[Student Service] Making Paint

The copse was bright and twinkling with dew that morning. The sounds of pokemon filled the air, accompanied by the rustling of leaves and the breezy ambiance of wind. It was a shame that soon all that would be over, ended by the wheel and his gaggle of dedicated leaf-hunters. Lennox, the afore-mentioned wheel, was towards the back of his student group currently. His movement was still being hampered by the cramps and pulses coming from his evolution a long time prior, and though he was at least starting to get used to it on a general basis, he still could not move well. He had stopped holding fighting classes as a result, resorting fully to instructional classes about items and techniques - things that didn't require him to move much.

It was starting to piss him off. Can one force and evolution? Is that possible? How is it done? Assuming that would fix the cramps at all. At this rate, he would try anything...

...Oh, hey. They had found it. The... "caps," or whatever it was. Good. He was looking forward to doing something other than sitting in his "office" (currently a mostly empty room with his paper work on the floor in front of a pillow for him to rest on) hoping nobody came to call for him while he was immobilized. "...Nice. Good work, everybody. Thanks for coming along. Don't think I coulda got this one done on my own," he mused. "...I mean that literally. I got nothing to pick things up with." A fact that had caused him many a headache in recent times. "You all go ahead and socialize amongst yourselves for a minute, get familiar if you haven't been here before. Introduce yourselves to everyone you haven't met. I'm going to do the same after I mark up my map. So I won't forget." The trouble was actually marking the map...

Valen had arrived at Fallen Leaf Copse for the class. Unlike everybody else there, he had been able to fly right over the lake surrounding the copse and didn't need to use the stepping stones, something that filled him with pride. But who is everybody else? Valen thought.

There was, of course, Saturn the Cubone, whom he had first met in Pecha Forest. It had been a surprise to discover that he had joined Peak Academy as well. The other students - he unfortunately didn't know their names or species. There was one that looked like a round, pink, walking ball and another that seemed to be a flowering plant - that could also walk. At least he knew the teacher better - Valen had heard his name was Lennox and he was a Whirlipede.

Apparently, while Valen had taken the class willingly so he could do something useful, it also served as mandatory detention for those students who had behaved badly. Which students are they? Valen wondered. But of course it would probably be rude of me to ask. So Valen decided to just introduce himself. "Hello everybody! I'm Valen the Pikipek."

Vesper followed the group as they headed towards Fallen Leaf Copse. She was content to mingle somewhere in the middle of the small group of students, not wanting to take on any sort of leadership responsibility by being the student in front. As she deftly hopped over each stone leading towards the copse, Vesper dipped the red rose on her right arm into the water, splashing a small amount upwards as she crossed the lake.

She was pretty excited for this class, the spring in her step telling of such. Well, it wasn't technically a class. But either way it would be the first school activity she had done with Alki, and she was looking forward to it.

Lennox brought up the rear of their little party and when they were finally in the woods, their teacher paused to thank them for their help. He'd asked them to talk amongst themselves, but Vesper was a little confused with what he'd just said. After all, how was he supposed to mark his map if he couldn't pick things up as he'd said mere moments before?

As she stood wondering about it, she heard the Pikipek that had been leading the group introduce themselves as Valen. Turning to the bird, she gently waved her blue rose, a small smile on her face. "Hi. I'm Vesper. Pleased to make your acquaintance," she replied politely before she turned back to Lennox, hoping to see what writing implement he intended on using.
"Can I mark the map?" She asked him, a little excitement leaking into her tone. She'd never had a map of her own and she was pretty curious what one would do with it rather than just trusting your natural instinct. That and she was pretty easily able to use the supernatural power of her Extrasensory move to write where others perhaps could not.

Alki tailed closely behind Vesper, sticking as close to the grass type as possible. Her fellow phantom thief was the only other Pokemon in the group that she really knew, aside from Lennox, obviously, but... she didn't want to go in the front. Everybody would be watching her then, and she'd much rather be as inconspicuous as possible. The jigglypuff jumped from stone to stone, being quite careful to keep every inch of her body, from ears to foot, as dry as possible.

Even through her nerves, however, the girl was quite happy to be there. She'd been quite looking forward to spending time at school with Vesper. She was so suave and confident and cool, and Alki wanted to leran from her! And even aside from the opportunities hanging out with Vesper might afford her, it was just... pleasant. It was hard to be too sad around the Roselia. She had so much energy, and a bit of it even rubbed off on Alki... That fact made her happy.

Alki was in the midst of jumping from stone to stone when she felt some splashes of water hit the top of her head. It wasn't significant at all, really.  Still, she was surprised at feeling moisture on the part of her body that was least close to the water. So much so, that she let out a small little squeak as she looked up at the sky mid hop. Of course, that was a mistake, as the rock she was jumping on was quite small compared to most other ones on the trail.

"Eeep!" She cried out, reaching for a grip that wasn't there as the fairy took a dive. Before she could land in the water, however, Alki's eyes were attracted to a large, rather flat rock some distance behind her. More instinctive than anything, Alki teleported back to said rock, stumbling forward as she landed. Using that move was a rush, and while falling... it was dizzying. She took a moment to catch her breath, thankful at avoiding what surely would've been a rather cold drink...

A few seconds passed before she turned around and started hopping back, focusing quite hard on where she stepped. Once she was close enough to the group, she started quietly observing everybody else, silent as a mouse, hoping to Arceus that nobody noticed. She heard the Roselia introduce herself to the group, and while her gaze made it quite clear she'd heard, she chose not to say anything. She already knew Vesper, after all! And she was too busy worrying that somebody had seen her fall anyways...

[Energy: 19-11=8]
Saturn was so happy he was able to sign up for this field trip of sorts. It was a great opportunity to get acquainted with some of the other students and it involved exploring Fallen Leaf Copse, a place he had his eye on ever since he learned the Windrose Library was located there. He'd heard that this trip also doubled as some kind of punishment for unruly students, which kind of baffled him considering that participants got 4 merit points out of it. Perhaps they don't get the credit? Either way, it mattered not to him. The primary objective was to find a total of 9 leaves, 3 of each color. He wasn't sure what each of the three colors were, but figured he'd know them when/if he saw them. Or someone would let him know.

As the group approached the stepping stone bridge that lead to the Copse itself, Saturn was one of the first to get a good look at it, as he was towards the front of the group. Up until this point he had been periodically glancing over at their teacher, a Bug pokemon that appeared to be curled up, seeing as it had no real appendages to speak of. Its mere existence seemed rather clumsy by nature, considering it rolled about instead of walking, flying, slitering, etc... While he was by no means a Bug type expert, he figured it was likely in that wierd intermediate stage that just about every Bug type goes through before they get to their final form. He certainly hoped that their teacher wasn't doomed to live out the rest of their life in such a state.

At this point, Saturn decided to hang back, letting the others go first. He wanted to make sure he could help the teacher if they needed it. Once everyone caught up, the rotund Bug spoke of how grateful they were for our assistance, and that we should introduce ourselves. Valen introduced himself first, followed by a rather feminine looking grass type with floral appendages for hands. They went by the name Vesper, which Saturn thought had a nice ring to it. Unfortunately, it sounded rather similar to Valen, which made him worry he would get the names mixed up at some point. Either way, he figured it was his turn. "So uh, I'm Saturn. This is my first Academy-related activity, so hopefully I'll be seeing more of all of you after this."

Vesper seemed to be assisting the teacher with their map marking, which seemed like it was going to be a recurring theme throughout this expedition. "Also, I have one attack; Ancient Power. And I'm weak to Grass, Ice and Water. It would probably be a good idea to familiarize eachother with what our strengths and weaknesses are if we are going to be exploring a dungeon together."

Lennox, being a wheel, lacked a writing implement as well as the ability to use one. So when Vesper approached, he was indeed struggling to actually mark the map. It became increasingly apparent that Lennox hadn't actually been the one to write all those notes that he did. Right?? It couldn't have been. That or he had been taking literal days to do this weird shimmy-scribble he was currently doing by dipping one of his horns in ink and wiggling. Come to think of it... he did seem to be noteably absent for days at a time......

Truthfully, Lennox was far too stubborn to accept help when he was struggling. In fact, he was more likely to accept help when he wasn't struggling, as those becoming acquainted with him may have discovered through exposure. It was at those times that he felt most self-concious, and most like he needed to prove himself. Sitting here, watching his horns flail clumsily in front of him was humiliating, and he almost missed his smaller form (in which he may have at least stood a chance of writing.

When Vesper came over, though... it felt different. He momentarily forgot his struggles while he was busy being happy to see she had come. Apparently he had left a good enough impression that she felt compelled to come back! And if she was interested in what he was doing, then...

"Hi Vesper, welcome back," he huffed, trying to not let his breathing sound too labored. "Sure thing. 'M not all that great at maps myself honestly- I didn't know how at all until I started doing this. Alki over there helped me fix this one up a while ago." He nodded in regards to Alki, who he had also spotted and recognized. He was happy to see another familiar face, though he was pretty sure she hadn't been in any of his classes...? "I'm just looking to put a mark on the academy, and then the same mark on this place. I can draw an imaginary line on the roads I need to take to get there if I do that," he said, doing his best to still sound like a teacher since he didn't want to let her down. "Don't think I've used a triangle yet..."

He felt pretty confident with Vesper handling the map, so he turned his attention away in order to address the other students he hadn't met yet. "Pleasure t' meet you all. I'm Lennox. Normally I teach battling classes, so we might see more of each other if you're studying that." He soon came to realize that this particular trip wasn't him a whole lot to comment on in that particular topic, at least not thus far... Yikes. He'd have to dip into something else he knew about.

...which wasn't a whole lot.

Don't get frustrated. They can smell fear. Lennox definitely wasn't going to willingly let on that he was feeling nervous. "...Hopefully we won't have to do a lot of that today, but dungeons are unpredictable places. Be vigilant, but remember we're not actually here to pick fights or anything. I'll try and give you guys some instruction on broader topics in the meanwhile."

"On that note, what are everyone's majors? If there's a common one between you all I'll try 'n talk about stuff that's interesting to everybody."

OOC:

"My majors are Expeditionary Skills and Essential Studies," Valen said. "And my weaknesses are Electric, Ice, and Rock," he continued, responding to Saturn's statement. "My strengths are... Grass and... Some other stuff?" Valen had forgotten the others yet again. This is so embarassing! he thought to himself.

"Well, anyway, some other things about me... My home and family are in Aileron Village, but I've decided to visit Grassveil for a while. Especially because I joined this Academy. I actually also became a member of the Aileron Guild recently, which is something I had been wanting to do for a long time. I believe Peak Academy is a helpful place." Valen said.

He thought about his fellow students. Alki, Vesper, and Saturn. Saturn he knew from before, but Alki and Vesper he did not. Vesper's voice, interestingly enough, sounded very similar to his own, which was surprising as they were such different kinds of Pokemon. But as Valen looked, he noticed something else unusual...

Both Alki and Vesper had a red feather. Valen had red feathers on his head, but this was different, even besides looking different from his own. Alki and Vesper only had one feather each, and it did not look like a natural part of them. Where did they get those feathers? Valen wondered. And why are they both wearing it? Was it originally from another Pokemon?

"Umm... Alki, Vesper? The red feather you're wearing looks really nice! Where did you get it from?" Valen asked, trying to sound polite by including a compliment.

(OOC: The reference to Valen's and Vesper's voices being similar was actually first thought of OOC based on how they have the same speech color xD. This was discussed on Discord).

[22 - 11 = 11 Energy]

Vesper grinned at getting to mark the map, but she looked almost proud as Lennox explained that Alki had been the one to help fix the map up in the first place. "Hehe, Alki is pretty awesome!" She grinned. Alki never seemed to give herself any credit, but if even their teacher was acknowledging her then surely she couldn't deny she was great, right?

The Roselia grabbed a stray twig from the forest floor, clutching it together with both of her roses as she examined it for a suitable tip. Deciding it was decent enough, Vesper concentrated, using the unseen power of her Extrasensory to delicately dip the tip into the ink and mark the two triangles on the map as Lennox had asked. Vesper poked her tongue out a little as she concentrated on doing this. She didn't exactly write very often, and it was a delicate procedure using such a volatile move to do so in place of her actual appendages (which were less suited to writing than even Lennox's horns to be honest). Upon completion of the markings, she dropped the twig back into her rose hands and grinned. Success!

Wiping the twig on a nearby leaf, Vesper tucked it away in her scarf just in case she needed it later. She then picked up the map, holding it out to examine her handiwork. Not too bad!
"A perfect addition to the map you fixed up, eh Alki?" She chuckled lightly, holding it out so the Jigglypuff could see her additions.

She glanced back over to the rest of the group in time to see Lennox adding to the conversation. She'd heard Saturn introducing himself, but hadn't acknowledged it at the time as she'd been occupied with the map. Ancient Power seemed like it could be a pretty strong move in a pinch, though in a forest such as this she assumed they'd have to be careful in case they really did run into the grass types that Saturn was so weak against.

"Well I don't think you'll have to worry about grass or water types with us here anyway!" Vesper grinned, indicating to Valen and then to Alki. Valen was a flying type, and as far as she knew, Alki still knew how to use a mean Flamethrower. And that wasn't even counting her own ability to use Poison Sting, "So you keep an eye out for flying types in return, yea?"

The conversation soon moved on to the topic of their majors, Lennox wanting to find a common one between them. Unfortunately, based on Valen's majors it didn't seem like there would be an overarching common major, as neither of hers matched with his.
"My majors are Battling and Performing Arts," she replied, eyeing the feminine sounding bird. It seemed he too was a Guild member, like Alki was. Although, she assumed probably not with the less guild-like side occupation.

It was bizarre that following those thoughts, the Pikipek asked about the red feathers that both she and Alki were wearing. Vesper's expression widened into a grin once again, "Oh, these?" She gently ran her blue rose along the side of her own red feather, "They look cool right? I can hook you up with one if you want! We're aiming for them to be the next big fashion in Grassveil Town!" Vesper struck a pose as she spoke, accentuating the feather she wore on her head with the movement. The half-lie rolled off of Vesper's tongue with ease. She couldn't give the Pikipek a real identification feather, but she sure as hell could give him a red feather to wear if he wanted. And starting a real fashion movement certainly sounded like fun!

Alki's ears perked up as she picked up the Roselia's compliment, directed at her. She was awesome...? Look who was talking! Her cheeks seemed to burn bright red as a small, embarrassed smile appeared on her lips. She glanced at the Roselia, before directing her gaze to... nowhere in particular, pretending she hadn't heard. She didn't want anyone to have any sort of high expectations of her... All that would result in was her failing to meet them. She'd rather Vesper didn't say anything about her... She was in the back for a reason, and she'd almost fallen in the water! Some kind of awesome...

Alki held one hand in the other and swayed from side to side, pretending to be quite engrossed in the leaves on the trees overhead, all whilst pretending to not have heard Vesper. She didn't want to acknowledge that... The Roselia thought too highly of her... The jigglypuff jumped as she heard Vesper address her specifically. The map...? Yeah, she'd fixed it a while ago, but... she couldn't remember if she'd done a good job at it or not. Knowing her, probably not... Still wearing the silly, blushy smile that she always did when someone praised her, whether it was deserved or not, she responded. "Y-Yeah..." She said, not sounding very sure of herself at all.

Soon after, the girl fell silent, listening to everyone else introduce themselves, present their own weaknesses and... strengths... Alki didn't really know hers... She waited patiently (and quite nervously,) until everyone else had finished, and that left her no choice but to say... something? What was she supposed to say...?

"U-Um, h-hi, my n-name's A-Alki..." She stuttered out in her usual, nervous way. "I-I d-don't like P-poison types, o-or... Um... R-Rock types, I think... A-And..." Strengths...? She didn't have any! She wasn't... She didn't know if she had any, really, but... probably not... She couldn't imagine she was strong against anyone... "M-My majors r-right now are P-P-Performing arts, a-and Essential S-Studies..." Alki managed to get out. It was hard to see herself Performing anything in front of anyone, but... Well, Vesper was in that class! And she wanted to be in a class with her friend...

She'd become lost in thought, trailing behind the group, when she heard Valen address her and Vesper. Alki teleported forward a short distance to be by her friend. Feathers? Yeah! They were real nice... Alki removed hers from beside her ear and held it in her hand, quietly admiring it as Vesper struck a pose. "Y-You l-like em...? I-I really like 'em too..." They were aiming to make it the next big fashion in Grassveil...? She didn't remember hearing about that... She'd ask Synd'r later, she supposed... "L-Like Vesper s-said, w-we can get ya one, if you'd like? I-I think... I t-think it'd look nice on ya..." She said, smiling softly. She wasn't lying either... The feathers would look nice on anyone, as far as Alki was concerned. They were certainly very pretty, and she couldn't imagine the shade of red looking bad on anyone at all...

As his classmates were introducing themselves, Saturn noticed just how shy this 'Alki' individual was. She was likely one of the students that was here as punishment, why else would she be so meek? Hopefully she will open up once we get more acquainted with each other. After all, trust is an extremely important quality for an adventuring group to have, otherwise it is difficult to work together.

As everyone started listing off their majors, Saturn had to remind himself what his majors even were. What did I pick again? Battling and something else... Was it cooking? No, that's not right. It was something practical... Oh yeah! I remember now. "My majors are Battling and Expeditionary Studies. It sounded like he would be seeing more of Valen and Vesper, which he was all for. Valen already proved to be a dependable ally and Vesper just generally seemed fun to be around. Her positive demeanor was quite refreshing.

Speaking of Vesper, she mentioned he should look out for flying types, since he had a strong attack against them, which was fine. However, his Ancient Power had a rather short effective range, which meant he would have to wait for them to get close if he wanted to do any real damage. But the presence of floating rocks spontaneously flinging forward should prove to be an effective deterrent, regardless.

Valen mentioning the feathers made him realize that they are, in fact, decorations. Saturn, for some reason, assumed they were part of their bodies, which was a rather rediculous assumtion to make in retrospect. But as to why Valen wanted one for himself Saturn couldn't quite fathom. He had plenty of his own feathers, being a bird and all. Why not just paint one of his own feathers red? We are here to collect pigment-rich leaves, after all. "Hey Valen, maybe you could have some red pigment made and paint your own feathers red? I bet that would look rather striking, if done properly."