Archive of Our Own ^beta

In almost anywhere she found herself, Eri was always seen as the big sister of the group, whether this be within her group of close friends, or with the students of Uva Academy. This wasn’t just because she was often the oldest of the group (at least when it came to the young adult students, anyway, as Uva Academy accepted students of all ages with the only prerequisite being passing primary school), but because of the way she was brought up. She actually had quite a few younger siblings of her own, and like many eldest daughters, found herself subject to parentification.

Of course, due to her parents’ homophobia she had stopped coming home from school for breaks a long time ago and had cut off all contact with them as soon as she was legally old enough to no longer need them in her life. This unfortunately meant that she also cut off contact with her younger siblings as well-albeit unintentionally-but she knew that she couldn’t keep living a lie, and staying for her sibling’s sake would just end up hurting them in the long run. Thankfully all of her younger siblings were now old enough to attend Uva Academy as well, and since their parents had decided to send them all as soon as they were old enough (despite making Eri herself wait until her mid-teens to attend) she got to see them pretty regularly.

Unfortunately, her parents had decided that the best explanation to give her younger siblings on why she left was because she was a bad person and didn’t want to see them anymore. Out of her six siblings, three had all but dismissed this narrative, even if they may have at least partially believed it at one point and were slowly cutting off contact with their parents as well. Two of her siblings still weren’t sure who to believe, and while they did keep a relationship with Eri they weren’t as close to her as they once were and still kept in close contact with Eri. One of her siblings, however, was firmly wrapped up in lies, and still refused to speak with Eri. This seemed unlikely to change.

Despite the fact that she was busy with schoolwork, training, and helping out with the younger students as part of her post-Team Star readmittance plan, she always made time for both her biological siblings and the friend whom she had grown so close to that they were practically her siblings. These people were her family, and she wasn’t going to let them down for any reason.

Although Paldea was known for having fairly mild weather-and Uva Academy was situated in what was considered to be rather calm climate-wise-that didn’t mean they were immune from inclement weather. Due to a tropical storm that was expected to hit off the coast, the news had called for a weather warning, and because of this, the school was now in preparation mode.

The storm wasn’t expected to be too dangerous to even those on the coast, and because Uva Academy was far enough inward, they weren’t expecting anything more than some strong wind, rain, and possibly some hail, but that didn’t mean there was no preparation that needed to take place. All students were expected to either return to Uva Academy and stay there for the time being, shelter in place somewhere else and report this to the school, or if they were somewhere where the storm was not expected to be a problem they were to report their location to the school so that all students could be accounted for.

There was also the issue of Uva Academy’s older infrastructure. The school had been around for an incredibly long time, and while they had added on a lot of additions like a better power system and elevators, that didn’t mean there wasn’t a lot of outdated technology to rely on. These things could have problems on good days, so flashlights and other supplies were being handed out to students in preparation. An evacuation plan and a plan for if they needed to shelter in the basement was created and distributed to the students, but the faculty felt the need for either of these plans was unlikely, and at most they may experience a blackout or some leaky ceilings.

As usual, Eri had volunteered to help with the efforts of getting everything ready and making sure students were set to deal with the storm. Knowing how good she was with those younger than her, Director Clavell had sent her to help with the younger students of Uva Academy. This included the 10-11 dorms, the 12-14 dorms, and the dorms meant for students that had disabilities or mental health concerns that made them more vulnerable, as he figured the 15-17 dorms and the dorms meant for adult students would be fine with just having supplies being dropped off and being briefed on the situation. Of course, she would be working alongside the faculty members and a few other selected students, but Clavell had figured it wouldn’t hurt to have someone like her around to help out.

Besides allowing for her to help out, this would also give Eri the opportunity to check in on her friends, as with the exception of Ortega (who was living in the 10-11 dorms, anyway, so she’d still have a chance to see him), they had all been placed in the additional needs dorms after the Team Star incident so that the faculty could keep a closer eye on them (although Atticus had already been living there beforehand due to his autism). Eri herself had been given the choice to stay there if she wished, but seeing as she was over eighteen Clavell didn’t feel that he and the other faculty members should be the one to make that decision for her, and she decided to stay in the adult dorms so she could be closer to Carmen and have her girlfriend over for sleepovers if she wanted to. Typically students were forbidden to have their significant others spend the night in their dorm (unless there would be other people there and they had cleared it with the faculty first), but Clavell felt it wasn’t his place to control what consenting adults did with each other, so those staying in the adult dorms were exempt from this rule.

They did the 12-14 dorms first, correctly figuring that they would take the least time out of the three. While a few students did need reassurance regarding the upcoming storm, most were either completely unconcerned about the storm, or wanting to put up a tough act and refusing to believe they needed any reassurance. The biggest concern of that age group seemed to be about losing power and internet and how they were supposed to keep themselves occupied if the storm were to take out those two things.

The additional needs dorms didn’t take to long, either, as most of the students were able to manage their concerns, and with how unstable the power could be normally anyone that required electricity for medical equipment already had solutions in place and were completely prepared in case they did lose power. Even the vast majority of students with anxiety were able to cope with their feelings in a helpful way, and while a few had gone as far to block their windows in case the wind picked up too much, they seemed to have things under control, and didn’t need too much reassurance, either.

Eri took extra care to check in on her friends as she knew their situations pretty well and could tell who would have problems with what in regard to the storm. Mela actually liked storms and was planning on watching the whole thing from her window. Penny had taken a scientific approach, tracking the storm on radar and going as far as to look back on historical weather patterns for the area, determining the chance of the storm being in any way devastating was slim to none. Atticus and Giacomo had decided to hunker down in the latter’s room, and while this wasn’t technically allowed considering they were a couple, seeing how anxious both of them could be at times (especially Giacomo, even if he didn’t want to admit it), she decided to give them a pass just this once, warning them that what they were doing was technically against the rules but as long as they behaved she wouldn’t say anything, but it did seem like they planned to do nothing more than wait out the storm together.

They had decided to save the 10-11 dorms for last, figuring they’d take the longest. Considering it was still pretty early in the semester, a lot of these kids were still getting used to spending an extended period of time away from their parents for the first time. It was becoming more and more common for parents to give their children very little independence for the first part of their lives, before sending them off to an academy or out on their journey as a trainer with little preparation and expecting them to be okay. Eri had read an article about it online fairly recently, and while it seemed to be a problem all over the world, the troubling trend was apparently most prevalent in Unova, Galar, and of course, Paldea.

Oddly enough, kids with somewhat unstable home lives and kids whose parents had worked hard to teach them independence adapted the best, while kids in the middle of those two groups had the hardest time adjusting. There were a few kids Eri was aware of that were currently in foster care, or constantly being shifted around to different family members for a myriad of reasons, and they were used to constant change, many of them seemed happy to finally have some consistency in their lives in the form of academy life. The ones that had been taught independence by their parents usually felt confident in doing things by themselves and often enjoyed the freedom of being able to do what they wanted, despite typically having very close relationships with their parents.

Eri certainly didn’t mind helping out with the younger kids. She was a big sister, after all, and despite her often-frightening appearance, she was a fairly nurturing person by nature. Plus, both her youngest sister and Ortega lived in the 10-11 dorms so she would have a chance to check in on them.

Eri wasn’t worried about either of them too much, especially her youngest sister. Despite being just ten years old, the girl was incredibly strong-willed, and knowledgeable in the ways of the world, already beginning to defy her parents and their narrow world views, and having no trouble fitting in at Uva academy, or standing up to anyone who gave her or her friends trouble. She took after her older sister in both personality and type preference and was already making her abilities abundantly clear with the help of her Croagunk.

Ortega wasn’t exactly the type to need a lot of reassurance, either. From what he had told the rest of Team Star, his parents weren’t exactly the most caring people, and they often left him in the care of nannies when he was young. He was also incredibly intelligent for his age, skipping a few grades in primary school, and being allowed to enroll at the age of eight, despite Uva Academy typically only allowing students ten and older despite any unusual circumstance (of course, the generous donation made by Ortega’s parents had likely helped to sway the former director into agreeing to this). Despite being a bit younger than his peers, he always did perfectly fine in his classes academically, and had it not been the pressure from bullies driving him away from his studies, he would have likely passed his classes with no problem at all.

Seeing as the youngest students were typically the most emotionally vulnerable, Clavell had decided to send only the people he considered the most comforting and compassionate to help get them prepared for the storm. This included Hassel, Miriam, Eri, a couple of other adult students (most of which had kids or even grandkids of their own, having chosen to only enroll in Uva academy later in life for various reasons), and Clavell himself. The faculty members that Clavell had deemed to a bit less compassionate-or simply had their own anxieties that he worried would rub off on the students-were tasked with helping the other dorms, or working tasks that didn’t require helping students directly, along with some student volunteers that Clavell had sorted into the same category.

By the time they got down to the 10-11 dorms the sky was already dark, and the rain had already started, albeit lightly. They wanted to try and get things finished before the storm was in full swing, but it was also important to make sure the young students were prepared, both physically and emotionally. It was just a good thing that they had gotten so many volunteers to help out with this floor in particular.

Eri took the block of the 10-11 dorms that housed both her sister and Ortega. When her sister had enrolled, Eri had requested that she be placed in the same general area as Ortega so she could keep an eye on both of them, and seeing as this request had come after the Team Star scandal was mostly resolved, Clavell had approved it without issue. He’d also approved the team’s request to have those of them living in the additional needs dorm to be placed in close vicinity as well.

Figuring both her sister and Ortega would be mostly fine with the storm, Eri decided to start with the other students first. Predictably they all needed a fair bit of reassurance that the storm wasn’t going to destroy the school or put them in any real danger, that the evacuation plan was really more of a formality than anything else, and at worst they might lose internet and power. This was especially true for the handful of transfer students who came from places more prone to large and dangerous storms, such as Alola and parts of Unova. Eri could never figure out why parents would send children so young to a boarding school in another region when they could easily start them out in a school within their region and have them transfer later, or at least wait until they were in their teens to send them so far away. It wasn’t like Uva Academy had any sort of age limit that necessitated starting their schooling so young, unlike Blueberry academy and a few other schools she knew of.

It was already raining pretty heavily when Eri was finishing up with the other students and only had her sister and Ortega to finish up with. Judging by the rain and the howls of the wind she wouldn’t been too surprised if the power went out soon, so she needed to hurry things up. Even if the two remaining students likely didn’t need any emotional support she still needed to bring them supplies and quickly go over the evacuation plan on the very slim chance they would need it.

Her sister was quick enough, having already gathered up basic supplies herself when first hearing about the storm, and planning to just wait it out, just as Eri had expected. Although the girl could be impulsive at times due to her age, she liked to be prepared to deal with these sorts of things ahead of time and showed a high level of maturity when it came to taking care of herself.

After she was done checking on her sister, that left just Ortega. Eri figured this would be quick enough. After all, Ortega had already been here for about two years at this point and was pretty mature for his age. He didn’t require a lot of support.

As she had done with each student before, she knocked on Ortega’s door and announced why she was there, and like most students had, he let her in without resistance. She’d had a few students refuse to let her in at first-either because they were scared of the upcoming storm and didn’t want anyone to know, or because they were just stubborn-but Director Clavell had given her a master key for those very situations, so it wasn’t like they could keep her out forever.

Compared to most of the other students in the hall, Ortega kept his dorm room rather clean. The bedroom area was decorated in a very posh way with pink silk blankets and throw pillows on the bed, and a fancy Pokemon bed beside it for his beloved Dachsbun. In contrast, the desk and kitchen areas of his room were covered in machine parts and half-finished projects, but they did have a certain order to them. Plus, while the space occupied by his projects could be considered to be messy to an outside person, no part of his room could be considered truly dirty as he kept up with basic housekeeping. His room smelled slightly of perfume, a vast distinction from most of the rooms in the 10-11 dorms where the kids were still used to having their parents clean and make sure they washed and hadn’t quite grasped the ability to take care of themselves and their living space just yet.

“I’m here to drop off supplies in case the storm knocks out power or otherwise causes damage.” She told him. “I’m also supposed to go over the evacuation plan with you on the slim chance we end up needing it and check in on your emotional wellbeing.”

“I understand that is the protocol, but I assure you, I’m all set here.” He replied. “I built a small generator a while back that I can use to power any of my devices that I may need if the power is to go out, and I’m assuming that the evacuation plan is similar enough to the ones devised in the past that I can follow it with only basic instruction.”

“I figured that much. But how are you doing emotionally? We haven’t had any really big storms like this in a few years-so before you even started attending Uva Academy-so I have no idea how you feel about them.”

Sometimes it was easy to forget how young Ortega actually was. The second youngest of the group, Mela, was four years older than him, with Giacomo, Penny, and Atticus being slightly older but still close in age, and Eri being a few years older than them. Ortega always did his best to try and keep up with his friends, but his age meant that he was physically and emotionally behind them, and no matter how mature he tried to act, he was still only ten. Of course, they didn’t treat him differently than the rest of the group, but sometimes his age made itself evident.

“Why would I not be fine?” He asked. “I’ve basically been taking care of myself since I was pretty young, and now is now different. I mean, big storms like this aren’t frequent in Paldea, but its not the first time I’ve dealt with a little rain.”

“Ortega, I know you try to act like the rest of us, but the truth is you’re still pretty young and you need to accept that. If you’re worried about the storm that’s fine, but you need to be honest about it.”

“I told you, I’m fine. Just give me the supplies you were sent to bring me, and you can be on your way.”

All of a sudden lightning struck, plunging the building into darkness. Ortega let out a scream, clinging to Eri. His Dachsbun, startled by the commotion, let out a bark as well.”

“Ortega, are you okay?” Asked Eri, searching her pockets for her Rotom phone so she could make use of the flashlight function.

Upon digging the device out of her pocket and activating the flashlight function she shined it on the younger student. He was crying although it was hard to tell if it was out of embarrassment for his sudden outburst or out of genuine fear. She figured it was probably some combination of both.

“Ortega, and you alright?”

He shook his head, seemingly incapable of speech at the moment.

Eri’s Rotom phone suddenly buzzed with a message.

Attention students! The power in the building has been knocked out for the time being, and we will work to get it back up as soon as possible, but we are not sure when exactly that will be. For safety reasons, except for emergencies, please remain in your current location until the power comes back on or you are given further instructions. While the emergency lights in the stairwells are functioning properly, we would like to minimize traffic in case of emergency. Additionally, please switch your Rotom phones to battery saving mode and refrain from using them as much as possible, as this will be our main form of communication until the power comes back on. Student safety is our main priority right now, and we thank you for following the provided instructions. Best, Director Clavell.

At least the school was trying to get things up and running again, but that didn’t help the current situation.

“Are you afraid of the storm?” She asked Ortega.

Once again the boy shook his head.

“So it’s the dark, then, correct?”

This time she got a nod in response.

That made enough sense. Ortega would never go out with the rest of Team Star on their after dark training trips, and while they had always figured it was due to being younger and requiring more sleep, a fear of the dark explained it even better.

Eri had enough experience dealing with scared kids to know that trying to dismiss their fears as irrational and trying to convince them that there was no logical reason to be scared was one of the worst things you could do. Ortega was incredibly smart and likely knew that there wasn’t a lot of logical reason to be afraid of the dark (especially not in his dorm room where they knew there were no frightening Pokemon hiding), but that didn’t fix his fear, and reminding him of this wouldn’t help. At the same time, she had to make sure that she didn’t make his fear feel too rational, either, as she didn’t want to feed into it.

“I’m here for you, I promise.” She assured the boy, holding him close. “There’s no reason to be embarrassed about being afraid of the dark, a lot of kids your age are. In fact, a fair number of adults are as well. I’m not leaving you until the storm is over, I’ll protect you.”

Ortega nodded, seemingly a bit calmer. He trusted Eri and knew that she was more than capable of protecting him and the rest of Team Star if she needed to.

“Now, I have to switch over from my phone flashlight to an actual flashlight as Director Clavell sent out a message telling us he wants us to preserve phone battery in case he needs to communicate with us, so I’m going to have to let you go for a second so I can do that, alright?”

He nodded again, shrugging out of Eri’s embrace. “I’m fine, just make sure you turn on the flashlight before turning off the light on your phone please.”

Eri was already planning on do that and made sure that the room wasn’t completely dark at any time. The flashlight was a lot brighter than the light on her phone and served to illuminate the room a bit better.

“Thanks.” Said Ortega, attempting to compose himself a bit more as he began to calm down a little more. “That’s a lot better.”

“Why don’t you let one of your Pokemon out?” She suggested. “Dachsbun is probably a good choice.”

Ortega nodded, sending the Pokemon out of his ball. The canine looked around the room at first, a bit surprised to see the once bright space now relatively dark, before noticing his trainer seemingly in distress. Despite the Pokemon being fairly small, he still managed to tackle the boy to the ground before licking his face.

“Dachsbun, get off of me!” Try as he might, Ortega just couldn’t be mad at the Pokemon, despite how much he hated being pushed to the ground like that. “Your saliva is so sticky; I don’t want it on my face!”

The Pokemon gave his trainer a few more licks before he was satisfied and let the boy go. Dachsbun wagged his tail happily as he trotted over to Eri, hoping for some attention from her as well.

“Good boy!” Eri scratched the canine behind his ears before turning to Ortega. “Does he always get like this when you send him out? I mean, outside of battle. He seems pretty obedient when you let him out to fight.”

The boy shrugged. “Only when he’s excited-or occasionally when he’s worried about me-which is almost all the time. He loves people but he likes battling even more so he’ll listen and be calm if it means he gets to fight, but otherwise he’s rarely calm.”

Eri didn’t have any canine Pokemon of her own, but from her experience with those owned by her friends they all seemed to act like this at times. Even the most highly trained Growlithe or a typically disinterested Houndoom would go into puppy mode if faced with the right trigger. It was just something that was wired into their brains.

“So, are you doing better now that it’s a little lighter in here and you’ve got your Pokemon out?”

“Yeah, I think I’m doing alright now. Well, better than I was earlier, at least. Sorry, I didn’t mean to freak out like that, I just got spooked when the lights went out so suddenly.”

“It’s fine, you have nothing to apologize for. I know you’re more mature than a lot of kids your age, and you try to keep up with the rest of us as much as you can, but you’re still ten and going to act like a ten-year-old sometimes. Besides, even teens and adults get scared of things that don’t seem logical sometimes, its not something we really have a lot of control over.”

“Mother always said I was too mature to be afraid of the dark, it was a childish fear after all. I was able to convince her that I had gotten over it-of course it helped that she never paid too much attention to me or got involved in my life enough to figure it out-and I suppose I may have convinced myself that I had gotten over it as well. It isn’t easy having only friends that are older than you, it can be hard to relate sometimes. I try my best, but I don’t want everyone thinking of me as just some annoying little kid that follows them around.”

That made sense, too. From what she had been told, Eri knew that Ortega’s parents didn’t really like the idea of him actually acting like a kid. It was pretty clear that they had little interest in actually being parents, but still had a child simply because that was something they felt people were supposed to do, especially people of wealth like themselves. They didn’t want a child to parent, they just wanted a well-mannered heir that they could show off but not have to deal with otherwise.

“I thought we talked about how you really should take anything your parents say with a giant grain of salt.” She told him. “Generally, the whole Team Star crew isn’t known for having the best relationships with their parents, which in part is why we all joined up in the first place.

“And don’t worry about any of us thinking less of you because you’re younger. When we initially formed Team Star, we didn’t form such a close bond because we were close in age or even shared the same interests, we did so because we all found ourselves in the same situation. Just because the bullying situation has gotten better, and the new administration actually cares about students doesn’t mean we’re going to suddenly stop being friends because we’re not all the same.”

She figured it would probably be a good idea for Ortega to make some friends his own age, despite still being close to the other former Team Star bosses, as he could benefit from having friends that were in the same classes as him and that he could relate to a little more. Eri figured she ought to introduce him to her sister some time considering they lived in the same hall and shared a few classes.

He sighed. “I suppose you’re right. We’re not going to stop all being friends just because I have a few childish fears still hanging on; that’s exactly the kind of thing we wanted to avoid doing when we started Team Star. But I still would rather keep this a secret if at all possible.”

“I’m not planning on telling anyone else about this if you don’t want to, but I still think it would be beneficial for you to tell the rest of the team, as they can’t help you with it if they don’t know about it. You don’t want to be dealing with this fear for the rest of your life, especially when you have people who care about you and are willing to help you try and get over it.”

He knew Eri was right. His friends would never make fun of him for something like this, and they would want to help him. When someone in their group had an issue they all worked together to try and resolve it, that’s just how their friendship worked. Still, he wasn’t too keen on a secret he worked so hard to maintain getting out like that.

“I know none of you guys would ever pick on me for something like this, but I would still prefer if it didn’t get out, as even if the bullying problem has relatively subsided here, I do worry about someone outside of our circle hearing about it, and me being associated with it. Besides, do you really think this is something our friends will be able to help with? I mean, none of us are experts on phobias, we’re just a bunch of students that all have our own problems and became friends solely based on that fact and the situation we were placed in. Had the former administration been the least bit competent in dealing with the bullying situation none of us would have even become friends in the first place.”

Eri knew he was right about that. The formation of their friendship had been purely situational, and had it not been for the bullying and their own pressures from their personal lives and families, they likely would’ve never become friends. Still, she didn’t feel this fact diminished their friendship in its current state at all.

“Nobody is going to give you a hard time about this, and if they do, I will take care of it. And I’m sure we can help you get over your fear of the dark. It’s not uncommon at your age, so it’s perfectly possible that some of the other members of our group dealt with it when they were your age, and if we were able to get Giacomo over his fear of calling people on the phone, we can help you with this. Not to mention, Uva Academy is taking a lot of steps forward when it comes to student’s mental health, so if we can’t help you, the school should be able to find someone who can.”

Ortega wanted to avoid bringing this issue to the attention to the school if possible, as he knew his parents would most likely find out that he had lied about getting over his fear of the dark early on. Although he knew that he shouldn’t take everything his parents said to heart, it was hard to distance himself from them at his age, and part of him still yearned to gain their approval.

He sighed. “Fine, I know you won’t drop this issue until I promise to do something about it, so I will. I’ll talk to the group about it later on, but I don’t want this getting out to the general population of the academy. And I certainly don’t want the school administration getting involved in my little personal problems.”

Eri planned on letting Ortega try and do things his way at first, but if his fear of the dark didn’t seem to improve, or it became clear that said fear was linked to a larger issue that required professional help, she would have no choice but to tell Director Clavell about it. Ortega would probably hate her for a while if that did happen, but it would be for his own good and he’d eventually realize that.

“Thank you, all I ask is that you try and deal with your problems instead of burying them deep inside until they inevitably bubble to the surface.” She told him, glancing out the window. “It looks like the storm might be starting to move away. It isn’t raining nearly as hard as it was in the beginning, and I haven’t heard thunder or seen lightening in a bit.”

“Or we could just be in the eye of the storm.” He replied. “Of course, it doesn’t help much either way, as its getting close to nighttime and it’ll still be dark out, even if the sky is clear. The storm being gone won’t change the fact that the power’s out.”

“Would you try and just see the bright side for a minute? Yes, the power is still out, and it is getting close to nighttime, but if the storm has passed us by that means they can at least get started on trying to get the power back on. Besides, didn’t you mention having built a generator? Can’t you use that to at least power some of your electronics?”

He shrugged. “Yes, I did build a generator, but it doesn’t work super well yet. I didn’t have a lot of time to build it since I put it together for this exact storm, and since I didn’t have time to go out and buy the exact parts I needed most of it came from stuff I had around my room, or old electronics sourced from people who were planning on throwing them away. Besides, I may be a genius, but that doesn’t change the fact that I’m only ten.”

“Oh, I figured you would have already built one earlier on, especially since a generator seems pretty easy in comparison to the Starmobiles you built earlier on. I mean, I know Revavroom is used to power a lot of vehicles in Paldea but I’ve never seen them used in battle vehicles before, especially with those typed attacks.”

“Nothing I build is easy, but timing, the availability for parts, and the kinds of schematics and designs I am able to locate online play a big part in it. Modified battle vehicles used in Varoom fighting battles may be a niche hobby, but it is nothing new-I wanted to join the junior league competition when I was younger, but mother declared it a cultureless and undignified pastime and banned me from doing so-and I simply gave the sport an upgrade based on some designs I found online. But in that case I had plenty of time to source materials, perfect my designs, and go through as much trial and error as I needed. Perhaps if I wasn’t so busy with my studies I would be able to build a proper generator, but mother and father are planning on transferring me if I fail another semester.”

The threat of transfer by parents if grades did not improve was something the majority of the former Team Star bosses were dealing with. Eri was the only one completely immune to this as being over the age of eighteen meant that her parents couldn’t force her to transfer to another school simply because they thought it would improve her grades.

“I guess I don’t really know that much about engineering at all.” She chuckled. “Do you want me to check the radar on my Rotom phone to see if the storm is actually moving away or not? I sort of expected the storm would knock out the power, so I charged it fully beforehand, and I think I have a power bank in my room if it comes to that.”

“Do whatever you want. I really don’t care if the storm is moving away or not, it being gone doesn’t just instantly bring the power back.”

Eri pulled her phone out of her pocket, turning it on and loading up the weather app. Sure enough, it appeared that the storm was heading further into land and would likely break up over Area Zero.

“Looks like its passing us by.” She told him. “If everything goes according to the weather predictions than the storm should be passed soon and will probably break completely as soon as it hits Area Zero.”

Ortega seemed somewhat relieved. “Well, that’s something, I guess. It doesn’t fix the issue with the power, but at least it’s some good news.”

Eri’s phone suddenly buzzed with a message from Director Clavell requesting that she and the others check in with the students in the dorms that they were assigned to deal with now that the storm had calmed down a bit.

“Clavell wants me to go and check in on the other students, is that alright with you?”

Ortega shrugged. “Sure, I’m completely fine here by myself. The storm is calming down, I’m mostly over the panic of the lights going out, and now that I have a decent flashlight I should be all set.”

He would have preferred that Eri stayed there with him, but he wasn’t about to admit it. Besides, he had Dachsbun with him, and unlike most canines he had met, the Pokemon wasn’t at all scared of thunder (although the vacuum was a very different story).

“You can come with me if you want. I don’t want you to stay here alone if it would stress you out.”

He shook his head. “No, I’m fine. Just go and check on the other students.”

Eri shot him a suspicious look, but didn’t say anything as she exited his dorm, closing the door behind her.

Flash wasn’t a TM that was available in Paldea (at least without a lot of money and effort), but Ortega would’ve killed to have a Pokemon able to light up his room and keep it that way for a while. He hoped his flashlight would last until the power came back on or it was light outside, but he didn’t have high hopes for it.

Ortega didn’t remember actually falling asleep, but when he opened his eyes it was light outside, so he figured he must have done so at some point. His flashlight, predictably, had died at some point during the night, but at this point he didn’t need it.

Although he had left the lights on before the power went out, they hadn’t turned back on. He assumed that the power must not have come back on yet, flicking the light switch a few times to test his theory, finding it to be correct. He wasn’t overly concerned about it currently, but it was still pretty annoying, and limited the activities he could do.

Checking his phone he saw a message from Director Clavell sent to all students informing them that the power was still out for the time being, but there was a crew working on restoring it at the moment and it was predicted to be back on by the evening. Classes were predictably canceled, and while the cafeteria would still be serving food, options would be limited to simple sandwiches or other foods that didn’t require cooking or refrigeration, as anything that needed to be kept cold had been exposed to unsafe temperatures for long enough that it needed to be thrown out. Limited power had been restored to the nurse’s office and a few other locations, and a Rotom phone charging station had been set up in the entrance hall, but charging was limited to fifteen minutes per person, and all other electricity was reserved for those who needed it for medical reasons.

Finding no reason to continue staying in his dorm-and feeling a bit hungry-Ortega decided to head down to the cafeteria to get something to eat. He figured he’d let Dachsbun stay out of his Pokeball, as he’d be back to feed the canine and the rest of his Pokemon after he got himself some breakfast.

The cafeteria was understandably busy, seeing as there weren’t many other places to go, and due to the fact that many of the meals that could be made quickly or in a large batch required cooking or food that was determined to be spoiled due to lack of refrigeration, the cafeteria workers worked tirelessly to try and feed the long line of students waiting for breakfast.

“Hey, Ortie!” Penny called to him from across the room, waving him over to where the rest of the former Team Star bosses were seated. He’d never been a fan of that nickname, but he tolerated Penny calling him it because she was one of his closest friends.

He made his way over to the table where his friends were seated, sitting in the spot they had saved for him between Eri and Giacomo. Although he was a bit hungry, the sandwiches his friends had in front of him looked rather unappetizing, and he didn’t want to wait in such a long line, so he figured he’d just see what he had back in his dorm or wait until the cafeteria was running at a higher capacity.

“Sorry we didn’t grab you a sandwich.” Said Giacomo. “I asked for one for you, but since supplies are low and they can’t make them fast enough as it is, its only one per person.”

“You may have my sandwich if you wish.” Offered Atticus, motioning to the untouched sandwich in front of him. “I cannot stand the texture of jam, but since they are not taking orders right now, I was not permitted to request one without it.”

If anyone else had offered in that way Ortega would have assumed they were just saying they didn’t want the sandwich so he wouldn’t feel bad about taking it when offered, but he knew Atticus was genuine about not wanting it. Due to his sensory issues, the ninja would straight up not eat at all rather than consuming something he took issue with the taste, smell, or texture of, and the sandwich would likely be tossed if Ortega didn’t accept it. Atticus did keep food in his room that he considered to be safe options-including some meals that didn’t require heat or refrigeration-as while the cafeteria usually had at least one option he could eat, he liked to be prepared on the off-chance they didn’t. He had likely assumed that would be the case due to the power outage, but still opted to come down for the social aspect of mealtime and would probably have something to eat back in his dorm afterwards.

“If you don’t want it, I’ll take it!” Said Giacomo. “A single peanut butter and jelly sandwich isn’t exactly a filling breakfast.”

“I’ll take the sandwich, thanks Atticus.” Replied Ortega. “And knowing how the food here isn’t going to improve at least until the evening, if not later, how about we all go out for lunch? My treat. Mother and Father issued me a credit card in order to buy whatever I may need, and rarely question anything on the statement, especially something as small as buying food out for everyone.”

“I don’t think that’s going to be an option.” Said Eri. “According to the Paldea News Network most of Mesagoza lost power for at least a few hours yesterday, meaning the most restaurants have had to throw away almost all of their food, and those who haven’t are already booked solid with reservations all day from people that live in the city and had all of their food spoil as well. Plus, Director Clavell asked that all students stay on campus if possible, as he wants anyone with Pokemon that may be of use to help clean up the campus of tree branches and other debris that may have fallen during the storm. He wants students to take responsibility for the campus as a whole and doesn’t want to let them come and go as they please until it is taken care of.”

Clavell had recently imposed a lot of policies that he felt would strengthen the sense of community at Uva Academy, and hopefully avoid another big bullying incident like the one that had occurred before he’d taken on the role of director. One of these was expecting students as a whole to take a certain level of responsibility for the school itself, and the maintaining of it. He wouldn’t force any students to clean up the debris from the storm, but he would reduce some privileges for the student body as a whole until it was done, making it so that if students wanted to go out and train they would have to put in effort, so that they would have to help rather than brushing this off as someone else’s job, or just waiting for their fellow students to do it for them.

Mela sighed. “Yeah I get what he’s trying to do with forming a sense of community and all, but some of these policies are really annoying. I mean, what happens if nobody volunteers to help out? Are we just all stuck here until then?”

Eri shrugged. “I think that may be the point of this whole thing. He wants us all to work together as a community but doesn’t want to directly force us to do so, and by restricting travel he can do just that. Its about giving us a common goal to focus on while stepping back enough that he doesn’t interfere with our natural socializing.

“Carmen and I are actually planning on meeting up and doing some work together near the back area of campus where a lot of trees got knocked down. You’re all willing to join us if you want, as I’m sure we’d all like to get this cleaned up as soon as possible so we’re allowed to leave campus again.”

Eri and Carmen’s fighting type Pokemon were all physically strong enough to haul away rubble and break up anything that was too big to remove in one trip, so it only seemed logical to the two of them to help out. Plus, they liked to take any chance they got to spend time together.

“My Veevee’s probably wouldn’t be of much help.” Said Penny. “Plus, Zappy and Hydro have been fighting a bit recently, so I was thinking about taking today to try and get to the bottom of their behavior.”

“I fail to see how my Pokemon would be of much use, either.” Agreed Atticus.

Giacomo nodded. “I made the mistake of letting my Mabosstiff out to feed him during the storm, and he kinda got scared by the thunder and tore up my room, so I have to clean that up. Plus my dad said that if I can keep my grades up until this summer he’ll take me to that big electronic music festival they have in Levincia every year, so I was planning on doing some studying as well. You can borrow Kingambit if you want, though; he’s pretty strong.”

“Unless you’re letting me burn stuff to get rid of it, my Pokemon won’t be of much help, either.” Added Mela.

Ortega knew that while fairy types weren’t typically known for high physical strength, his Pokemon certainly could prove useful in a task like this. Hatterene could easily move heavy objects with her psychic powers, and Azumarill’s Huge Power gave even a lot of fighting types a run for their money when it came to her physical strength. Despite this, considering everyone else had an excuse to not be there, he didn’t want to go and be a third wheel to Eri and Carmen. That would just be a bit awkward.

“Neither myself nor my Pokemon possess a lot of physical strength, and I fear I would get in the way of things more that I would actually help.” He told her. “Perhaps I should get a jump on my homework as best as I can without the internet to help me. I’m not currently behind on any of my subjects, but I don’t think it would hurt to get ahead, either.”

Eri shrugged. “Suit yourselves. Just don’t come complaining to me if this takes a while due to not enough people helping out, and you’re stuck on campus for a few days. I’m finished with breakfast, so I’m going to head off to meet with Carmen, see you all at lunch, I guess.”

As she left, Ortega secretly hoped that she had forgotten about the previous night and him admitting being afraid of the dark. That way he would never have to bring the issue up with his friends and would just be able to go back to dodging the issue and hoping things would just resolve themselves eventually. Of course, he knew from experience that Eri wasn’t the forgetful type, but part of him hoped that just this once she would be too caught up in everything that was going on and overlook his issues.

The sandwich he’d gotten was subpar at best, and a far cry from the fancy food that Ortega was used to having, but it was better than nothing. He hoped lunch would be a bit better, but considering the Cafeteria probably still wouldn’t be running at full capacity, and there was no way the campus would be in good enough shape for Clavell to be satisfied and let the students travel as they pleased, that seemed pretty unlikely.

After he finished his breakfast and he and the rest of the former Team Star bosses headed their separate ways, Ortega headed back to his room to feed his Pokemon before getting a start on some of his homework that wasn’t due for a few days. Perhaps this would be a good opportunity to try and get some of his schoolwork done so he’d have more time to focus on other things when the power was back on, and he could leave campus again. His grades were by no means terrible thus far this year, but he near his parents wouldn’t get off his back about his academic performance until his grades were perfect, or as close to that as humanly possible.

Ortega was so focused on his schoolwork that he hadn’t noticed noon had approached until his watch beeped (his friends liked to tease him about still having a battery-powered wristwatch, but they weren’t laughing now when they were trying their best to conserve the charge on their phones which they had grown accustomed to using to keep track of time while his watch was still going strong), signifying that it was now twelve. With a sigh he closed his notebook, hoping the lines for food wouldn’t be so long this time.

As he made his way to the cafeteria, Ortega suddenly felt a large hand on his shoulder. He let out a yelp, slipping away from the unknow person’s grasp, only to turn and see Eri standing behind him.

“Don’t scare me like that!” He snapped. “I’m already on edge from not sleeping great last night, and you sneaking up on me doesn’t help.”

“Sorry, I called out your name when I first saw you, but I guess its too loud for you to hear me across the room. I had to get your attention somehow.”

“Maybe you could have just walked closer before calling out to me a second time rather than deciding the next best course of action would be to sneak up behind me. Why did you even feel the need to get my attention in the first place? Its not like I wasn’t going to be meeting you and everyone else in the cafeteria in a few minutes anyway.”

“I just wanted to talk to you before we got in there, as you really need to talk to the rest of the team about what I brought up last night. If you’re embarrassed about the whole thing you obviously don’t have to tell them in the cafeteria, but we still need to figure out some time to bring it up.”

“This is my issue, and I’m handling it just fine.” He barked. “I don’t need the rest of the team to help me with it, or even know. I’ve always figured these things out of my own and there’s no reason why I can’t do that now.”

“First of, you’re clearly not handling it just fine. Second, as a team we help each other out, but we can’t help you out if you don’t let us in. Third, you promised last night that you would tell them, are you really going to just go back on a promise like that?”

“Maybe I told you that, so you’d leave me alone and not push the issue. People lie sometimes, Eri, and at your age you really should know that and expect it.”

Eri sighed. Ortega was far too young to be this cynical but considering that he spent most of his time around either adults or older teens and didn’t really have any friends his own age it wasn’t surprising. Still, like with all her friends she knew exactly how he ticked and had a few tricks up her sleeve.

“I’ll bet you learned the whole lying to get someone to shut up about something from your parents, huh? I’ve only met them once but I’m pretty sure you’re starting to sound like them.”

He glared at her. “I’m nothing like my parents and I never will be. You’re just trying to get a reaction out of me, aren’t you?”

Yes. And it was working.

She shrugged. “Nope, just stating the facts. Some parents have a habit of lying to their kids to get them to shut up and go away, and your folks seem to be the exact type to do something like that. Its just a shame that you’re falling into the same pattern of behavior as them.”

The logical part of Ortega’s mind knew that Eri was up to something. The more emotional and impulsive side, however, was ready to take the bait, and it unfortunately seemed like that side was winning this time around.

“Fine, geeze, I’ll tell all our friends what I consider to be one of my most embarrassing secrets if you promise to quit comparing me to my parents like that.”

Eri’s demeanor quickly shifted. “Deal. Let’s head to lunch, I’m hungry. Did they ever manage to get the power back on? I didn’t receive and notifications about it, but I’ve been outside since breakfast, and this hall isn’t usually lit when its bright out anyway.”

Ortega shook his head. “Nope, power’s still not back on.”

She sighed. “Guess we’re having peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for lunch, too.”

Lunch was not, in fact, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, but that was only because the cafeteria had run out of bread and jelly. Instead, students were given a power bar, some carrots, a fruit cup, and a small bag of pretzels. While this likely did check all the boxes for a properly nutritious school lunch, it wasn’t ideal, and the cafeteria was basically scrapping the bottom of the barrel to get all the students fed. Eri wasn’t sure what they’d be getting for dinner if they either didn’t have power restored, or didn’t receive a food delivery, but it was most certainly going to get worse from here.

Ortega knew that the campus clean up efforts probably wouldn’t be finished by dinner time, so if the power wasn’t restored at least enough for the cafeteria to cook up a decent meal, he was going to sneak out into Mesagoza and see if he couldn’t get something better. That, or he’d see if Penny could convince her one friend that knew how to cook-Ortega could never remember his name, just that he was Turo’s son-to make something a bit more edible for the former Team Skull bosses.

“Me and Carmen have been making decent progress with the campus clean up efforts.” Eri told the rest of the team. “A lot of other students have pitched in, but the more people that join in the faster it will get done. So, what do you guys say? Care to join me after lunch to help with the cleaning efforts? Carmen won’t be there since she pulled a muscle a little while ago and was told to abstain from heavy physical activity for a week or so, so it’ll just be us working together.”

By this point, due to not being allowed to leave campus and having no classes or electricity to keep them occupied, the former Team Star bosses were starting to get pretty bored. They had already completed all the homework they could do without internet, and finished any other tasks they were planning on doing, so their afternoons were pretty empty. Plus, they all wanted to get out there and do some training, so if this was going to allow them to leave campus once again, they were all for it.

“I’m up for it.” Said Giacomo. “I’m bored out of my mind, and I’ll honestly do anything if it lets me get out of this dumb and back to training a bit faster.”

Penny nodded. “Yeah, I forgot how much of my life actually revolves around the internet until I was without it for a while. I know there’s probably something else I could be doing right now, but without my computer, I’m lost.”

Nobody was going to argue that Penny didn’t spend too much time on her computer, but they all had to agree that it was hard being suddenly cut off from their electronic devices after having relied on them so heavily for most of their lives.

“My sewing machine does not work without power, so I guess I have nothing better to do than to help out with this.” Agreed Atticus.

“Do you need anything burned?” Asked Mela. “Because I can totally help with that.”

“Let’s try to avoid fire for now, but if Director Clavell has any yard waste left from the cleanup that he wants burned I’ll let you know.” Replied Eri.

The younger girl shrugged. “Fair enough. The best part of having fire Pokemon is that you get to burn something every so often, even if it doesn’t happen a lot.”

Eri sighed. “Let’s try and keep the talk of burning stuff away from other students, okay? I mean, I’m all for everyone being themselves here, and while we all know you mean harmless stuff like disposing of rubbish or starting a campfire the other students might not know that, and I don’t want them being concerned by your behavior or isolating you because of it. Ortega, you’re the only one who hasn’t replied yet. Will you being joining our cleanup efforts, or do you still have other things you need to finish?”

Ortega was pretty sure that this was a ploy to get him alone with the rest of the team so Eri could get him to finally confess his fears to them, but he didn’t exactly have a good excuse to get him out of it, so he didn’t have much of a choice.

“Nope, I’m free.” He replied. “There’s not a lot left that I could do without electricity or internet, so I guess there’s not much to do besides help you guys. Of course, I’m not really sure how helpful I’ll actually be considering I’m not that strong.”

“Physical strength isn’t the most important aspect when it comes to work like this; that would be hard work. I’m sure we can find something you can help with, even if you’re not the strongest of us. Besides, a lot of your fairy types know moves like Psychic and Brick Break that I’m sure will come in handy.”

He couldn’t disagree there. Pokemon were extremely useful when it came to tasks like this, and he wasn’t sure how early societies could even function before they got the idea to tame the creatures.

“Fine, guess I’ll join you guys. I want to be able to leave campus again as much as the next person, and if this is the way to accomplish that, I don’t really have a choice.”

Eri nodded. “Great! I’ll take you guys to the spot Carmen, and I were working on earlier as soon as we’re finished eating.”

Due to not having left the building all day-and not being the type to just randomly look out the window-Ortega had yet to see the extent of the damage the storm had done to the campus. It wasn’t what he’d call a disaster, barely even comparing it to the pictures he’d seen on the news of other, more storm-prone regions after being hit by tropical storms. The building was still completely standing with only minimal structural damage including a small section of the roof the was now missing some shingles (although, from the damage he could see it seemed as if that part of the roof was overdue for some maintenance, anyway) and a few windows that had been broken by flying debris. No large trees had been taken down, with a few missing some branches but still standing strong, and a few of the small, decorative topiaries out front having been uprooted. The place was a bit of a mess, sure, and it wouldn’t be a super quick cleanup, but it was nothing outside of the abilities of the Uva Academy students.

“This is where me and Carmen were working before she pulled a muscle and had to stop.” Said Eri as she led them to a spot near the rear of campus with a few downed branches and small trees that had been uprooted. “We can probably get it finished pretty quickly if we work together, and I’m sure we could cover more ground if we split up, but we haven’t had a lot of chances to talk as a group due to classes and training, so I’m sure this would give us an opportunity to do just that.”

Ortega wasn’t stupid, he could pick up on Eri’s signals pretty easily, but he was still reluctant to share. He knew his friends would never judge or make fun of him for his fear of the dark, but most of his life his parents had expected him to repress things like this in order to appear as their perfect, little son, and it was just a difficult habit to break.

“That storm was really something, huh?” Said Mela. “I mean, I love watching storms but that one was the strongest I’ve ever seen in person. I know it wasn’t much compared to what happens in other regions, but it was a lot for Paldea.”

Penny nodded. “Yeah, I was only able to briefly check the internet before my phone died, but I heard it was a lot worse than people were expecting. Nobody was hurt, thankfully, but there was a fair amount of property damage, a lot more than is typical in the area.”

“I was terrified during the storm.” Admitted Ortega, wanting to get this over with as soon as possible. “Eri was with me, she can confirm this.”

His friends seemed unphased by his confession, a few nodding in agreement, and Giacomo replying simply with Same. While Ortega hadn’t been expecting them to ridicule him for his fear, he did sort of expect a little more of a reaction.

“No, when the power went out, I really freaked out.” He elaborated. “It was horrible, I barely slept last night due to how much it affected me.”

“Can’t say I wasn’t there with ya.” Replied Giacomo. “It went dark really suddenly, and for a moment I wasn’t sure if the lights had just gone out, or the roof had collapsed in. Kinda glad we don’t live in an area where storms like this are frequent.”

Ortega sighed, knowing that once again he would all but have to spell it out for his friends. “What I’m trying to say is that I’m afraid of the dark. I never wanted to let any of you know but Eri convinced me that it would be a good idea to tell you.”

Penny shrugged. “So? That’s not a big deal. I’m afraid of plenty of things, and I know you guys would never make fun of me for any of that, so we’re not going to make fun of you for being afraid of that dark.”

“Being afraid of the dark is super common for kids your age, I slept with a nightlight until I was like twelve.” Agreed Giacomo. “In fact, the only reason I stopped was because my mom told me I was too old for it, not because I stopped needing it. Sometimes we do forget that you’re a lot younger than us, because you’re way smarter than most of us, though.”

“Yeah, its cool that you trust us enough to tell us your fears, but I’m not sure why you’re suddenly bringing it up like this.” Said Mela.

Ortega sighed. “Do I really have to spell it out for you? The reason I brought this whole thing up is because I thought you guys might be able to help me get over my fear, or at least that’s what Eri suggested I do. She said that it isn’t healthy for me to bottle things up like this like I was planning to do, and that you guys would probably be willing to help me.”

From the expressions on his friends’ faces (minus Eri, of course) it was pretty obvious that none of them would likely have come to that conclusion on their own. Ortega had to give them a pass on that, however, as none of them had a lot of friends (or any at all) before forming Team Skull. The lack of emotional availability from the majority of their parents probably played a part in them not noticing a request for help until it was said directly as well, as both asking for and giving assistance in situations like this was a new concept for many of them.

“Of course we’ll help you, Ortie.” Said Penny. “That’s what friends are for.

Atticus nodded. “You have helped me greatly in the past, and I shall repay the favor to you and any of my other comrades who may request it.”

“Yeah, dude, we’re here for you.” Agreed Giacomo. “I mean, if it wasn’t for you guys I wouldn’t be able to order pizza from that really good place that only takes orders over the phone and doesn’t have its own app or use one of the delivery services that does.”

Eri smiled. “What did I tell you? Everyone is more than willing to help you, Ortega, you just need to ask.”

Ortega shrugged. “Sorry, never been very good at asking for help. Mother always told me that people like us don’t ask for help, especially in situations like this. She always treated fear and having to rely on others is a sign of weakness.”

“Believe me, its not.” She told him. “If anything it’s the exact opposite. Asking for help can be an incredibly difficult thing, especially in comparison to just keeping the issue to yourself and hoping it goes away. It takes a strong person to admit that they can’t do it all on their own and to show their vulnerabilities to another. It took me far too long to learn that.”

“So, when do you want us to start trying to help you?” Asked Penny. “We could probably start tonight if you want to. I’d like to try and do some research on the topic first, so it would be nice if we had the internet back for that, but if not I can always go through the books in the library to see if they have anything about getting over fear of the dark.”

Seeing as Uva academy was a Pokemon-based educational institute, most of the books in the library were based around subjects relating to Pokemon, including a lot of fiction. Still, the library was pretty massive, so Penny figured there might at least be something that would help her. She wasn’t too familiar with the library, however, as she got most of her information from sources online, and only ventured into the stacks of books if she was required to do so for a class, or if she found herself without internet.

“Sure, tonight works. The sooner we get started on this, the sooner I’ll be over my fear of the dark and done with this whole thing.”

“You’re gonna love being out after dark.” Said Giacomo. “Everything looks different, there’s different Pokemon out, its like you’re in a whole different region. That’s why I decided to train dark types; as soon as I got over my fear of the dark I realized how much cool stuff is out there. I can’t wait to take you to some of my favorite spots after dark.”

“After dark or not, nobody will be going anywhere until we get the campus cleaned up.” Eri reminded him. “Ortega, I’m proud of you for sharing your fear, and as nice as I think it will be to have you out on our night adventures with us, unless the dark and spooky place you want to check out is Penny’s room, we should probably get to work on clearing this rubble. We can talk about this more while we’re working, but there isn’t a lot we can do to help you while it’s still light out.”

Despite not being completely sold on the whole campus cleanup thing, they all knew she was right. The more effort they put into helping, the quicker they would be allowed to go out as they wished, and with classes most likely proceeding as normal the following day, they wouldn’t have much time tomorrow. Not to mention, there really wasn’t much else for them to be working on at the moment, either.

“Guess we should probably get to work then.” Said Penny. “Eri, what do you want is to do first?”

As the older student began to give instructions, Ortega couldn’t help but smile. He finally had friends, people who cared enough to help him resolve his problems. He’d sworn he’d never fall down the same path as his parents, and he was certain that with the help of Team Star he would end up in the exact place he needed to be.