Chapter Text
The existence of the supernatural was no foreign concept to Juliana. People have long since documented the phenomenon of humans with an attunement to ESP, be it fortune tellers or even those with telekinetic abilities. She herself had her own version, possessing the power to sense others emotions at a nearly intrusive level, even reaching those beyond the veil of the living. She’s not sure exactly where it might have come from, other than her mother once telling her that it probably came from her late father’s side, but not elaborating much more than that.
The ability was actually quite normal to her day-to-day life, nothing more than something that she could sense in her mind’s eye. It was easily differentiated from her own emotions, meaning that she wouldn’t have to worry about if someone else’s feelings were influencing hers in a negative way– unless it was unbearably strong. Sometimes it felt rather invasive, though, especially when people weren’t telling the truth. The Zero Crew– it might have been Penny specifically– actually gave her the nickname of “lie-detector” at one point, it was impossible to slip anything past her.
The view from outside the window of the plane was nothing short of breathtaking, clear blue oceans as far as the eye could see, broken up by a singular, island-shaped object that they were fast approaching for a landing. The sun barely peaked over the horizon as it neared dusk, wishing she had been scheduled for an earlier flight to get plenty of rest before her classes began tomorrow. Blueberry Academy itself was just as spectacular-looking as the sea, reflecting the sunset upon the exterior. She was recommended for an exchange program here by her native school, Naranja Academy, after being selected for a prestigious school trip to the land of Kitakami only a year beforehand. She would have to play the Unovan lottery once she landed, her luck was truly insane.
She almost wished the plane ride wouldn’t end, as she sat in the well of positive emotions floating around the other passengers, all of which she could sense. Sometimes being in such a crowd would be too many conflicting readings at once that it could overwhelm her, but the giddy-ness of those surrounding her was like taking a long soak in a warm bath of roses. As they finally touched ground, her eyes scanned those idling at the entrance, looking for two people in particular who sadly did not seem to be present. Well, she was glad that she hadn't seen one of them yet, at least.
Back then, Kitakami had been a beautiful region with rich culture and a lively atmosphere for somewhere with such a low population. If anything, though, that meant she could enjoy it all the more as she could focus deeper on the finer details. She doesn’t think she’s seen so many stars in the inky black sky as when she looked upwards into the vast expanse above the fields. Such little light pollution compared to Mesagoza meant that there was about triple the amount of tiny pinpricks forming constellations all across the night.
That was also where she had met her friends. Carmine, while quite volatile at first, had slowly warmed up to her over the course of their journey. Juliana had tried to keep in touch as much as she could, but she’d been roped into so much official league business before that it was nearly impossible to reply even a few days later. Kieran was much nicer at their first meeting, but had actually gone the complete opposite of his sister once the whole debacle with Ogrepon had played out. She thought they were cool, but according to what Carmine had sent through text, apparently not. Juliana was hoping to see her again soon, so she went ahead and sent off a message to let her know that she’d arrived.
Carmine: Cool! Lacey should be meeting you out front, but come to the central plaza in the terrarium ASAP! Or else!
Juliana giggled to herself as she stepped off of the plane and onto the platform of the bridge. A large dome adorned with more orb-shaped structures was the first thing to meet her eyes, all splashed with a calming, blue color. The next thing she noticed was a pink-haired girl beginning to approach her, giving a small wave and an expectant smile. This must be her, she thinks.
“Hi! I’m Lacey, the director asked me to show you around,” The girl radiated such an aura of happiness, yet there were a few other things that she could identify just underneath the surface. “You’re the new exchange student, right?”
Melancholy, that’s what it was. Although there was definitely genuine joy present in her attitude, just the tiniest hint of sadness peeked through the cracks. Well, nobody could be perfectly happy one hundred present of the time, anyway.
“Hey, nice to meet you,” Juliana began to notice more and more that she stuck out like a sore thumb in a bright orange uniform compared to the ones of Blueberry. “Well, where to first?”
Lacey’s tour ended up being quite insightful. She’d first been taken to the dorms and was luckily able to go ahead and change into her new outfit right away. The jumpsuit hugged her frame in such a way as to be comfortable while still not falling to the side of discomfort. Then, they went to a few other places, including the school store, cafeteria, and a lot of other standard areas that she’d expected of a place like this.
One interesting note was that, while she walked past other students, she was suddenly bombarded by a lot of nervousness. It wasn’t from any one person in particular, but instead on a low level from every passerby in sight. It… began to put her slightly on edge until she met the artificial sky of the terrarium for the first time, which blew everything else she had been pondering directly out of her line of thought.
An entire, fully-functioning collection of biospheres, all localized and accessible to students? It almost made her never want to return to Naranja. If it weren’t for her friends waiting back at home, of course.
Speaking of which–
“Oh! Could you point me to where the central plaza is? Carmine asked if I could meet up.” Juliana figured the tour was probably close to the end, and followed where Lacey pointed to off in the distance.
“Right over there! I’ll be seeing you around, then. Have fun!” Lacey walked back up the ramp of the entrance, not even noticing when Juliana threw a Pokeball to release her giant, sandwich-loving lizard.
A few other students did, though, eliciting some small gasps as she mounted the creature and took off quickly towards the plaza. As much as you’d think that bringing out a Pokemon that links to classified information in the Paldean government would be a terrible idea, she’d found that it actually went much more smoothly if you just acted like something weird was completely normal. It actually did wonders.
Soon enough, she caught sight of a familiar scarlet tucked underneath dark hair as she recalled Koraidon with ease to stand in front of her friend.
“Julie! It’s been way too long,” Carmine suddenly clenched her fists tightly in her signature way before staring directly into Juliana’s eyes. “You should have called me more! How dare you!”
There was a slight pause before the two of them erupted into laughter, joining together in a hug. In the year that they’d been apart, Juliana had apparently gained a little height as she now noticed less of a crick in her neck when looking at Carmine. She absentmindedly wondered if she was taller than Kieran now, but that question would soon be answered for her as voices picked up volume from just below. As they decided to check it out, there was a sharp inhale from Carmine as they watched the scene unfold.
Two people were having a heated conversation, one much more aggressive than the other. The emotions she was picking up from the two of them were strong, and mostly negative in nature. Usually she was simply observing from an outside perspective, but she suddenly experienced a new feeling as a pain gripped her chest with fervor.
Rage.
Jealousy.
Hunger.
Too much, it was too much. But strangely, she couldn’t look away.
“Yep,” Carmine emphasized the ‘p’ with a distinctive pop. “That’s Kiki. Pretty different, huh?”
What?
Taking a second look, one of the two did look pretty familiar. His hair was pulled into a ponytail, with only a few wild strands escaping, giving a disheveled appearance. Dark circles stood distinctly pronounced underneath his eyes, which now held no shine to them. The most notable thing, however, was just how tall he was. It had only been a year, and yet he looked just about as tall as his sister now, if not taller. This was not the Kieran she remembered. He towered over the student he was talking to– or, well, more like was yelling at.
“--Then I’ll go ahead and write your resignation from the club for you,” He croaked, a deeper timbre punctuating the air. “Maybe if you weren’t so weak, it wouldn’t have come to this.”
“No, please! I-” Tears streamed down the other student’s face. “I can do better, I swear! Give me one more chance, Kieran!”
He turned away from them completely, no longer wishing to speak on the matter as his word was law. They slinked away slowly, Juliana feeling their agony in the distance until it fell from her detectable range. Kieran’s wrath, on the other hand, stayed a consistent high and was now the closest thing left other than the pity radiating from the girl to her right. Juliana’s breath quickened, her own anxiety rising, making everything begin to be too much. Carmine must have noticed, as a hand softly touched her shoulder and led her away from the sight.
“Yeah…” The other girl trailed off slightly. “Kiki’s been like that since– well, since you left, I guess.”
That wasn’t reassuring in the slightest. Was this complete overnight 180 turn in personality her fault? She hadn’t left him on the nicest terms, to be honest. Taking away the object of his lifelong fixation– or, well, she shouldn’t say object, Ogrepon was the cutest little friend she could ever ask for– felt mean on a level she couldn’t quite describe. But the Pokemon had chosen her of its own volition, so it wasn't really her fault, right?
“It’s– you don’t think–” Juliana had tried to start her sentence several times, yet her brain felt like a pile of mush. The previous pain no longer gripped at her chest, so he must be sufficiently far away by now. “I just can’t believe it.”
Carmine nodded solemnly. The silence this time was much more tense, stretching on for much longer and making the air slightly awkward.
“Hey, let’s go get dinner.” Juliana was glad at the change of subject at her friend’s suggestion. “I bet you’re starving, there probably wasn’t anything good on the plane.”
“Arceus, yes. They gave me this weird salad, it was so–”
The two girls chatted boisterously from this point as they made the journey to get actually edible food.
—
The options presented to her for meals were kind of strange, to be honest. Maybe she wasn’t up to date with Unovan cuisines, but she didn’t exactly think an entire pile of gummy worms was a sufficient side for a bowl of ramen. This “special” had apparently been put together by the director himself, though, so there probably wasn’t much room for complaints. Man, she would kill for some Klawf sticks right now. At least it was better than airline food.
Soon, the two girls were joined by a boy that was completely unfamiliar to Juliana. The best way to describe him would be “extremely lax”, his limbs flowing like a dragon’s wings cutting through the sky. There was also his hairstyle, which was… well, like someone squirted a dab of toothpaste directly onto his scalp. The streak definitely did not do him any favors. As he sat on her left, she felt an arm snake around her shoulders in an overly-familiar gesture that made her somewhat uncomfortable.
“Hey, Carmine! You didn’t tell me you were friends with the new kid,” He said. Juliana could tell immediately that this person was going to be the most dishonest one she’d ever met, but not in the way she expected. There was a sense of genuine curiosity and whimsy under the surface, even if it was being hidden by his initial cool-guy type of act. “Are you gonna introduce me?”
“You bozo!” Carmine immediately grabbed his arm hard to pull it off of Juliana, to which he then hung his hands up in a sign of fake defense. “Juli, this is Drayton, and he’s the worst.”
He laughed, not even taking the effort to deny that statement. Juliana learned several things about him at that moment. He was a liar, sure, but the feelings she was picking up from Carmine in response to him were just as unexpected as his own. There was fondness, and she wasn’t even attempting to smother it underneath anything else. It put Juliana more at ease, at least, knowing that there was true trust there. She’d have to ask for more clarification when the two of them were alone.
“Alright, I’ll admit that I already knew you two had a history,” he changed positions once more, laying his head on his forearms placed atop the table. “I guess that probably extends to our little champion too, huh?”
Champion?
Utterly confused, she turned her eyes to Carmine, but was not reassured when her friend was locking her vision to something– or someone – across the cafeteria. She followed her line of sight, and–
Froze. He hadn’t noticed her yet, but a familiar violet was storming his way towards their table. Immediately upon his entrance, Juliana was suddenly consumed by the palpable fear exhibited by every student in the room. Everyone was afraid of Kieran, and she was beginning to be, too.
Slamming his hands upon the table, he still was not aware of her presence, instead focused more on Drayton and Carmine. It was like she was nothing more than a background character to him now, not even worth his gaze if he so decided. The anger he exhibited permeated her mind’s eye, travelling downwards and feeling like a vice grip in her heart yet again.
“Would you like to explain to me why you’re not doing your job right now?” Kieran said it in such a way that it felt less like a question, and more like a demand. Drayton just shrugged nonchalantly in response, eliciting an expression that seemed like it could literally kill.
“Aw, c’mon, champ,” Wow, Drayton was really pushing his luck. “I had someone important to meet. It couldn’t wait, even if I have your old buddy with me?”
It was almost in slow motion, the way he turned to finally acknowledge her presence. A few things happened one after another. First, she could feel her own eyes widen as she realized the potential of the current situation. Second, she felt their gazes meet, and the way his emotions began to stir. Lastly, there was finally a quiet moment before she raised her hand and waved with an awkward smile.
The anger was gone, suddenly, as she was now permeated with something else. Confusion, astonishment, and… hunger? That was there before, too, at her witnessing of the scene earlier at the plaza. What did it mean? What was he hungry for? Those questions floated around her mind as they finally broke eye contact.
“You… why?” He swiveled his head between the other two at the table. “Why is Juliana here?”
“The exchange program with Paldea, remember?” Carmine spoke uncharacteristically softly, like she was trying not to set off a bomb. “She just got here a few hours ago.”
There was a look of recognition on his face, followed by a quick pivot back to his previous attitude, even if his underlying feelings betrayed him. He left quickly, turning on his heel and storming out of the cafeteria in a way not dissimilar to how he came in.
“Oh, Jules,” That nickname almost shocked her just as much as seeing Kieran again. Drayton seemed smug, and she realized that he’d never moved an inch from his initial spot laying on his arms, even through that whole interaction. “You should join the league club. Everybody participates in a club of some kind, so we might as well snatch you up before anyone else can, right?”
Barring the weird phrasing, it didn’t seem like all that bad of an idea. She did love matches, after all, even if she did it with slightly less fervor than Nemona. Her team were definitely itching to fight again after a slightly long break, so she nodded her head in agreement, much to Carmine’s apparent dismay.
“Sure, why not,” Juliana said. “May as well battle at a battle school.”
Drayton pumped his fist triumphantly– though used as little effort as possible to do so.
“Ugh, Juli, you have no clue what you’ve just done.” Carmine croaked.
–
Settling into her new school life had been much simpler than she’d expected it to be. Classes were fine for the most part, except when she walked into her late evening battle studies class for the first time to see the only empty chair was next to Kieran. She sort of forgot that they’d be in the same year, thus the possibility of them sharing some classes. After giving a small introduction to the rest of the students at the front of the room, it was almost like a trudge to reach her seat. She could feel his poignant stare digging holes into the side of her head as she tried to focus on the lecture. It was something about tera types and their usages in the double battle format, to which she diligently tried to take as many notes as possible. She snuck one sidelong glance to the boy beside her, noticing that he didn’t have so much as a notebook out on his desk. Was he that smart, or did he just not care?
She escaped the class as quickly as possible, not even giving Kieran so much as an opportunity to say anything, not like he would have. That turned into routine over the coming weeks, the two of them not saying a single word to the other, and only passing glances. At the very least, for some reason, his emotions were somewhat subdued, causing less of a distraction than she’d thought. There was a new one amongst the usual crowd, though, which kept her decision to not say anything more solid.
Resentment.
He resented her. How could he not? So, to save both of them the pain, she didn’t even try to act like everything was normal. Surely they would talk about Kitakami at some point, but it never seemed like exactly the right time. His feelings just ran too rampant, and it terrified her to no end. She wasn’t sure she could even talk to him without bursting into tears.
She made her way to the Terrarium, which had been her happy place for the time being. Night was the best time to be there, as most of the other students preferred to do their battling either during their breaks between classes or just after final release. It gave her time to think.
As she released her team from their respective Pokeballs to do some exploration, she heard a familiar grumble from her stomach. Well, there was no harm in setting up camp for a while. Skeledirge prattled around happily, simply enjoying being in the presence of its trainer while she set up camp. She remembered starting her journey with it all the way back in Paldea, when Director Calvell released a trio of Pokemon, including a little Fuecoco that sneezed and burned the orange it was trying to eat to a crisp. They were inseparable, and it became a staple on her team throughout her entire journey to becoming a Paldean champion.
The rest of her team, too, were all near and dear to her heart. She’d always had a fondness for Ghost- and Psychic-type Pokemon, so she decided to build it based entirely around those two types. Skeledirge being a Ghost type as well as Fire was actually just a happy accident, but it really helped in her decision to limit herself. If she possessed supernatural abilities, it would only make sense that she would feel such a connection to these creatures. Even if a mixed-type team would have served her much better, she would much rather win with those she loves than be detached and only thirsting for victory.
Her Espeon kept a close eye as she began to set up a picnic, having just as much of a stomach as Koraidon did, and loving when Juliana sprayed a bit of whipped cream in its mouth while making sweet sandwiches. Dragapult, too, fluttered around ominously, completely silent save the small cries of the Dreepy in the barrels of its head. It was a little controlling, and liked to make sure that its trainer made the food in the exact way it liked for it to be prepared. Annihilape was playing with a ball off to the side, utterly fascinated with the Marill pattern until it kicked with full force. Farigiraf galloped after it joyfully, this being a game the two of them played regularly. Lastly was Flutter Mane, a creature spawned from the time machine created by professor Sada in the labs of Area Zero. Despite its origins making Juliana think back on a time of much pain, she adored the Pokemon just as equally as the other members of her team, and observed as it floated around doing somersaults in the air like the silly little companion it was. She truly loved all of her Pokemon so dearly, they were almost like her own children.
The sandwiches were ready, and Juliana simply watched as each ate the meal with fervor, including Koraidon. It probably ate about 3 more sandwiches than anyone else, but she couldn’t stay mad at a face like that.
Wait.
Something was watching her, she was sure of it. All of the merriment emanating from her team was being infiltrated by something else. Nobody should be within her range right now, so why…?
A rustle of the forest kicks her nerves back into high gear. Perhaps it was just a passing Pokemon. This was the terrarium, after all, and wild creatures called this place their home, but… something was still off. Tapping her Skeledirge’s tail to get its attention, she silently pointed to where the noise had come from in an unspoken command of watch there.
A beat of silence. Then another, until–
Something took off fast through the woods, passing by in a feat of swiftness that reminded her of the Kilowattrel back in Paldea. She let out a scream automatically, alerting the rest of her team and causing Dragapult to try and catch up with whatever it was, despite her protests. After another moment, it returned empty-handed radiating a sense of shame.
Thoroughly unnerved, she decided that was plenty of terrarium time for tonight and headed back to her dorm.