Pokemon - From the Brink

Chapter 7 - Bond Phenomenon

When our plane landed on Liocott Island, it was the dead of night. The majority of us made our way into the airport fatigued and drowsy, longing for a bed to sleep in. Kudou and Kiria appeared to be the only ones who were completely fine – an observation I owed to the fact that Kudou needed to be awake and alert as the manager, and Kiria would have rested appropriately beforehand in order to remain vigilant as she kept watch.

"Couldn't have picked a better flight...?" Hikaru yawned as we made our way to collect our luggage.

"This was the earliest flight." Kudou said. "It puts us almost a week ahead of schedule and gives us time to prepare before the tournament starts."

"Uuuughhh..." Yu rubbed his eyes.

"Are we training right away...?" Victor mustered up all of his strength to pull his suitcase from the conveyor belt before it slowly passed him by.

"You'll be working hard, but I'm no savage." Kudou took his own suitcase. "You can rest when we get to the dorms. We won't start training until after midday."

"Oh thank God..." Hikaru stretched.

I looked around the airport at the surprising lack of people. Even though it was late at night, I had never seen an airport so quiet before. There were a couple of people milling about, but nobody seemed to be in any hurry. A young boy seemed to see us from a distance and came to the conclusion that we were part of the Continental Cup, considering we were a group made up of some people whose faces were likely familiar on the island after the success of the previous World Tournament.

"Good luck!" He waved.

Some of the more alert among us waved back, whilst others like Caleb simply ignored the child altogether.

"I assume we'll be taking a bus to our training ground?" Midorima asked, seemingly well-rested.

"That's right." Xene nodded.

"We'll be using the area that we occupied as the Japanese team last time." Jordan looked up at him. "You may recall that last time, each of the sixteen teams had a village of their own – this time it's the same, except there are less teams."

"Destiny Angel's old dorms will be taken up by us – Aegis." Darragh confirmed.

"At least they're somewhat familiar." I said, remembering Destiny Angel's time there back at the first World Tournament.

"We'll know our way around." Nelly nodded.

"What about the other three?" Skyra asked, referencing the three other members of the team who had travelled separately.

"Mira, Zhang and Carmello are already at the dorms." Kudou replied. "I called ahead to make sure."

"Lucky sods..." Hikaru mumbled.

"Now, does everyone have everything they need?" The manager asked. "If so, we'll head out to the bus."

*

The dorms were as I remembered them. Two floors in a largely wooden style, with a small cafeteria on the first floor, as well as offices and meeting rooms. The second floor was exclusively bedrooms, each with its own bathroom. We had been greeted by one of the staff, who had been watching the building until we arrived. She confirmed that the three other members had arrived safely and were already asleep. Now, we were stood in the central hallway, the wooden staircase before us calling us to bed.

"Now, get some rest, and we'll begin training tomorrow." Kudou said as he handed out room keys. He gave a quick run-down of the times when food was served, and how the dorms should be used, as well as what to do should we lose our keys.