Chapter 1
Nemona was a little put off by the new guy, to say the least. No matter what she did he always seemed more interested in Arven, which, granted, wasn’t really her problem, however she still felt at fault for making him hate her.
So, Nemona did the smart and reasonable thing and tried talking to him again.
“Hey neighbor!” Nemona shouted as she darted around people eating their lunches on the field, “How are you? Did you decide what treasure you’re going to go for? Are you going to do the gym challenge? Trust me it’s so much fun!”
Florian sighed, “I’m going with Arven.”
“I’m sure you’ll still…uh, have fun?” Nemona awkwardly mumbled, she had had such a good plan on which gyms he could tackle first.
Nemona noticed then how pointedly he was glaring at her, so she made the acute and genius decision to just leave. She wove through the other students who were still eating, many of which had weird looks on their faces when she passed. Walking back to her dorm, through the twisting hallways of the academy, Nemona realized that she didn’t have a plan for her own treasure. She sighed as loudly as she possibly could.
“Didn’t we say something about that outfit,” a voice from across the hall shouted.
Nemona looked up to see some of those team star hooligans antagonizing a kid with pretty hair, it was streaked red and blueish periwinkle. Their outfit wasn’t that bad, sure it wasn’t the school uniform, but the kid was probably cold, or they had a note.
“Hey!” Nemona snapped, “Dont you even think about messing with them!”
All three pairs of eyes were on her, the Team Star grunts seemed more worried than necessary. Nemona may have been the president of her class but the most she could do about bullying was tell a teacher. And most of the time bully’s got off Scott free because teachers have more to worry about than some kids.
The Team Star grunts didn’t seem to know this, so they were frantic in their movements to get out of a small space with Nemona in it. They more than ran in the other direction.
The kid they were bullying looked at Nemona for a second before leaving as well. Not nearly as fast as the grunts had, which gave Nemona a little hope.
Nemona smiled a little as she walked to her dorm. Swiping her card, her phone began to ring. Nemona blinked, hardly anyone called her, this was great, Florian probably changed his mind!
She picked it up, “Hi, what’s up? Are you doing the gyms, Florian?”
The person in the other end made a couple of scuffling noises before answering, “I’m Cassiopeia, not whoever you think you’re talking to. I need your help.”
“Sure I’d love to help my fellow student,” Nemona exclaimed, maybe Cassiopeia could help her find her treasure.
“I need you to take down the five team Star bosses,” Cassiopeia’s voice was barely over a whisper, “This will not be easy, but I have chosen you, Nemona, because you are a champion ranked trainer, you are the only hope for Opperation Starfall. So, are you in or out?”
Nemona sat on her bed, the springs gave little noises of acknowledgment, “What does that mean?”
“It means you will have to defeat each Team Star boss and squire their badge.” Cassiopeia answered.
“Oooh, cool,” Nemona smiled, if she did this the whole academy would be impressed, “Like gym badges?”
“Yes Nemona,” Cassiopeia sighed, “Like gym badges.”
“I’m in.” Nemona announced after barely a minute of consideration.
Cassiopeia hung up barely a second later, leaving Nemona in silence. A sudden realization shook her, how had Cassiopeia found her number? Did they hack her phone or something, that may sound cool on paper but Nemona knew how dangerous hackers could be.
That thought didn’t matter at the moment because Nemona was officially not without a treasure. When everyone left tomorrow she’s just have to call Cassiopeia back for the locations of these bosses. Nemona had even brought out the team she used in champion tournaments, not the weak team she’s put together for Florian.
Nemona lay back on her creaky mattress thoughts swirling and spiraling making it impossible to sleep.