Welcome to Gaia! ::

Tristen listened as Fela started to recant memories of a time before Tristen was here. Matteo fighting off a bunch of bullies only to get in trouble himself for the effort. Was it because he was the aggressor that time or was it a no tolerance policy? Who knows. Regardless, now that Fela brought this up, it was within reason that maybe Matteo hadn’t joined Team Star, namely because of his and their history with each other. Perhaps he wasn’t that crazy. But the way Fela acted; it wasn’t out of the realm of possibility either. Even she apparently had to stop and question to herself just how far Matteo would go just to satisfy his own agenda. Tristen was hoping that was not the case and it was just Team Star being crazy themselves, trying to goad Tristen into something that he doesn’t want to be a part of, but it was really odd that they didn’t start until shortly after the tournament on Saturday.

“I’m sorry.” Tristen said, sighing for a bit. “You went and had a good time, and now I had to bring you bad news as soon as you got back. I really am hoping everything is alright with Matteo but I couldn’t help but to wonder a lot. I’m still trying to learn a lot of stuff around here. I guess if anything it was probably okay anyways, though, because I don’t want anything happen to you either. I guess, maybe…warn you? I mean, if Team Star has been targeting me, I don’t want you to get caught up in that. And I don’t want Matteo to do anything stupid to you or B or E either. Ugh…I didn’t expect any of this to happen when I got here…”

Tristen allowed Fela to take Spewpa, figuring that after being separated from Fela as long as Spewpa had, it should be fine to let it go with her. It’d free up a spot on his Pokémon line-up as well and considering everything, he could possibly use every bit of help he could get. Nevertheless, as Fela went off, Tristen turned back over towards his breakfast and finished it off, though he had a slightly hard time cleaning off his tray now. Tristen couldn’t help but to feel he was a slight joykill just now. He honestly felt it was better now to tell her the going-ons than get blindsided by it later, which could technically happen as soon as she was out that door. But regardless, did he really have to bring a rain on the parade like that? Tristen wasn’t sure. He’d get up and put away the tray then started his way off through the halls. Tristen would stop by a nearby PC to get another Pokémon out now that Spewpa was no longer taking up a spot, and then would make his way to class.

On the way to class, Tristen did have a similar feeling to Fela; while the two of them hoped that Matteo would stop being a no-show, he had a feeling that it wasn’t going to be the case and even if by some chance that he did it wasn’t going to be good news that was going to come of it. Granted, Tristen was starting to realize he maybe was getting a little too paranoid about the whole situation. To Fela’s admission that nothing was really ever sunshine and rainbows all the time, they too go through an issue every now and then. Maybe this was another one of those things that a normal teenager goes through on a day-to-day basis and he shouldn’t worry about it too much? Tristen didn’t know. He’s still trying to learn the nuances that goes on with a comparatively normal life.

Tristen would find his way to the next class, just in time before the tardy bell. For something so comparatively simple to the life of a Snagem, this was hard…

Tristen made his way into art class and once again it was to be expected. As much as he wanted to have more of a conversation with Penny, Nemona unfortunately ended up wanting to have more battles with him. Tristen still didn’t have enough time in the day to actually humor that right now. It did leave him wondering where did Nemona have the time to actually focus on that herself if she was taking as many classes as Tristen was. Tristen’s sanity would be saved by Mr. Hassel bringing forth his lesson. Tristen would proceed to start taking his notes once again, trying to keep up with the lesson he had. The lesson would practically fly on by, much to his surprise. He had to once again try to pull away from Nemona, trying to tell her that he still had other things on the agenda and he had to look into doing either training or Pokémon battles some other time.

Going through the sea of bodies once again, Tristen found himself in Mr. Sanguaro’s class for Home Ec. He started to look about but then take his seat and as he sat there, he kept his eyes on the door. He was hoping that Matteo would actually show up and put at the very least his, Fela’s, B’s, and E’s mind at ease. He would get distracted once Gloria started to get his attention. Tristen hadn’t dealt with her much for the past few days. Gloria approached him, a swagger to her demeanor. It was as if she was relishing in Matteo’s absence. “If he did, that’s his problem. Not that you really care, do you? Or maybe you do? Maybe you really like Matteo. You’re…what were they called? Tsundre?” Tristen was only half trying to remember the actual term, but more so trying to get Gloria off his case. If Gloria thought that she was going to have her way with Tristen like she did with Matteo, he had no problem putting her in her proverbial place just as he did with Matteo. He wasn’t going to be a replacement for her.

Tristen had to resist giving a rather cocky smirk to the likes of Gloria being caught out as she was by the teacher. As she left on the teacher’s demands, as glad as he was for instant karma taking effect, he had the feeling that this wasn’t the last he was going to deal with Gloria in such a fashion. He had the feeling that he’d need to basically needed to put one over on her in a similar fashion that he did to Matteo to get her to get on the straight and narrow. Unfortunately, at the same time, he was left to wonder just how effective were such methods. It didn’t really get Matteo asking for forgiveness, now did it? At least not yet anyways…

Once again, Tristen was well attentive to Mr. Sanguaro and as he went on he was actually starting to be intrigued in sewing, oddly enough. Would it be useful later? Probably not in Snagem’s case. But it was…kind of relaxing in a way. Probably more so if it didn’t involve a grade, though. He would go on with the lesson and before Tristen knew it, the class was over. As he gathered his things, he looked up as Gloria went and got his attention once more to voice her apparent displeasure to him. Tristen couldn’t help but to roll his eyes. Right at the moment, she wasn’t worth the time. Once he had all of his things together, he would walk off towards the door and off for lunch. Time to catch up with Fela, B, and E.

Tristen made his way to the lunch room and found himself in line once more for another day and it was another day to talk to Ms. Picante. Tristen would have a very brief conversation with her once again, confirming that there was no sign of Matteo still. Ms. Picante’s curiosity wasn’t lost on the Manetric hybrid. Despite their history, she still had the decency to actually care for his wellbeing. He too wondered if anyone contacted Matteo’s parents at this point or checked to see if he was at the very least still in the academy in some capacity. This was after all day number three. After another day of thanks to Ms. Picante, Tristen would once again pick up his chips and drink down the line and proceed to go find Fela and the others.

Once he made his way around, he’d would see something that was a pleasant, but perhaps concerning surprise. Penny was there at the table with B, E, and Fela. Tristen only slightly picked up the pace because there was so many questions already. Like if he was hallucinating right now. Penny for as long he has seen her either sat to herself mainly or just don’t bother even coming to the cafeteria. Maybe presumably to eat lunch in her dorm room. To see her right here, right now was something else. Once the Manetric hybrid arrived to see the group, he’d speak up. “Hey you all. Hey Penny. Joining us for lunch? How’s it going for all of you?” he asked the group.

Tristen couldn’t help but to make a nervous smile as the boys made a bit of a scene in celebrating Tristen’s work in getting a Scatterbug to evolve into a Spewpa. But as the courtesies were given, Tristen ended up sitting down at the table with the rest of them. “Afraid not.” Tristen said to all of them. “Matteo never showed up for Home Ec in Mr. Sanguaro’s class again so I was without a partner again. Even Gloria started to ask about him, but she was doing to more so to either make fun of me or him. Not sure. Got her to stop either way when I poked back accusing her of being tsundre to Matteo. Well, it was more that Mr. Sanguaro came in before she went too far with whatever rant she wanted to have when I said that.”

As he had a bite or two out of his sandwich, he couldn’t help but to sigh a little bit. “Do I regret beating Matteo as I did back on Saturday? No. He needed to have a dose of reality, especially after how he was acting up until that. There was no sense on him being like how he was to me or to you all.” Tristen said to them. “But why do I feel like in some way I only made things worse now? I mean, where did he go? What is he doing? Why hasn’t anyone seen him? Has any of the teachers here tried to check on him?” All honest questions for all he was concerned. Once again, he would sigh, shaking his head. “I never asked for this…”

It was a weird thing, this dichotomy between Matteo and the immediate people around Tristen…well, other than Penny that is. Tristen wasn’t sure of the Growlithe hybrid’s relationship with her. That said, as he looked on it only became more apparent that despite his abrasiveness, his overall ego even, he had something…whatever it was…with B, E, and Fela. And for whatever reason, it was fine, because they knew Matteo deep down. A weird harmony was between those four that lasted until Tristen arrived in this academy and undermined everything Matteo felt, and unfortunately to no fault of Tristen’s own. A cascading domino effect that started with one mere rumor that spread like wildfire. Tristen was left once again wondering who started all of this which led to the events of him squaring off with Matteo on the battlefield and utterly humiliated him for his hubris. If he was to have done that tournament, he probably would have maybe went in with not as strong of a team, if for nothing else to see about getting some training in for some Pokémon. Like Castform, or Mawile, or Litten, or Rookidee. If push came to shove, maybe get Zebstrika or Xatu some exercise as well. But because of the rumors, because of Matteo’s extremely over-inflated ego and by extension no one wanting to step up and say that was wrong, then just the circumstantial situation that everyone going hard to begin with by merit of both he (because of the rumor) and Nemona being there, he was left with no choice but to go as hard as he did if he wanted to get his point across.

Tristen then perked up as Penny spoke up. She didn’t even have a stake in this and yet she wanted to bring some encouragement to the group. She really needed to work some of that introvertedness though. “Thanks, Penny.” Tristen said sincerely. At least he had friends here still to confide in. That was probably the most important part. He then looked over towards Fela once she spoke up, followed by Brooks and Elwyn and their eagerness to join along this time. “Train Spewpa? Oh yea, Sure. I actually needed to talk to you about Spewpa after class anyways, too. Because of Spewpa being in its current state and well…no legs and arms really at all, some of the training we had to do was to get Spewpa back mobile again so we could work on getting Spewpa wings sooner than later.” Tristen said to her. “I got to show you what we have going on.”

He then looked over towards B and E. “Either way though, if Fela doesn’t have a problem, I don’t have a problem of you two coming along.” He then looked back towards Penny. While he already had his invitations declined before, he figured to see if he couldn’t take another shot at Penny and getting her to get out more. “What about you, Penny? You want to come along too? How is your Scatterbug? Or is yours a Spewpa yet? Either way, I don’t see why not let you and Camp come along either if you two are needing some help.” Though honestly considering how much a bug fanatic Camp was, he didn’t think they did. It still didn’t hurt to ask.