As careful feet walked through the once so familiar courtyard surrounded by imposing dorm buildings, Selene wasn't exactly sure what she should be feeling. Her eyes kept catching on people or things that seemed to stir some dormant memory from the base of her brain – a bench facing the main academy building she had seated herself on on her first day, gazing around at her surroundings feeling so small and insignificant. An Entei dorm kid she thought may live in a room a little further down the corridor from herself. His eyes seemed to flash with recognition as he passed, but nothing further. She didn't really expect anything further.
Selene had been gone for...a while. Since the death of her Father, Selene had suffered what some might term a breakdown. Or a mental spell. Or just a prolonged period of PMT, whatever you termed it the result was the same. One day Selene just up and left the Academy, not telling anyone that she was leaving, not bothering to leave a note for anyone...not even Valorie, whose face she could just about remember. In the dead of night she packed a bag, jumped on Blu's back and took off into the sky, flying until she thought she were about to pass over the edge of the Earth and out into the universe. The further away the better.
As much as something told her that staying in school would be what her Father wanted, Selene just didn't truly see that. Nor did she trust that part of her that said the noble thing would be to return home and support her family through this difficult time. Family and the Academy were two faces of the same beast – the very beast she was running, or flying, from.
On the side of a secluded mountain far away Selene found herself. It was cliché, it was perfect. Nature seemed to have been expecting her, as she found an uninhabited small cove in the side of the mountain, perfect for sheltering from hungry mountain Pokemon. For the first few days Selene just let her Pokemon wander freely as she stared at the landscape. It was truly a beautiful landscape. It was a shame that Selene didn't appreciate it. Time passed, Selene's skin grew tanned, her hair grew wild and bushy, her eyes took on that haunted, shadowed look adopted as a result of a lack of sleep, her once healthily proportioned body, starved of proper and regular nutrition, became nothing more than a bony frame for skin and organs. The girl that had abandoned the Academy, that girl was gone in appearance and in mind. Her pokemon had initially tried to snap her out of this grief induced state, of course they had. Ri had adapted his pre-evolution role as the fool somewhat poorly, trying to dance around and catch any attention Selene had left. Ryan misbehaved, insisting on thunderbolting everyone except for Selene, hoping for a scolding, anything that made Selene more...Selene-like. Blu had just sat patiently beside her, whereas Cat had attempted to soothe Selene's mind through her psychic powers. That was before she realised that Selene wasn't feeling any emotion to control...it was difficult.
Then one day, Selene stood up. She had that look on her face, that look of 'we are going to train our asses off and get stronger or so help me we are never leaving this place'. Her Pokemon, out of relief more than anything, fully complied. They were just happy that Selene's face was showing something other than complete disinterest and ambivalence to life.
So they trained. Day and night. Selene put together group and individual training programmes. The individual programmes she tailored to the pokemon's weak points. For Ryan it was a case of timing, waiting until a strategically strong point to leap in on the attack. This normally involved hours of waiting, Ryan avoiding attacks from Selene's other pokemon with only slight effort and physical exertion before making his move at the perfect time – when a weak point was exposed, he leapt in with a volt tackle, when a pokemon ran out of steam he thunderbolt-ed the crap out of them. Ryan's training also involved hours of fighting lightning storms – literally fighting lightning. He would wait for lightning, then hit back at it with his own Thunderbolt, almost as though attempting to force it back into the sky. Most of Selene's individual training, in fact, was with Ryan. He was always the wildcard, the loose cannon.
The rest of her pokemon appeared sated through battling each other. Some vicious battles ensued, that often culminated in pokemon fall-outs and tense silences for prolonged periods of time, most particularly between Cat and Ri. A particularly harsh loss for the stronger Fighting- and Steel-type pokemon was hard for him to understand and come to terms with, so Cat had been subjected to a fittingly Steely silence for a number of days. Not that she particularly cared. Whilst Ri went off and began picking fights with inanimate rock faces to train post-humiliation, Cat spent most of her time meditating, the most effective training for a Psychic type in many instances. Honing her powers, she found she had much greater control over them than she had initially suspected, and this meant she could unleash them that much more. Every now and again a rock that Ri was beating to a pulp would just vanish, and Ri would fall flat on his face. A death glare would be shot at Cat, but her closed meditating eyes never opened, though a small smile could at times be spotted lurking at the corners of her mouth.
As for Aitken, Sharpay and Blu they sorted their own training. Blu was looking to focus on her speed and agility in the air, practicing and perfecting the in-air evasion methods that Selene had taught her. Sharpay purposefully fought with Ryan and Blu when she wished to train, knowing she would be at a type-disadvantage with both Pokemon. Many fights were fought, and many were lost. It soon transpired that Sharpay was a much stronger fighter in the water, thus she worked on her movement on the land and her technique outside of water. Aitken, the newcomer to the group, would pit his psychic powers against Cat in training. They would both attempt to move the same rock in opposing directions using their powers. At the beginning, Aitken's powers were not as sensitive as Cat's, he couldn't sense when she were about to change direction. As she strained upwards and he downwards, all of a sudden her force would shift sideways and the rock would fly, smash into the side of the mountain. Aitken hadn't the subtlety of control to control his own power and keep his mind open to the powers and whims of others. At the end, though, he was holding his own against Cat and anticipating her movements much easier.
No-one knew exactly why, but one night Selene just stood up. She had been in a pensive mood all day, distracted from training, staring out at the horizon much more but with a determined frown on her face rather than the emptiness of weeks previous.
"We're going back," she announced simply. Pokemon were returned to Pokeballs, her bag was re-packed and Blu set off back toward the Academy. Selene didn't know what direction the Academy was, exactly, but she trusted that Blu would guide them right. And she did. The journey back passed seemingly quicker than the journey there, much quicker. All the time Selene was feeling no emotion, despite knowing that she should feel at least anxious about returning to the school and friends that she had abandoned so suddenly.
"Miss Evans...where have you been?" asked the receptionist as Selene checked back in, her eyes scanning down the girl, taking in the matted hair, the dirt-smeared face, neck and arms, the ragged clothes and the tatty backpack slung over an impossibly bony shoulder.
"At home," said Selene simply with an eyebrow raised slightly, almost in challenge. She could see the woman's brain wondering if Selene lived in a slum somewhere before the lady regained her composure and her fake smile, nodding and tapping self-importantly at her computer. Selene watched her with hawk-like eyes, developed as a result of living like a wild beast for months. She despised everything about the woman, from her plastic pearl necklace to her mumsy suit.
"I have reported your...extended leave, in light of the circumstances we can welcome you back today without any interview or examination...your key, your room was not taken so you're in the same dorm. I hope you'll come to us if you need any...assistance" she finished, and Selene had left before the woman even had chance to blink.
So there she was, wandering through the courtyard without knowing exactly where she was headed or where she needed to be. The timetable and papers in her hand crinkled as she clenched her fist, frowning. What had she done?! This was too much for her right now. Pulling out Blu's Pokeball, Selene set off for Oak Town. Not intending on leaving school again, Selene just knew she had to be somewhere else, and she was having an insane craving for one of those gorgeous chocolatey milkshakes from that smoothie store. Memories of she and her friends running to Oak Town flooded her mind. She felt nothing.
Upon landing however, she saw something that shocked emotion into her zombified body. A short, blonde girl was involved in a triple battle. Said blonde girl was wearing a cape...the kind that a certain idol of hers, Lance, wore. She was clutching a milkshake, and trash-talking with some kid who had been foolish enough to take her on.
Selene made her way to the front of the crowd that the battle had drawn, watching with an impassive expression, hiding the stirrings of turmoil she felt within as she watched Valorie closely.
She was back.
