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

[[Desolate Divine]]

Episode 6: Growth

Spoiler:

It was the Tuesday morning of the sixth week of the summer, marking the program as nearly half completed. Jon and his five students stood on the battlefield of the Eon Academy, with Charlotte and Chris facing off against one another. Wanting to gauge improvement, Jon had recreated the same matchups as day zero, much to Justin’s dismay, however when he informed them of what would be happening the week before, he did give one interesting detail…

“Everyone, before you go, I have one thing to tell you,” Jon said to the exhausted students on the Tuesday before.

“Can it wait?” Justin asked. “I really need to shower…”

“He does…” confirmed Chris who stood next to him, earning a laugh from the others.

“It will be quick,” Jon explained. “Next week will be roughly the halfway mark of the summer, so I want to see how far you have come, which means we will be doing a repeat of day zero…”

Justin groaned, as Dylan looked nervously at Abbee, who responded with a nervous smile. Chris looked determined, glad for an opportunity to try and beat Charlotte.

“And I have some incentive…” Jon explained, piquing the interest of the students.

“Alyssa isn’t much of a battler, but she does have her own Pokemon, one of them being an Alolan Vulpix called Yuki, which are incredibly hard to find outside of Alola,” Jon explained. “The breeder she got the Pokemon from asked to borrow Yuki to breed some eggs whilst one of her own Vulpix was unwell, and in return, gave Alyssa one of the eggs.”

Abbee, Charlotte and Chris’ eyes all widened hearing this.

“We have our hands full enough with a newborn human, let alone throwing a Pokemon into the mix, and Alyssa asked if one of you would like the egg,” Jon explained. “So to whoever shows the most improvement, the egg will be given…”

Since then, the trainers had all been working harder than ever, practicing in their free time, leading up to this morning. That morning brought shock to everyone as Justin beat Jon, though nobody doubted he was holding back. As Jon opened with Blaziken, Justin instead opened with Kadabra, much to everyone’s surprise, given Justin had fully evolved Pokemon in his arsenal.

However, jaws dropped when after Jon’s Blaziken had used a Swords Dance attack, Justin called out for Kadabra to use Trick Room, effectively using Blaziken’s speed boost against it, much to Jon’s delight. Wanting to see how Justin would use this advantage, Jon let it play out, as Justin defended from Blaziken’s moves, using Protect, before using Skill Swap, stealing Blaziken’s Speed Boost ability, which due to Trick Room was actually a detriment, much to the confusion of his classmates, though Jon knew what he was doing, continuing to battle normally and see how Justin’s counter would play out.

The next two exchanges, Kadabra remained faster than Blaziken, however slowing down due to the tricked Speed Boost, as Blaziken kept launching Power-Up Punches, and using Swords Dance, Kadabra alternating between defending from attacks, and launching its own when Blaziken used status moves. Until finally it happened. Trick room wore off, and the now slower Kadabra emerged faster than Blaziken, with Justin calling out for a Power Swap attack, forcing Blaziken’s boosted attack to switch with Kadabra’s normal power. The battle was basically over at that point, with Kadabra tearing through Blaziken, before Baton Passing to other Pokemon to take down Jon’s other Pokemon.

Dylan and Abbee’s battle had the same result, though this time, Dylan made it much more difficult for her, opening with Flygon, knowing it was the safer option, given her battling team consisted of Ampharos and Typhlosion, both of which it had an advantage over, and was immune to Ariados’ traps. Whilst Abbee had opened with Ampharos instead, Flygon quickly disposed of it, however Abbee did take the win in the end, though the unspoken question was whether Dylan would have stood a better chance if he hadn’t have taken this as a training opportunity for his freshly evolved Metang, and sent out a fully evolved Pokemon instead.

Which left the final battle, and the one that held the most tension. Charlotte and Chris. They had both worked the hardest in the week that passed, desperate to take the win, and the opening of the battle began with Chris having the advantage, his Charizard against Charlotte’s Roserade. Whilst Charlotte attempted quickly to set the arena up to her advantage, Charizard quickly and effectively disposed of Roserade, with Charlotte sending out Luxray next, which after a long winded battle, managed to knock Charizard out, however set itself up in the process to be finished quickly when Chris sent out Garchomp, a Pokemon Charlotte hadn’t battled in this form, who was quick to end that matchup with some well placed ground attacks. As Charlotte sent out her third Pokemon, Drifblim, it wasn’t looking promising for Chris, knowing his ground moves were ineffective, and his only other Pokemon were not suited to land battles, or not fully evolved.

The events of the week prior had led up to this moment. The pair of rivals, both driven to best the other, with the tension thick in the air. Whilst Chris had the advantage of numbers, still having one Pokemon left, Charlotte did hold an advantage, as some of Garchomp’s most dangerous moves were going to do little against the spectral balloon Pokemon.

“Phantom Force!” Charlotte called out, as Drifblim vanished. Whilst Chris was limited in how he could attack, Drifblim held no advantage outside of that, and Phantom Force was a move near impossible to defend from. Unfortunately, Chris knew this all too well from a previous battle with Drifblim. Not even attempting to defend, Chris decided to make use of the opportunity.

“Dragon Dance!” Chris shouted, as Garchomp’s attack and speed increased, he hoped by enough to get another move in before Drifblim landed an attack. “Now Substitute!”

There was a flash as Garchomp disappeared, being replaced by a semi-lifelike doll replicating it, which Drifblim quickly appeared behind, launching an attack. The attack however was not enough to destroy it, causing Chris to grin and Charlotte to grimace. They both knew Garchomp would remain invisible until the substitute was destroyed.

“Swords Dance!” Chris called out, causing Garchomp, wherever it was hidden, to gain another boost in attack power, whilst Charlotte had Drifblim attack the substitute, this time destroying it. However, Garchomp was prepared, appearing behind it, almost poetically, given the fact Drifblim had just used an identical trick.

“Shadow Claw!”

Garchomp’s claw became encased in a spectral aura, as he slashed at Drifblim, knocking the Pokemon to the ground, unmoving. Charlotte was silent as she called Drifblim back.

“Chris wins the match,” Jon called out, as Chris shook Charlotte’s hand, though Charlotte didn’t seem too pleased.

“I still owe you one more for that double battle,” Chris said, causing Charlotte to roll her eyes.

“Go get something to drink. Trainer Career starts in ten minutes,” Jon called out, before making his way back to the cottage.

The trainers departed in their usual groups. Chris with Justin, Abbee with Charlotte, and Dylan by himself.

“Don’t worry about it,” Abbee said to Charlotte. “The way Jon has us send out our first Pokemon blind makes this a bit of a game of luck. This time Chris got lucky…”

“The whole point of Jon teaching us that is so we don’t rely on basic strategy, or luck. To be able to win when we are unlucky...” Charlotte said. “I made a mistake sending out Roserade first. Last time he lost because he relied too much on the battle before. I thought for sure it would be Garchomp out first, thinking I would open with Luxray…”

“Don’t overthink it,” Abbee said. “Next time you will beat him.”

“Yeah…” Charlotte said, though still unconvinced.

The trainers quickly gathered books, stopping by the kitchen for a drink, before meeting Jon in the classroom at the back of the monastery, where he stood by the front of the room with a white and light blue egg in his hands.

“You guys knew the drill. The trainer I saw the most improvement in gets the egg,” Jon explained. “And you have all improved. Even if the result was the same as last time, or didn’t go the way you thought, don’t think you haven’t taken steps forward.”

“Really, it is difficult for me to choose…” Jon said. “But the trainer that took me most by surprise was…”

The class was silent, as Jon finally announced who would get the egg.

“Chris…”

Chris was shocked hearing this, as Jon continued to speak while he walked over to hand Chris the large egg.

“Truth is, it was a difficult decision,” Jon explained. “Especially since Justin managed to not only ruin my tactics, but turn them into his benefit, however, Chris impressed me that little bit more today, and has shown the biggest improvement compared to Day Zero.”

“Congratulations,” Jon said, looking at Chris directly. “I look forward to seeing how you include this Pokemon in your team…”

************************************************** ************************************************** *****
It was later that evening, after dinner, when the trainers found themselves in the lounge. Charlotte lay on the floor, reading a battling magazine, whilst Abbee and Dylan played cards, and Justin and Chris sat on another couch, discussing the egg.

“I thought for sure you were going to get it,” Chris said to Justin. “I mean you beat Jon.”

“We both know he could have stopped me at any time,” Justin laughed. “I mean, I will take credit, but his curiosity as to what the hell I was doing is what kept me in the battle…”

“Maybe I should try that next time,” Chris joked. “Just do something that outrageous, my opponent will want to see what I have planned.”

Charlotte scoffed to herself as she flicked through to the next page, while Abbee spoke up.

“Do you know when it will hatch?”

“Jon said it should be soon,” Chris explained. “Very soon, but do you remember what he talked about the other week in Raising Pokemon?”

Justin’s face contorted a little as he tried to remember the class. Abbee was silent, as she tried to remember as well.

“Pokemon can stay in their eggs for a long time, even when they are ready to hatch,” Dylan explained, not looking up from his cards.

Charlotte looked at Chris surprised. She hadn’t even remembered that detail. Jon was right. He was improving.

“I think he knew about the egg a while before he told us,” Chris said. “Maybe this is some sort of puzzle, to try and get the egg to hatch.”

“Maybe…” Abbee said, as she put down a card. Chris turned to face Dylan.

“You’re good at this stuff,” Chris began, surprising Dylan a little since they hardly talked, and he didn’t realize Chris thought even remotely highly of him in any respect. “Any idea what I need to do to hatch this thing?”

“I have a couple, but I think you mentioned it yourself already,” Dylan explained. “Or at least half of it…”

Chris looked confused, as Dylan explained.

“Pokemon can stay in their eggs for a long time even when they’re ready to hatch,” Dylan said. “Do you remember why?”

Chris was silent for a moment, suddenly remembering.

“They wait for the right conditions…” Chris said, realizing where Dylan was going with this. Charlotte closed her magazine, curious to hear the discussion.

“He’s right…” Abbee said. “Think about it, a baby Pokemon is safe in its egg, they are extremely tough for what they are. But if the egg hatches somewhere that isn’t safe, the baby Pokemon will probably not survive. So it waits…”

“But it’s safe here isn’t it?” Charlotte asked.

“It’s safe, but it is still foreign,” Dylan explained. “I doubt they have a sense for any danger, but more so they know what is normal for them, and won’t hatch otherwise.”

“Okay, so Alolan Vulpix lives in the wild in the cold…” Chris said, before getting up, placing the egg on the couch where he had been sitting, before rushing out to the kitchen.

“Could his attention span be any smaller?” Charlotte asked Justin, who started to chuckle. They could hear noise coming from the kitchen, as Chris returned with a steel bowl. Inside it were a few ice packs from the freezer, as well as all the ice cubes and bags of frozen vegetables he could find. He spread them out to the sides, leaving a crater the size of the egg in the center, before placing a soaked dish towel in it. He placed the makeshift nest on the table, before placing the egg in it.

“Now we wait,” Chris said, as the others resumed what they were doing before.


A few hours passed, as all the trainers remained awake. Whilst most didn’t say it, the reason they didn’t retire to their own rooms, or go to sleep, was because none of them wanted to potentially miss the egg hatching. It was an unspoken agreement that until the icy nest that Chris had made warmed up and thawed, they would stay awake, all doing their own thing, whilst each of them would occasionally glance at the egg.

It was near midnight when the students heard the door to the lodge open, much to their surprise. Chris jumped up, not sure who it would be, as Jon was usually asleep by eleven. All attention was on the doorway into the lounge, Chris standing at the front. They breathed a sigh of relief when it was only Jon entering the room, in a pair of shorts and a tee, what they presumed he slept in. However after a second they realized that Jon being here at this time of night, and them all still being awake was probably not the best.

“Amelia woke me up, and when I glanced out the windows after putting her back to sleep, I saw all the lights were on. I figured you were trying to get your money's worth out of the electricity bill…” Jon grumbled, looking at the group of students, confused as to why they were all still awake.

“So how come none of you are asleep? I know half of you struggle to get out of bed in the morning, even when you do sleep at a reasonable hour…” Jon asked. “You know my stance, you can go to sleep when you want, and if you’re tired the next day, it’s on you. But I don’t particularly feel like running a class for zombies tomorrow…”

“I’m waiting to see if the egg hatches,” Chris explained. “I presume the others are too…”

“Yeah, I’ve never seen an egg hatch,” Abbee explained. “And Chris had the idea of tricking it into thinking its in its natural habitat to see if it would hatch.”

“When you put it like that, it sounds a lot worse than it is…” Justin retorted with a chuckle.

Jon looked past the group at the egg in the metal bowl, filled with chilled water and various thawing frozen goods from the freezer.

“I hope you plan on replacing those ice-creams…” Jon said.

“Wait, you put ice creams in there?” Charlotte asked, annoyed as she lifted the towel revealing the ice creams that seemed considerably softer than normal…

“I figured the more cold stuff I put in, the longer it would be cold for…” Chris muttered, somewhat embarrassed.

Jon chuckled to himself, as he made his way to the egg.

“It’s a good idea,” Jon said, inspecting the egg. “I was certain it would be weeks of you wondering why the hell it isn’t hatching before you did some research into it…”

“It was a team effort,” Chris said. “I remembered something you said in class the other week about Pokemon waiting in their eggs even when they’re ready to hatch. Dylan explained it again, then we had the idea about keeping it cold.”

“You’ve definitely improved since getting here,” Jon said. “But it might not hatch until tomorrow, so don’t stay up all night for it. As I said, I don’t want to be running a class for zombies.”

Jon turned to leave, making his way towards the door, as a sharp click pierced the air from behind the trainers. A small crack appeared in the egg, before another click emanated from it, as the crack grew.

The trainers rushed over to the egg, before Jon called out.

“Everybody but Chris, back here…” Jon said quietly, trying not to disrupt the Pokemon attempting to emerge from the egg.

“Why? We want to see it too…” Abbee asked, slightly disappointed.

“Because the first human a Pokemon sees will be the one it will bond with easiest,” Jon explained. “This is Chris’ Pokemon, and we don’t want it getting confused by one of us…”

Abbee sighed, as she and the rest of the trainers moved over to where Jon was, leaving Chris in front of the egg. After a few minutes, the cracks joined to become holes, and sitting in pieces of broken egg shell and ice-water, its back facing Chris, looking at the blank TV and the magazine’s on the table in front of it, was a small Alolan Vulpix. Everyone watched in silence as it turned around, before seeing Chris sitting in front of it, and jumping for a moment startled.

“Hey…” Chris said gently, before placing his hand in front of the Pokemon’s nose, the white and silver Vulpix cautiously sniffing it. Chris slowly put his hand out, patting the Pokemon on the head, before giving it a scratch behind the ears, which it seemed to enjoy.

“Well, I guess this completes my team…” Chris said quietly, before turning to Jon. “Can the others come look now?”

“Yeah, it should be familiar enough with you,” Jon said, before giving the other students, Abbee in particular a nod, who all moved towards the coffee table, taking turns to offer their hands for the Pokemon to sniff, before joining in with the pats and scratches, the newborn Pokemon lapping up all the attention.

Jon left soon after, exhausted from having only slept an hour before being woken, leaving the trainers. Charlotte however didn’t wait much longer before going to bed herself, guiltily feeling bitter about the events of that day. One thought emanated through her mind, as she reached her room.

“I need to beat him…”