Lex Hallabel Chapter 1

Lex stepped into Santalune city from route four. The journey had been short and completely devoid of any action, and yet Lex had enjoyed it immensely. As an orphan, you really didn't get to travel much. This opportunity was rare and spectacular for someone of Lex's birth and so he planned on enjoying it to its maximum potential. The city of Santalune itself was small and quiet; nothing like the bustling streets filled with cars and gogoat of Lumiose. The town's people could be seen living harmoniously with pokemon- Here a person walking along the street with a furret and there a child trying to coax a floette out of the bushes. The air had the distinct smell of spring in the air, and Lex had no doubt that were he to go into the forest the flowers and pokemon would be a sight to behold. However, the professor had left Lex with specific instructions- first visit the trainers school.

Suddenly, Lex realised he had spent the last five minutes standing in the middle of the entrance to santalune city staring into space as his mind processed his thoughts. With a start he took a step forward, hoping that no one had noticed. Today he was wearing black jeans, with a plain white shirt and a white zipped up hoodie jumper over the top. He had chosen his best shoes to take with him as he could only fit two pairs in the small rucksack he had been given to hold his belongings. They were glossy red and black high top boots.

He was holding Aron, albeit with difficulty. Despite its meagre size the small pokemon weighed upwards of sixty kilograms. Not entirely surprising considering that the pokemon was largely composed of iron, however anyone without this knowledge who tries to pick Aron up will find themselves quickly humbled. Slowly Lex put Aron on the ground. "Sorry Bud. You're just too heavy." He said, his tone of voice lacking any kind of expression. Aron however looked up at his trainer, obviously insulted. The pokemon muttered under its breath "A-aron." Lex could not discern what this meant however he found that he did not wish to know. Whether pokemon's strange language of repeating different parts of their names translated into real human words was a mystery, but in this case it was most likely something insulting.

Knowing that it would help his partner feel better, Lex reached into his pocket and pulled out a small scrap of iron. It was hardly the iron ore that wild Aron ate, and had in fact been dug out of a rubbish tip. However it was the best Lex could do for Aron for the time being and the pokemon who had lived part of its life as a stray in the streets of Lumiose was appreciative. Lex bent down as he walked to feed it to Aron. The iron armor pokemon took it in its mouth and threw its head back, and with a metallic crunch the jagged piece of metal had been chewed and swallowed. Some people on the street stared for a second before going back to their daily lives. Aron were not common in Kalos, but a pokemon eating iron was not overly strange. Lex continued walking until he found the trainers school. Lex was able to battle well enough, but as far as actually training his pokemon went he was an amateur. Here was his first step towards becoming a real trainer- slowly he raised his hand  to the wooden door and knocked three times. Somehow the knocks managed to be as expressionless as his voice, and Lex stood in a relaxed manner with his hands in his pockets waiting for an answer.

Life in the small village of santalune city was just going on as normal when the boy entered. People living in harmony with their pokemon. This was easily noticeable, an old lady sat on a bench surrounded by fletchlings who chirped happily as she gave them breadcrums as she laughed. Some childeren running along playing with their own pokeon and elderly just working in the garden helped by their pokemon. The whole town gave a message of peace and this was an example for how it could be with the rest of the world. Just nice and easy going where everyone can be happy and be happy together with their own pokemon.

The trainer school was surrounded by a wall with a wooden door as a woman behind it heard the knocking. She had long brown hair and opened the door in respons. ''Ah you must be lex right? The professor said you were coming come on in'' She said smiling. The girl looked 24 and had a really nice smile. She was obviously made to be a childerens teacher as she led him into the school. It was break time and a lot of childeren were playing around in the field with some pokemon or just with themselves. One pair of childeren was surrounded by a big group, the childeren were having a pokemon battle and of course a pokemon battle got allways a lot of attention from the childeren cause as they would say: ''It is super awesome''

She led him into the classroom and sat down in front of him. ''So you here to study about pokemon cause I can teach you what you need to know on your journey pretty quick'' She said giving him a smile. Unfortunately the pokemon professor had not explained to her what needed to be done, he had only told her that a pokemon trainer by the name of lex would come to visit cause he needed some help and since it was the trainer school she thought the most obvious thing would be that this was to get some knowledge for his journey just the stuff what he needed to know. Pokemon typing, type advantage, knowing a bit of the map and of course a training battle with her.

Lex smiled as the young lady led him into the classroom. Watching the children battle, he remembered his time battling pokemon in the orphanage. He hoped he got more chances to train with orphaned pokemon. He himself knew what it was like, and so he liked to help orphans as much as he can. He drew his attention back to the pretty young teacher and sat in the chair opposite her. He sat Aron's pokeball on on the table and rolled it in his fingers as he listened to what she had to say. When she was done, he replied in the same monotone voice as usual. "I know how to battle pokemon well enough, but I don't know much past that. I need to know how to train them. How do I make them stronger, aside from battling? I don't know how to catch a pokemon very well either. Sorry, I'm an orphan and I've never left Lumiose city before so I don't have much knowledge in these affairs. " His voice was still the usual flat tone when he finished, not allowing any sadness that one would expect from talking about being an orphan creep into his voice." He looked around the classroom as he waited for the lady to respond. There were desks and a chalkboard, with various charts depicting the starters that Professor Sycamore gave out and their evolutions. The tough, strong looking evolution of Chespin (Labelled 'Chesnaught') caught Lex's eye. He had thought it would be impolite to ask for a starter pokemon from the professor as he was already given Lex such a wonderful chance. Perhaps when he got back to Lumiose he would get up the courage to ask the professor.

From below him, Lex heard the distinct sound of a pokemon. "Aron" It cried, stretching out the r. He fastened one hand around the pokemon and put the other on top of it and lifted it on top of the desk. He grunted as he did so, realizing again that his pokemon was literally made of steel. "This is Aron. He was an orphan too, but I'm his trainer now. We met on the streets of Lumiose when I found him eating the light post outside the orpha-" Aron interjected suddenly, saying in a tone of denial "Aron Aron Aron." Lex smirked at the pokemon. It would hotly deny any such accusations as normal. "Anyway, we're here now. I'm hoping to become a great pokemon trainer and meet a lot of friends." As he waited for his reply he fed Aron a piece of steel that was probably from a railroad somewhere.

The teacher listened to him thinking what she would be able to teach him. Apparantly he needed some help with how to catch pokemon and made them stronger by battling. She knew a lot of things and she would tell him. However she was very shocked when she heard that the boy had been an orphan that had been probably in a terribly state in that orphanage. She wished she had known and she also had hoped that there would never be orphans but of course that was something that was never able to become. ''Oh I am so sorry'' She said placing her hand over mouth not being sure what to say to him. She heard him talking with a monotone voice and had wished that he would have at least talked with a bit more of some emotion in his voice cause when he would talk with a monotone voice she would get the idea they would have done horryfying things to him which she didn't really wanne know about.

''Wel I guess we could better start then'' she said as she walked to the schoolboard and got a piece of white chalk. ''Well you have to think there are lots of ways to make your first pokemon stronger, one thing is indeed battling but there are some trainers who really overwork their pokemon which is bad. You have to think that when you love your pokemon and take care of pokemon, they will love you or at least get closer to you. Pokemon who are closer to their trainer will try their best and even stand up again after many beatings. A few of my old students are now really strong trainers due to that so short said, you should love and take care of your pokemon.'' She said this all while writing things on the chalkboard.

''Now to catch pokemon. There are many ways to do that, for instance you can battle them, get their health low and then just throw a pokeball at them. However I try to teach my students to maybe try to get along with some wild pokemon. Give them a bit of food, talk to them maybe play with them for a bit, cause a lot of people think a pokemon will like to be with its trainer better when it comes when it wants instead of being forced to the trainer understandable right?'' She said turning around from the chalkboard and looking at him. ''Well do you have any questions?'' He said awaiting an awnser from him.

Lex pulled a notebook out of his pocket and wrote down what the lady had to say. Befriending pokemon sounded a lot better than capturing them. He couldn't wait to catch some more pokemon. He waited and wrote down as the teacher spoke, and when she asked if he had any questions. He thought for a second, but he didn't think he had any. However, he had seen the look on the ladies face when he had mentioned the orphanage.  He smiled very lightly as he spoke to her "I don't have any questions. Also, don't worry about the orphanage. It sounds horrible, but it wasn't a bad place. Nothing like the cruel workhouses you see in movies. I got the opportunity for this adventure through the orphanage. I do have two questions, actually. First, I don't think I ever got your name. Second, I was wondering if I could have a battle with someone here."

The teacher smiled as she had seen that the boy had been writing stuff down in his little notebook. She didn't know where he had gotten it but it would probably just be something that he would have bought with the money the professor or the orphanage had given him to get his stuff for the adventure he was about to go throught and she had to admit that it was a pretty smart idea to have that. He would be able to write everything down and when he would be od and when he would have a kid he would be able to read back on those stories and think back of the days that he had his adventure. She was glad that the orphanage wasn't so bad but he got the point why she had made her face like that wrong. However she didn't mind, misunderstandings were totaly possible. ''Uhm my name is sarah lovegood, I know weird last name right'' She said rubbing the back of her head and laughing nervously. ''Well'' She said as she got out a list and showed it to him. ''From the top are our best battlers to the less good ones.'' She said smiling. However there was a boy sitting alone on the playground. His clothes seemed second hand and it seemed no kid wanted to play with him.

(OOC: Eek! I'm sorry I took so long to reply. Our house is being renovated and so access was limited to iPad, which i cannot write on to a satisfactory level. I also must notify you that Lex is part of the Project EVE event. Evidence here- https://pokemonworldrpg.forumotion.net/t7107-project-eve-the-event )

Lex looked down the list and took stock of it. Whilst he liked to believe he was better at battling than children the fact remained that they were trained in battling and Lex was not. Looking from the list to the playground Lex could recognise some of the more powerful battlers. Obviously here the stronger one was, the more popular one was. This rule had not applied to the orphanage Lex had grown up with, as Lex's battling strength had had no apparent affect on his popularity. Looking again at the playground, Lex spotted a boy who had no one around him. Lex could tell immediately that this was the left out kid. Lex himself was never specifically the 'left out kid', but he had certainly come close. And so to an extent Lex knew how the kid would fell. Looking up at the Sarah, Lex said "Well, Miss Lovegood, I'd like to battle that child." He said, pointing towards the kid.

The teacher was watching as the boy appeared to be check the list of the people with the best fighting. Unfortunately it was as the boy was thinking. At a lot of schools including this one the most popular kid was the one with the most cool or strongest pokemon. James didn't have a what would be considered cool pokemon by his classmates and it wasn't that strong but he loved it and wouldn't want anything else. However this would make him become bullied by his classmates and sometimes he didn't even show up at school which immediately informed the teacher that he had been really bullied again and she would act immediately punishing the bullies in the class however they didn't stop. They never stopped they kept bullying him in a lot of ways.

So when the boy pointed to little james she wasn't surprised. He maybe would have had the same fate as James in the orphanage. She had heard terrible stories about orphanages where there were a lot of bullies and he knew that there was a probabillity that he would see himself in little james. The teacher opened the window. ''James would you please come in for a moment dear?'' She said as he came in his head hanging and a bandage on the top of his nose and his left cheek while some boys sneered and huffed as they looked at the boy walking to the teacher who was in the school as he went out of sight and a few moments later the sound of doors could be heard which notified the teacher that james was close, and of course she was right as he opened the door and stepped in.

''You wanted to see me miss?'' He asked not looking up but he kept looking down like there was a super rare or even legandary pokemon on his foot. ''Yes James I would like you to battle with this boy here'' She said pointing to lex as his head shot up in fear. ''But miss couldn't you pick Adrian or Sam they are the best trainers we have in the school here'' He exclaimed as he looked at her obviously scared of being humiliated in front of the whole school with yet another loss. However the teacher shook her head. ''I am sorry I cannot do that, this boy chose you from everyone else to battle with.'' The teacher said as the boy looked surprised Lex. ''I am sorry mister but why would you choose me I am not even a bit strong.'' Sounding from his voice it was obvious that he was very nervous and scared about the battle that was about to happen.

(I hope this is long enough for you :) )

(OOC: Wow, I hope I can match that but I doubt it)

Lex listened to the child as he spoke about how he wasn't strong. "Neither am I. I'm an orphan and this will be my first battle against someone who's been taught to battle, so you're already stronger than me. Besides, if you train hard you can get stronger, no matter what pokemon you have" Lex knew that he would have to teach this kid that he could be strong. He could see from the various bandages and band aids on him that he had been bullied. Perhaps after this battle, Lex would sort the bullies out. But first off he had to battle James. Lex would most likely not try his best to win this match though, he didn't wish to embarrass this kid. If he could lose to James and win against the bullies it would make James appear to be stronger than them.

Slowly Lex walked over to the battlefield at the school. The place itself was fairly neutral without giving anyone an advantage. The ground was dirt, with no real obstructions or structures. Lex stood at one end of the battlefield and slowly fed Aron the remains of a stop sign, and the pokemon assumed a position in front of Lex ready to battle. Lex patiently waited for James to do the same.