Chapter Text
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Juliana slowly stirred, hearing a commotion at her dorm room door. She yawned, sitting up and rubbing her eyes as she glanced around her dorm, watching as most of her current Team she had on her stirred from sleep - barring two and Miraidon who weren’t in her room. Sweetie, her Shiny Tsareena, was in her doorway and gestured towards her dorm room door with a head tilt. “Yeah, let them into the living area, please, Sweetie. I’ll be right out, after I get dressed,” she tossed the blankets off, recognizing Lacey, Carmine, and Drayton’s voices arguing outside. The Grass type nodded, closing the curtains the teen had installed on her first night at Blueberry Academy to give some privacy from the living area of her dorm room.
As she stepped lightly across the room, towards the dresser and bureau she kept her clothing in, she glanced around as her Pokémon stretched. Her Shiny Mimikyu - Mick -, her Perserker - Rian -, Sunflora - Sunny -, and her Quilava- Cyndi - made annoyed sounds, causing her to laugh tiredly. She wasn’t much looking forward to dealing with her friends at - she glanced at the clock on her nightstand - eight in the morning.
“What the Hell happened to get Dray up before noon on a weekend?” She muttered to herself, hurrying through getting dressed and brushing her shoulder length hair out quickly. She decided against doing anything with it, as she was both curious and worried and doing anything with her hair would only take more time.
Emerging from behind the curtain, she blinked at the sight of her recently caught Zorua - Zoro - standing protectively in front of her doorway and growling. “Hey, Zo, it’s okay. They’re my amis - my friends.” She reached down and, scooping him up, scratched behind his right ear; it was something she found out made him melt in the first few days of having him. Her fiery-tempered Zorua taken care of, she turned her attention to her friends who had been showing her other two Pokémon- Sweetie and Miraidon - the affection the two were made for before she had presented herself. “What’s going on? It’s gotta be something soit vraiment génial, soit vraiment mauvais.” Seeing her friends’ confusion, she realized she had spoken Kalosian and grimaced, “Sorry; translation is “really awesome or really bad”.”
“What makes you say that?” Carmine asked, curious.
“Because Drayton’s wide awake and it’s eight in the morning on a weekend,” was the shorter girl’s deadpan response, eliciting a laugh from said Dragon Trainer.
“Well, you’re not wrong,” Drayton shrugged, grinning. “I think it’s really awesome -“
“It’s not, though! It’s really bad!” Lacey fretted, wringing her hands together. “A couple Students came to get us -“ she gestured to the three slightly older Trainers, as Zoro climbed up Juliana’s arm to perch himself on his Trainer’s shoulder, “- but even we couldn’t dissuade him from doing it! He’s going to fall and the Academy’s going to be closed, and -“ she stopped when Drayton and Juliana each placed a hand on her shoulder, soothingly.
“Hey, you’re okay,” Juliana smiled kindly, rubbing the Fairy Type Trainer’s arm in a soothing manner.
“Yeah, chill, Lacey; they aren’t gonna close the School,” Drayton added.
Lacey flushed, “Sorry, I just - what if he dies?”
“What, exactement, is going on?” Juliana was really confused. Lacey was naturally a worrier, but she hadn’t seen the pinkette this frantic since she’d gotten back from the “field trip” to the Great Crater and the Fairy Type Trainer found out how close Juliana, Carmine, Kieran, and Briar had come to dying - all because of Briar’s stupidity and need to know everything.
“One of your -“ Carmine broke off, narrowing her eyes in thought. “Teachers? One of the Special Coaches you’ve brought over a couple times from Paldea has lost his mind.”
“…” Juliana blinked, truly confused now. “You do realize, oui, that that tells me absolument rien. Absolutely nothing. Zero. Zip. Zilch. Nada.” She threw her hands up in the air, being careful of the Pokémon perched on her but narrowly missing Lacey who ducked with a squeak as her other Pokémon walked into the living area from her bedroom area. “I didn’t request anyone until later this week, anyway, so I have no clue who you’re talking about or what they did to make you realize they’re folle - crazy.”
“He’s got green hair,” Carmine offered.
“The guy who gave you your adorable Sunflora,” Lacey added in a suddenly calm manner, gesturing to Sunny who preened.
“Da-“ the currently tricolour haired girl cut herself off with a cough, changing what she was going to say. “Brassius?” She narrowed her sky blue eyes at Drayton when he smirked at her knowingly, before her eyes flicked back to her other friends. “What did he do?” Zoro nuzzled his snout under her chin with a calming churr.
“Uh,” Carmine was suddenly silent, looking at Drayton.
“Dude was climbing the mountains in the Polar Biome, talking about climbing the Terarium Core to check it out,” Drayton cupped his hands behind his head with a shrug. “Honestly, if my Gramps wouldn’t beat my ass, I’d have tried it years ago.”
Juliana blanched, remembering the first time her sort-of Stepfather came to Blueberry Academy.
{~ Two months ago… ~}
Juliana looked over at the doors to the League Clubroom as they opened, admitting her not-so-secret favourite Paldean Gym Leader, Brassius, trailed by an overwhelmed looking Lacey. “I thought I might come see what this was about, since I was invited by a fellow true artist like Ana-garde… But my word!” The Grass Type Gym Leader gazed around the Clubroom with an impressed look. “The design of this room! It goes beyond all pedestrian understanding of what a room should be! Truly avant-garde!”
Juliana beamed, bidding the other League Member she’d been speaking to a good day before she met the Artist by the central table as he took long strides towards her, “ Bonjour , Brassius!” She nodded to Lacey who smiled relievedly with a thumbs up before leaving the Clubroom in a hurry.
Brassius gave her a wide smile she’d only seen him give her Adoptive Father, Hassel. “Juliana, I thank you for inviting me to this place,” he reached out to grasp her hands warmly.
Juliana shrugged, feeling sheepish as she led him to sit on a nearby couch, “Thank you for coming, Brassius! Merci beaucoup ! You and Papa were two of the first I thought of when Director Cyrano gave the go ahead for Special Coaches.”
Brassius waved a hand dismissively, “Your request came as a perfect opportunity! I only recently finished my latest piece, and so I rushed over to find a bit of rest and reprieve.”
Juliana nodded, agreeing, “A change of scenery is always nice, especially when it comes to changing modes from intense to relaxed.”
Crispin entered through the still open doors and immediately headed for her, “Hi, Juliana! I - hello,” he blinked as the Artazon Gym Leader suddenly had an arm draped around the - current - blunette.
Juliana didn’t notice the sharp look in the Artist’s grey eyes as she relaxed from her sudden tensing. She was comforted by the weight of the man’s arm, and smiled back at the Fire Elite, “Hi, Crispin!” She turned slightly to address the Paldean, “Brassius, this is my friend, Crispin. Crispin, this is Brassius, from the Artazon Gym in Paldea. Le Verdant Virtuoso , ” she pronounced carefully.
Brassius gave the young boy a dismissive look before he turned to the girl who had tucked herself more into his side, “It seems that no matter the Region, the wild creature known as the “adolescent” changes little, no?”
Juliana blinked up at the green haired man, feeling like she was missing something, “I… je suis très confus . I’m not sure what that means…” (T : I’m very confused)
Brassius hummed, moving his unoccupied arm in a sweeping gesture, “Hm. Your Father has told me you have made many new friends in your short time here, yes?”
Juliana nodded slowly, “Uh, oui . They’ve been great about helping me settle in, and helping me explore the Terarium. Have you -“
Brassius suddenly lit up, joy making his eyes brighter, “Yes! That dome! That magnificent Terarium! It’s the perfect “ mariage ” of environments, inspiring in me an unyielding desire to create!” He clenched his left fist, visibly trembling in excitement.
Crispin ignored the obvious dismissal, moving to sit beside Juliana on her open side. “Do you mean “marriage”?”
Brassius sneered at the boy, suddenly in front of him and wagging his finger, “No, I mean “ mariage ” - the perfect blending of different elements that results in great art! No word in our native tongue conveys such elegance!”
Juliana snickered, grabbing his wrist and moving down the couch before giving it a gentle tug, “But Kalosian is my native tongue.” She grinned at him when he returned his attention to her, “You literally said “marriage”, Brassius, but I do agree that the Kalosian language is more elegant, especially more so than Common. C'est une belle langue,” she sighed. (T : It’s a beautiful language)
Crispin whistled, impressed, “How many languages do you know, Juliana? That’s fire!”
Juliana turned pink, waving her hands in front of herself, “Um, pas important . What is important is what your thoughts on how Blueberry recreated the Terastal phenomenon, Brassius,” she was eager to change the subject.
Crispin frowned slightly, “Do you mean the big crystal orb in the middle of the Terarium?” He shrugged, “It adds spice, I guess.”
Brassius was visibly animated, exclaiming in excitement, “Ah, yes! I would love to climb up to that mysterious objet d’art dangling from the ceil of the dome. What sights I might gaze down upon from there!”
{~ Present Day ~}
Juliana groaned, running a hand down her face, “I’m… not surprised.” When her friends stared at her, visibly surprised, she elaborated, “He jumps down from the tallest windmill in Artazon onto the Battlefield when Challengers are ready to face him in a Gym Battle.”
“He what?!” Lacey gaped, yellow eyes wide.
“B-but why?!” Carmine buried her hands in her dual-hued hair.
Juliana scratched her earlobe as she sighed, “He says it’s to give an added depth to his Battles, and it does - but my Papa says he just likes being dramatic and scaring Trainers.” She waved a hand dismissively, “I’ll take Drayton with me and go talk to him. Although,” she hummed, “he’s probably already made it to the top of the mountain, if not to the Core.”
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