and it is already looking shinier than ever. How did you do that?”

“I noticed the odd bit of powdered steel falling from it, kind of like Pokemon that shed their skin,” Dylan explained. “So I got a very mild cut and polish compound, and tested it on a small area on its back. It didn’t seem to mind, so I used it all over him, and he seems pretty happy.”

“That’s exactly how you do it,” Steven said happily. “It took me weeks to figure that out. You really do have a knack for this.”

“Anyway…” Jon said loudly from the front, conscious of time.

“Sorry,” Steven said with a grin, before making his way next to Jon.

“Introductions seem redundant, but for good measure, this is Steven Stone, Champion of Hoenn, and Interim Champion of Kanto,” Jon explained. “He has been pestering me since you arrived to introduce you all to him, so figured instead of today's plan, we will do a bit of a Q&A session.”

“Feel free to ask anything,” Steven explained. “I’m just glad to be here.”

A smirk emerged on Justin’s face as his hand shot up.

“No Justin,” Jon interjected.

“I didn’t even-”

“You don’t need to,” Jon replied. “I know what that look means, and it means nothing good.”

Chris began laughing, as Charlotte put her hand up.

“Jon mentioned you’re a local here, but how does that work with the Elite Four in Ever Grande City?” Charlotte asked. “Don’t you need to be on site to face challengers?”

“Good question,” Steven replied. “What’s your name?”

“Charlotte. Charlotte Jones.”

“So there are a lot of misconceptions about the Elite Four and Champion Challenges. The first is that by simply beating the Elite Four and then myself one takes my title, but it isn’t like that. The role of Regional Champion is more than just a title, and has implications in government. Someone can come beat me and be a Hoenn Champion, but I will remain the Hoenn Champion until I am stood down or I decide to retire. That’s why the Diamond Ladies didn’t ever have the authority I held, even after they supposedly beat me,” Steven explained. “Another misconception is how frequently people actually challenge me in a title match. Travelling Hoenn for the eight badges needed is an endeavour that usually takes weeks, if not months to do, and reaching Ever Grande City, and crossing through Victory Road is a feat on its own.”

Charlotte nodded and began taking notes as Steven continued.

“The League monitors how many badges trainers have, and once a trainer has eight badges, I get notified, and at that point, I try to make sure I keep my schedule free in case I need to get to Ever Grande City for a challenge. Once I hear they have reached Victory Road, that’s when I made a point of heading there, but even then, that happens two to four times a year at most,” Steven explained.

“Wait, Jon told us that when you and him train, there is a 60/40 split his way for wins. But the reason he doesn’t formally challenge you is because he doesn’t want the responsibility of being Champion,” Abbee piped up. “Was he mistaken? Abbee Strauss, by the way.”

“You’re Richard’s daughter aren’t you? I’m surprised you're spending your summer here. And did Jon really say that?” Steven asked with a grin.

"Am I wrong?" Jon asked.

“He is somewhat right, but he left out a bit of bureaucracy,” Steven explained. “Should I step down as champion, I be stood down, or something happens to me, the first people the League will consider as my replacement will be current Gym Leaders, Elite Four, and also those who have beaten me in recent years. If I am standing down of my own accord, I could recommend someone as well, and they would stand a decent chance.”

“I don’t even want to be considered at this point,” Jon interjected. “Steven has a knack for pulling me into situations I didn’t necessarily want to be in, and I figure if beating him on the books makes me officially eligible, I don’t want him to have the option to recommend me.”

“That being said, my recommendation may not be enough for Jon anyway,” Steven laughed. “He definitely has what it takes in terms of his battling abilities and the work he has helped the League do, but there is a bit of finesse in the public relations department that is needed for the role, that Jon tends to lack.”

“Alyssa made that very clear when she taught us,” Justin called out, causing most people in the room to laugh, whilst Jon proceeded to flip Steven off.

“In all seriousness, I do hope Jon has a change of heart about it,” Steven said. “I met him about seven or eight years ago when I recruited him to help with an operation I was running in a tournament, and since then he has proven his worth to the League, even during the incident on the S.S. Wishmaker last year. If he wanted the job, I think he could be a great Champion.”

“Maybe when I’ve grown up a bit,” Jon retorted.

“So what does the Champion do if they only have a few official challenges a year?” Chris asked, curious to see how Steven would answer this question. “Chris Kingswood.”

There was a flash of recognition in Steven’s eyes as he answered.

“Nice to meet you Chris,” Steven replied. “A lot really. Generally speaking, it is my role to oversee any affairs of a region that affects the Pokemon Battling Industry. That can be anything from making sure Gym Leaders are difficult enough to pose a challenge, but not too difficult that they are creating a bottleneck in the League Challenge, to making sure that wild Pokemon are not being mistreated in the name of battling, or even trying to make sure that contraband like performance enhancing drugs, or bootleg Pokeballs are not being spread, tracking them down and stamping the production of them out. The champion needs to be a jack of all trades, and master of all as well.”

The class continued, with people sticking their hand up to ask questions, even Dylan asking the odd one here and there, and Jon occasionally chiming in, until Charlotte asked a question that shifted the tone of the discussion.

“Is it challenging, now overseeing another region under such circumstances?”

Steven’s expression shifted, as he thought for a moment on what to say, before finally speaking up.

“I guess that there is no harm in being open about this, since Lance was tried and put in prison, and the Ladies have been gone for a while…” Steven explained, as Jon nodded.

Steven considered his words carefully, before addressing the class.

“I have been Hoenn Champion for nearly ten years now. I got the role when I was twenty-two, and at that point, Lance had been champion for three years already, and back then, Lance honestly was a good Champion. A little rash at times, but he did care about what he stood for,” Steven explained. “But over time, he changed. He was probably one of the hardest Champions to beat, and had challengers from two separate regions coming for him, where he managed to remain undefeated for years. It was an impressive feat, but that sort of pressure isn’t healthy.”

Chris’ stomach sunk a little, hearing this story from someone who was probably in the closest position.

“At some point, Lance started to care more about keeping his legendary image intact, than his responsibilities as a Champion, and began neglecting them,” Steven explained. “So coming into his role in an interim position is tricky, especially given there is years of neglect in Kanto that we weren’t aware of, and are now having to fix, in a region that doesn’t want to change because they were ignorantly happy with the way things were. And now I have come in, not even as a permanent replacement, which is really difficult to find given not many people have defeated Lance during his time as Champion, and a lot of the Gyms in Kanto and Johto do need a lot of work, and people don’t want me to change what they are so comfortable with.”

“So you think it was the pressure that Lance put on himself that caused him to snap?” Justin asked. “To maintain the image he had?”

“It was a pretty massive factor in it, but his pride was what really did it,” Steven explained.

“How so?”

“Think of it this way,” Jon said interjecting, “What do you base your self worth off?”

The class murmured slightly, confused by the sudden philosophical question.

“I’ve heard it discussed in religious circumstances. If you place your self worth in things such as your own skills, abilities, reputation, and those things are shaken, so is your self worth. I’m not religious myself, so I won’t go and start preaching, but I do think that needs to be considered,” Jon explained. “Lance was a proud person, and sure, with his record over not just one, but two regions, he had earned that. But he placed his own self image in this record and reputation that he held, and when he was beaten by a nineteen year old girl out of nowhere, and his reputation was shaken, so was his self image.”

“But instead of taking this as a chance to try and reassess things, he became bitter and fixated on it,” Steven explained. “I take it you all saw the video of Jon and Lance on the S.S. Wishmaker?”

The class nodded quietly. The video footage had down the rounds in the months earlier, however most copies online had the audio stripped from it, and even they got taken down during Lance’s trial and in the aftermath of the Diamond Ladies being killed in an arson attack.

“Jon was one of the operatives who apprehended the Diamond Ladies, however, he proposed a plan to myself, Cynthia and Lance who were overseeing the operation that Lance didn’t agree with…”

“What sort of plan?” Chris asked, only hearing this for the first time.

“How many of you have competed since this incident in an official tournament?” Jon asked, as Chris, Abbee and Charlotte put their hands up. “What has changed since then, in the wake of witchcraft being made public?”

Charlotte took a few seconds to think.

“We are now searched like in the airport as we enter the arena, and by signing up for a tournament, we have to allow the League to request our internet providers to flag any searches that may indicate we are researching Witchcraft,” Charlotte explained. “There are now cameras on all angles facing outward from the field, trying to catch out spectators interfering.”

“By the time I proposed this plan, people had seen Violet and Jarena turn each other into Pokemon, but witchcraft still seemed unbelievable at the time. So I wanted to take advantage of that,” Jon said. “I knew that if it became public that witchcraft was real, and the Diamond Ladies had used it to cheat their way into all the fame and fortune they could ever want, copycats would show up, and the League would have to act in extreme ways to prevent it. So I had an idea to cover it up.”

None of the class had heard this, and all had their focus only on Jon.

“I was going to make sure to battle Cassandra in the final round, and during that, send out a Zoroark, who would accidentally create an illusion of what everyone saw Violet and Jarena do that afternoon.”

The class was silent, until Chris realized where Jon was going with it.

“You were going to take the hit…” Chris said.

“Yes. I was going to create a story that was more believable than there being witchcraft involved, to make it an open and shut case, and try and limit anyone else trying to do the same thing,” Jon said.

“But that would have destroyed your reputation?” Abbee interjected, sounding horrified. “You wouldn’t have ever been able to compete again, or open the Eon Academy!”

“I was aware of that, and had a contingency plan,” Jon said. “Besides, I made sure the League would reimburse me fairly for the hit I was going to take…”

“Cynthia and I were on board with it, but Lance wasn’t. He wanted to make an example of the Diamond Ladies, even if it meant risking this happening again, or something even worse,” Steven explained. “He was outvoted, and he told us we could do what we wanted but he wasn’t going to take the fall if this blew up in our faces.”

“I don’t blame him, that is a pretty massive risk…” Justin said.

“At that point though, as long as I didn’t mess up my performance with the Zoroark, the risks were pretty low. Even if it wasn’t too believable, people would still be more likely to believe that than the fact the Diamond Ladies were real witches at the time,” Jon said. “And if Lance didn’t take matters into his own hands, it might have worked. You three might not be treated like potential criminals every time you try and compete…”

“We took Lance at his word that he wouldn’t interfere, but really he coerced a group of operatives into supporting him,” Steven explained. “He then went to the booth that Violet and Jarena were in during Cassandra’s match against Avery Miller.”

“There was an operative near me with their radio, when Lance gave the order to tap into the surveillance of the booth. He was going to have his Dragonite kill Violet and Jarena, then frame me and Latios for it…” Jon explained. The room went silent, hearing the story first hand.

“I sent Latios ahead to restrain the Dragonite, before dealing with Lance myself, though I did take it too far, as you all saw,” Jon explained. “The plan was to still go ahead with the cover-up, however things just got worse. Lance’s guys ended up leaking the evidence we had of the witchcraft to the media, and Cassandra wound up with someone stalking her, sending her threatening messages, when at that point, they had been cooperating with us and trying to help undo the damage they did. I even was there when Lance went on this insane tirade about killing them, and enjoying it. It got to the point where Steven and I said to them that we would like to try and cover it up, but at that point, it was putting a target on their back, so if they wanted to just cut their losses and scrap the cover up, we would respect that.”

“And they did,” Steven explained. “They came clean, and let the truth stay out there, tried to live normal lives…”

“And now they’re all dead…” Abbee said solemnly. “He might not have killed them himself, but considering the circumstance, he was responsible…”

Steven nodded as Jon remained silent.

“Hey Jon,” Chris said. “I’m still feeling a bit unwell from what happened last week… Do you mind if I go a few minutes early and get some water?”

Jon looked at his watch, seeing it was nearly 10:50am.

“That’s fine, it’s been a pretty heavy session,” Jon said, as Chris quickly got up and left the room.

“Unless there are any burning questions left for Steven, we might take a break for now,” Jon said. “We have another class, before lunch, then Charlotte and Abbee have one on one training with me this afternoon.”

Everyone seemed content, as they thanked Steven for coming, and he and Jon left. Chris returned before too long, though Charlotte noticed he didn’t seem himself. He seemed quiet, and even a little pale. While she wanted to ask him what was going on after the next class finished, he didn’t stick around long enough.

Charlotte had lunch, before going to her one on one training with Jon, not seeing Chris again until she returned to the lodge, finding him in the common area, watching a battle highlight on his phone.

As she walked over, she noticed the battle was one of Lance’s most recent official battles, before his imprisonment.

“What’s up with you?” Charlotte asked. “You have hardly talked any s**t since Steven got here, and look like you’re about to lose your lunch…”

“It’s nothing,” Chris replied irritably.

“Bulls**t it’s nothing,” Charlotte retorted. “You look worse than when you came out of that cave last week. Don’t tell me nothing is going on. What, was Lance like your idol or something? Is that why you have so many dragon types?”

“No.”

“Then what?” Charlotte asked, before Chris swore to himself.

“Not here,” Chris said, before getting up and moving towards the staircase, gesturing at Charlotte to follow her.

He made his way down the hallway to his bedroom door, before Charlotte spoke up.

“Jon said first day guys aren’t allowed in girls rooms, and vice versa.”

“Do you want to know or not?” Chris barked back. “I don’t want people listening in…”

Charlotte sighed, before following Chris in. He turned on the light, before opening one of his draws, searching through it, finally finding what he was after. A photo album.

“I didn’t pick you as the sentimental type,” Charlotte said, as he flicked through the album.

“Check this out. Christmas ten years ago,” Chris said. “Anyone familiar there?”

Charlotte looked at the photo, quickly spotting a young Chris.

“Well I see you…” She began as she looked over the other unfamiliar faces. “Is that your sister next to you? The gym lead-”

Charlotte had known that Chris’ sister was a Gym Leader, though wasn’t really close enough to care which one she was. However after a few moments, she recognized the girl standing next to him as a young Clair of Blackthorn City.

“Wait-” Charlotte said, scanning the photo and seeing who she was looking for.

It was well known that Clair was the cousin of the Indigo Champion Lance, and once Charlotte saw a young Lance on the other side of the photo, she finally understood why Chris seemed to be so on edge.

“Lance is your cousin?” Charlotte asked. “Does anybody else here know?”

“If they do, they haven’t said anything, but I don’t think so,” Chris explained. “I think Steven recognized my name, but he didn’t say anything…”

Charlotte was silent at this revelation, and understood why Chris had seemed so uncomfortable during that morning's class.

“Truth is, my family has been torn since last summer. Some of us, Clair included, believed Lance was in the right, and others wanted to cut all ties with him,” Chris explained. “I just never knew where to sit on it, since my family had been told all of this by Lance first hand, and it was a hell of a lot different…”

Chris closed the photo album and put it away.

“That’s part of the reason I came here,” Chris continued. “There are other summer camps that do something like this, but I guess I wanted to see what Jon was like, whether he was the piece of s**t that Lance had made him out to be. But given what he just said, and the fact he saved me from getting myself killed last week, it just makes this all even more confusing…”

“So what do you think of all of this?” Charlotte asked.

“I don’t know…” Chris replied. “Before all this, I wanted to be like Lance. And now I have family, my own sister, who want nothing to do with me unless I vouch for him, and would disown me if they knew I was here. But the more I hear about it, the less reason I have to believe that Lance is anything but what Jon and Steven said he was…”

Charlotte handed Chris back the photo, feeling a sense of pity over him. She didn’t envy him, feeling like he was in the middle of a conflict that wasn’t even his own.

“Look, you aren’t Lance, and you don’t have to pick one side or another. Your sister is an idiot for telling you that,” Charlotte explained. “We don’t get to choose our families, so blood doesn’t mean s**t.”

“I wish it were that simple…” Chris said. “But once this summer is over, I still gotta go back home, and things will probably be worse at that point.”

Charlotte turned to leave, knowing that being caught in Chris' room would likely raise questions as to why they were after that level of privacy.

“Just please, don’t tell anyone,” Chris asked Charlotte, surprising her with how vulnerable he was being. “I don’t want people treating me differently because of who my family is. Least of all Jon. I only told you because I know you’ll treat me the exact same anyway.”

“I’ll keep it between us," Charlotte said. “But really, I don’t think anyone here is that petty to treat you differently because of who your cousin is.”

“I really hope so…”