A Pokioh Birthday

The curtains were drawn over a window, but the small amount of sunlight sneaking in was enough to illuminate the room. A desk and dresser sat on one wall, and a closet was filled with purple vests, white shirts, and more casual clothes. The bed was a mess of sheets, which mostly covered a snoring brunette.

A Gallade stood above the girl, a look of disapproval etched into his face. He looked like a Pokémon...except for the fact he was semi-transparent.

“Lady Charlotte, please wake up. You’re going to be late for class.” Galahad pleaded. The girl didn’t respond. The Gallade spirit placed a transparent hand on her shoulder, trying to rouse her. Charlotte simply turned over in her bed.

“It’s my birthday. Lemme sleep.” Fenbi sighed, one of her nine tails swishing absentmindedly.

“The girl has a point. Lay off for once?” The Lightsworn Kitsune disappeared. Galahad stared sternly at his Mikata, but she was already fast asleep. He sighed, and vanished as well.

-

When Charlotte returned to a conscious state, it was well into the afternoon. She stirred, sitting up in her bed.

“Good morning, Charlotte!!” Lumina sang, then paused. The brunette stretched. “Actually, it’s afternoon now! Are you going to class today?”

“Meh.” Which the Kirlia interpreted as ‘maybe’.

“Let’s get breakfast, right?” The second year Ditto Purple nodded and rolled out, almost landing on her face.

The common room was quiet, but that was to be expected since everyone else was in class. The kitchen attached had the usual dishes in the sink from the morning’s breakfast. A sticky note was taped on the dorm’s fridge, a message from Alice scrawled across it’s pink surface.

‘Happy Birthday, Charlotte-sama! :}’

“Heh.” Charlotte smiled as she opened the fridge, snagging one of Phoenix’s scones.

“That’s sweet!” Lumina twirled, skirt floating with her motion.

“Well, it is Alice.” Charlotte closed the fridge, filling a glass with water and beginning to munch on the scone. “What should we do today?” Lumina glanced around before whispering conspiratorially,

“Are you going to ditch?”

“I don’t think so.” Lumina yelped, vanishing in a puff of smoke. A Gallade stood nearby, arms crossed.

“Aw, come on, Jain. Don’t be a stick in the mud!” Charlotte grinned. One non-existent eyebrow rose.

“Ditching would not be good for Galahad’s mental health.”

“Don’t care.”

“Yuki did threaten a pop-quiz, though.” She stuffed the rest of the scone in her mouth, glancing down at her phone. Specialty Decks, her third class of the day, had already started, but if she did decide to go (Yuki’s quizzes were a significant threat to students’ grades if they missed, and Jain’s words were no empty threat), it would take time to get ready, go to class.

“The rest of the day is mine.” Jain smiled.

“I never said it wasn’t.”

-

“Glad you decided to join us, Miss Lobis.” Professor Lucas said dryly as the door slid open. A Mew entered above her, unseen to all but one of the room’s occupants.

“Well, I can’t deprive yah’ of your daily dose of me.” She responded, causing snickers to rise from the other students. He rolled his eyes.

“Go to your seat.”

“Yes, sir.” She walked down the aisle, the Rogue floating in circles around her head, and plopped down next to Skye.

“Happy Birthday.” Skye responded, grinning at Charlotte. “You’re not ditching?” The brunette shrugged.

“Nah, wouldn’t want to disappoint Galahad.” Skye blinked. “Kidding.” She turned her attention towards the Professor. Skye glanced up at the Rogue, who was floating around the light fixtures absentmindedly.

“...decks that revolve a yin-yang theme can be equally advantageous or disadvantageous. Many Pokioh have abilities that allow them to summon counters to them, such as a Darkness Pokioh switching with a Light Pokioh...” She flicked open a video camera, a gift from her father, and proceeded to record the rest of the lecture while one earbud hung from her ear, playing Megalovania.

-

“Hey.” Juba nodded in Charlotte’s direction as she passed his desk at the end of Psychology class. Professor Yuki had indeed given them a pop-quiz, much to the class’s dismay. “Happy Birthday.”

“Thanks, Jub.” The Kyogre Blue rolled his eyes. “Wanna hang out later?” Juba tilted his head.

“Shultz.” Was his only answer.

“Ah, it sucks to be you, it sucks to be you!” She snickered, receiving a glare from the greenette.

“‘later.”  He said, gathering his materials.

“At least come get coffee with me and Phoenix?” He paused for a moment before nodding. “Great! See yah later!” Charlotte swung her bag over her shoulder. No sooner had she left the classroom than Devin ran up to her, eyes panicked.

“Charlotte-san, I know it’s your birthday, and you should be doing other things, but could you please, please, please help me?” He sounded close to crying. “It’s about our duel runner...someone...it’s...kinda crushed.”

“Shit.” Was the only thing to say.

-

The runner was beyond repair.

“Looks like we’re gonna have to scrap this.” Charlotte sighed, looking at the bent skeleton of what would have been their duel runner. They’d been trying for the past two hours to salvage the skeleton of the motorbike, but to no anvil. The metal was warped in ways that couldn’t be natural. “Now the only thing to do is go find out who did this and punish them.” A gleam came into her eye. “I have a new trolling system I want to try.” Devin gulped, putting his gloves and goggles in the cart they used.

“I’m really sorry this happened on your birthday, Charlotte-san.” She sighed, putting her gloves and goggles next to Devin’s.

“It’s nothing. I didn’t like this design anyway, but it was the safest one. I’ll break the news to Skye next time I see him.” Certain stuff was best said in person.

“Alright.” Devin picked up his bag. “Happy Birthday, Charlotte-san. Hope the rest of your day’s better.” She just waved her hand, and the Raikou Yellow took off. The warehouse that the Mechanics/Engineering/Electrics class used fell into silence.

“I’m really sorry about your runner, Char-Oneesan.” A Sylveon appeared, ribbons drooping downward.

“It’s okay.” Charlotte sighed, slinging her bag onto her shoulder. “I’m going to look at this as a good thing. Maybe we can use the Clear Wing design.”

“I don’t think anyone was happy with the design you used.” Fenbi appeared alongside Minerva. “Let’s just hope Skye’s fine with the change.”

“I imagine he’ll just go with the flow.”

-

The warehouse was located on the edge of campus, a decent distance from the Ditto Purple dorm, so it only took a short amount of time to reach the dorm. Jenis, a Audino, had joined them, and the chatter of the three spirits and their Mikata filled the quiet forest, even though a normal person would only hear Charlotte’s voice.

“I wonder if Alice made something special.”  It was the first year’s turn to make dinner. There was no response from the spirits, and she turned, realizing they had vanished without warning. “Where are you hiding?” There was no response, although she could feel their presence nearby. A small shard of suspicion lodged itself in her mind, and she couldn’t shake it out. The suspicion only grew as Charlotte drew closer to the dorm. She opened the front door, and a round of cheers slammed her in the face

“HAPPY BIRTHDAY, CHARLOTTE!!” She recovered, looking around. The entirety of Moltres Red and Ditto Purple, with a few Raikou Yellows were in the common room, holding cups, noisemakers, and confetti horns aloft. She blinked, and smiled.

“Why does this not surprise me?” Alice dashed forward as her spirits reappeared, joining the other spirits lounging on the balcony above. “Plotting behind my back, huh?” Charlotte pulled the underclassman into a hug, noogying her before she could pull away.

“Yes! Phoenix-sama, Juba-sama and Skye worked very hard to pull it together!” A thoughtful look crossed over her face.

“Skye too, huh?” The pinkette nodded excitedly. Devin approached, scratching the back of his head.

“Hey, about the duel runner...”

“Was it just an excuse to keep me out of the way?”

“Sorta, yes?” He grinned hesitantly. “I mean, I sorta picked up that you weren’t happy with the design, and Skye knew, so...yeah.” She grinned.

“That’s a good enough birthday gift for me.”

“Yo, Lobis! You gonna join the party?!” Harris yelled from the couches. A smirk crossed her lips.

“You bet.”