Arriving into the cafeteria for lunch, Galatea made her way towards the lunch line. Over on the other side of the room, Nemona had taken the new transfer students to lunch.

When Nemona saw the flash of Galatea's white hair bobbing down the line she started frantically waving from her table, "Galatea! Over here!"

Once she picked up her lunch, a tray with a peanut butter sandwich, apple juice and a sweet parfait, Galatea sat down with the three, "Hey, Nemona."

"Make any new friends?" Nemona asked as she took a big bite of her five-alarm sandwich, without even the slightest flinch.

Galatea smiled, "Yeah, I think I did."

Nemona was momentarily stunned but quickly shook it off, "That's great! Well, I have two more people for you to befriend! This is Carmine and Keiran! They are transfers from Blueberry Academy in the Unova region." Nemona rolled her hands before presenting the two other kids seated next to her.

One was a short boy with his black and purple hair falling into his face despite having a headband that struggled to hold any of it back. Next to his was a taller girl with long black and red hair that wrapped around her like a shawl, and both had matching golden eyes.

The girl was first to wave, "I'm Carmine. Maybe friend is a stretch. You can be one of my grunts and do everything I say, though."

"Sis—We're... We're the guests here. Maybe you should be... A little nicer." The boy, Keiran, chirped, barely able to look past his own nose.

"Hush, Kiki, I'm recruiting a grunt!" Carmine growled before looking back, "What do you say?"

Galatea stifled a laugh, "Do I get anything in return for being your grunt?"

Carmine flipped her hair back and said, "You get the honor of being in my presence and carrying my books."

"Eh... Then I'll pass," Galatea shrugged with a mischievous smirk, "Rather have no friends if those are the options."

Nemona laughed and Keiran gasped at Galatea's response, "Woah... Cool..."

Carmine clicked her tongue and picked up her empty tray, "Well then! Come on, Kiki, we're leaving."

"B-but.." Keiran stuttered and watched his sister stomp away, "Aw.. Okay. Uh, see you guys around." Keiran stumbled up with his own tray and followed his sister.

"Can you let them just wander off like that? Weren't you showing them around the school?" Galatea asked through a sticky peanut butter bite.

Nemona said, "Yeah they're good. We were at the end of our tour anyways. Keiran is a year below us and Carmine is a year above us. They are here for Naranja's famous Treasure Hunt independent study next semester. They are here a little early so they can get settled in. Apparently, Blueberry Academy is like super battle oriented, instead of exploration like we are here. I absolutely can't wait to battle them!"

Galatea laughed at the child-like giddiness that Nemona exuded at the thought of battling, "You would want to battle them even if their school wasn't battle oriented."

"Well, yeah, but it makes me want to battle them even more." Nemona grinned and curled her bicep dramatically, "A real test of strength! So, how about that battle you promised me?"

Pulling out her Rotom-Phone to check the time, Galatea nodded, "I've got about an hour until my next class, so that works for me."

"Yes! Race you!"

The two friends made their way to the battle courts in the heart of Naranja Academy. Nemona sped down the halls and sent the other students spinning if they were in her way. A few teachers yelled at her down the hall, but none would be able to catch her. Galatea did try to match Nemona's pace for about a minute before her lack of stamina caught up with her, so Galatea took it upon herself to quickly apologize to each person who was wrought in Nemona's wake.

When Galatea finally made it to the field Nemona chose, her friend was hopping up and down and waved her arm, "Over here, Slowpoke!" When Galatea got close, Nemona started taking out her own pokéball, "Three on Three like usual?"

"Yep. Until I get more Pokémon," Galatea laughed as she pulled out her first pokéball, "Let's go, Lechonk!"

A small pig Pokémon leapt out of the ball, shaking off his short, black fur with a snort.

Nemona giggled, "Come on out, Rockruff!" Her rock puppy pokemon burst from the pokéball in a bright flash and started barking the minute she hit the ground.

Galatea clicked her tongue. Tough matchup... Most of my moves won't be very effective. She thought to herself before executing her first command, "Lechonk, use Yawn."

"Then we will use Rock Throw." Nemona shouted. Rockruff nodded before kicking up a large rock from the field and throwing towards Lechonk, since the puppy pikeman had a higher speed. It slammed into the normal pig pokemon, and sent him sliding across the field. However, he was quick to get up and shake himself off, with not many scratches. When Lechonk's turn arrived he trotted close up before plopping down onto his butt with a cute head-tilt. Then Lechonk opened his mouth wide and let out a exaggerated yawn, with a couple of sleepy bubbles popping around Rockruff. Rockruff's eyelids grew heavy, but she remained standing. "Come on, girl, hype yourself up with a Howl!" Nemona shouted.

Still swaying a bit, Rockruff stood strong with legs spread wide and her head low. She threw her muzzle up to the sky and let out an empowering roar.

Galatea smiled as the excitement of battle started to tickle her toes, "Lechonk, use Tail Whip!" Her little Lechonk boy nodded before spinning around to point his butt to the opponent, then shaking his curly tail at Rockruff cutely. Rockruff relaxed just a bit from her battle stance and cocked her head at the Lechonk. Within a few moments, Rockruff fell over to her side and started to snore and Galatea's smile broke into a smug grin, "Now Mud-Slap Rockruff!"

Lechonk nodded and used his cloven hooves to fling a splat of dirt right into Rockruff's face, and successfully obscured the sleeping Pokémon's eyes. Nemona's voice trembled with excitement, "A super-effective move! You're doing great with those type match ups, Galatea! But don't think we're over, come on wake up, Rockruff!"

To Galatea's luck, the Rockruff stayed fast asleep, and she laughed, "Now Lechonk, use Dig!" The pig quickly burrowed into the ground, throwing dirt around the air.

"Come on, Rockruff, wake up buddy!" But Nemona's calling was in vain as Lechonk tunneled up into Rockruff, and threw the rock-type out of the field boundaries. Her eyes had fainted swirls when Nemona returned him, "Nice job, Galatea. But now I'm going to win! Come on out Pawmo!"

Nemona threw out her pokéball and the fighting-electric type mouse pokemon pounced into battle, with sparks surging at his yellow cheek pouches. "Hit them with an Arm Thrust!"

The orange pika-clone shared the same grin is trainer had before zig-zagging across the battlefield with unparalelled speed. Galatea couldn't even get in an order before Pawmo slammed his right arm into Lechonk, quickly followed by his left arm, then right again, landing three solid hits. Lechonk was sent across the field and skidded to a halt at Galatea's feet, clearly fainted from the attack.

Nemona winked, "I know super effective type moves too."

"Fair enough," Galatea said and pulled out her next Pokémon. Sure, it wouldn't be a great matchup, but they proved in pervious matches that they could out-speed Pawmo at the very least, "Go, Tandemaus!"

Drown in the white light that all pokéballs emit, the two little patch-work mice skittered out into the arena. One of them turned their head back to Galatea for an order, "Use Super Fang!"

"Hit them with Arm Thrust!" Nemona shouted, but Tandemaus was faster as the team broke off in two different directions to pull off a pincer attack onto the Pawmo. They both came down and sunk their teeth in, and made Pawmo scream out as he fell into half health. Despite that, Pawmo now had the two mice in his range, and Pawmo began to throw his arms out to grab them and pound them back, once, twice, three times, four—The Tandemaus were down for the count.

Returning her Pokemon, Galatea nodded at her pokéball, "Thanks guys. You got us all set up." She put the ball pack to grab her starter. She looked at it and took in a big breath. Down to her last one. Her first one. Her partner. She's got this. "Let's go—"

Before she could finish sending out her Pokémon, a loud bell rang across the courtyard. Galatea swung around to look at the giant clock they had posted by the stage and it read, "3:50pm"

"Shoot, I gotta get to class." Galatea said, returning her pokéball back to her belt. "Call it a draw and have a rematch later?"

Nemona groaned, "Awww... But we didn't even get to our third Pokémon! But yeah. You shouldn't miss class. So we'll battle again!" She kept waving goodbye until Galatea vanished into the building.

---

A/N: So guys, the battle ended in a tie, and we didn't get to see either Nemona or Galatea's starters. What Pokémon do you think Galatea chose for her starter? Leave your guesses in the comments!

Also, if you prefer AO3 for reading fanfiction, my Username is RoseG0ld_spACE_Cadet there. Chapters should be edited and more polished.