Halcyon University 1 - Subtle Beginnings

Story by Shinji_Hiroku on SoFurry

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#1 of Halcyon University


Well I was definitely reluctant to upload this one, and for good reason. I think it sucks. It's got a gary stu-like main character and the POV switches from first to third person in the 3rd or 4th chapter I think. I cant remember, I wrote this a long time ago. And that is why I sucks so hard. It was an early attempt at story and it fails. Oh well, the only reason I'm uploading it at all is because I'm writing a second season that will sucks far less than this one. So yeah, enjoy, if at all possible.


Who am I? Irrelevant at this point in time, but what is relevant is where I'm going. I'm bored out of my mind on a bus to the Halcyon Center. What is that? I'm glad you asked. The Halcyon Center is a 40 mile long stretch of land enclosed by a big ass circular wall. On the inside rests one of the largest schools in the world: Halcyon University. To put it bluntly, you can learn ANYTHING at this school. The campus itself covers 5 miles and is smack dab in the center of the area. It includes everything you need to learn about anything, not to mention IT'S OWN MINIATURE TOWN, complete with parks and libraries and all sorts of crap. Honestly though how many schools have you heard of that own their town? I just can't get over that, it's so awesome. I'm getting sidetracked where was I? Oh yeah the school, it also has its own dorms but through some cruel joke the boys and girls dorms are set at the farthest points away from each other, and incase you didn't know, that means at the exact edges of the 40 mile long complex. I'm not sure whose idea that was but they need be smacked. Guys can't go to the girl's dorm and vice versa. It's supposed to keep the guys and gals from having sex but I'm pretty sure that doesn't stop anyone from meeting halfway and doing it right on campus.

The rest of the facility is covered by forests, deserts, icy areas, a mini ocean, and so forth. Basically every area for every type of pokemon imaginable, and I do mean every type.

You're probably asking "How do they travel in this place?" Well thankfully this place has the most advance cable car system possible. It carries you high in the sky, out of reach of the potentially dangerous pokemon in the areas below. Not only that but it can get you across 20 miles in about 5 minutes.

The only potential problem I could see was that fact that none of these areas had any kind of protection. If a wild pokemon wanted to it could just waltz on in and start blowing shit up. But from what I heard most wild pokemon know better, everyone inside this facility is either a trainer, breeder, ranger, or a coordinator, if any hostile pokemon takes one step inside it'll have about 30 people attacking in less then a minute. Not only that but it's mandatory for each student to learn how to defend themselves, some of the best students here can take on large pokemon head to head.

There's a lot more explaining to do but I'm at my destination. That's right I get to go to this prestigious institution of learnitude. It's my first day and I can only hope that this place isn't as full of jerks as I heard it was. Oh right, you're probably wondering who I am. Lee, Calvin Lee. 19, 5'11", 165 pounds. Loose black pants made for comfort and maneuverability, a fancy white button-up shirt but without the sleeves, the white jacket with red insides I never wear but never leave the house without is placed on my shoulders. Since my arms aren't inside of it it flows almost like a cape. Last but not least my most recognizable feature: Long white hair that nearly goes down to my butt. I tried cutting it but it just grows so damn fast. Now that we have introductions out of the way my first stop, Orientation.

Orientation was in the campus' main building. It was fucking huge. There was a huge staircase leading up to the entrance. At the top of the stairs there were four massive pillars propping up an overhang along the entire front side of the building. Engraved in each of the pillars were depictions of legendary pokemon, it was probably the same all the way around the building. It was all a pristine white color too; they must have to clean it everyday to keep it that way.

I was so caught up in sight seeing I didn't notice I had stopped on the stairs, big mistake apparently.

I was snapped back into reality when I heard someone say "Move it." And push me out of the way. Out of all the directions he could have pushed me, he pushed me backwards. I was close the top of the giant staircase and I knew what would happen if I tumbled to the bottom. The last thing I needed was to get injured on the first day. With the foot I still had on a stair I kicked off with as much force as possible and with a nice little midair back flip I managed to land at the base of the stairs again, earning me a few wide eyed looks and open mouths from the people on the ground and the people I had flipped over.

"Great." Was the only thing I could say. I was already drawing more attention then I wanted so I jogged up the stairs and made my way inside.

There had to be at least a thousand students here, it was amazing to say the least. The inside of the building was decorated like a party. Balloons, streamers, refreshments, and the biggest snack table I had ever seen.

"This....is...AWESOME!" Thankfully no one could hear me, everyone was talking at the same time and there was so rock music playing through the absolutely giant speakers in the corners of the room. I was starting to see a pattern, this place had oversized every things. Maybe that was their theme? I dunno, and I didn't care.

The music started to die down and the crowd followed suit. A man dressed like he was going to a business meeting stepped onto the stage which I somehow didn't notice until now. He stepped forward into the spotlight and tapped the microphone twice. Behind him sat what looked like the entire faculty. There were maybe 400 teachers there, which didn't surprise me. If you haven't caught on yet then I guess I should tell you that the stage was also enormous. I might run out of synonyms for "big" the first day I'm here.

"Welcome new students, I'd like to congratulate all of you for successfully entering Halcyon University. I am president and founder of the school: James Halcyon. You have all been-" I stopped paying attention. I have a short attention span, especially when it comes to long speeches. He explained the rules and regulations, FAQ's, and other such miscellaneous things. The speech must have gone on for a good 30 minutes or so. I couldn't tell, I lose track of time when I'm daydreaming. I actually fought 2 pokemon battles in my head during this speech, and some how I lost one of them.

Finally he was reaching the end of his speech. "All students are to pick up their translators and schedules next door; we will be going in alphabetical order by last names. You are free to explore until your letters are called." Immediately after he finished his speech I heard over the intercom "Will the students with last names beginning in A, B, or C please report in." I didn't feel like exploring so I just sat in main building and ate snacks until the letters JKL were called.

Compared to the last building this one was miniscule but still pretty big, reminded me of the main building at band camp. I played trombone.

"Mr. Lee." The lady behind counter looked about my age; she may very well have been a student worker. "Here's your schedule and translator, have a nice day." She said with a clearly forced smile and happy tone. I could tell she didn't want to be there. By the way if you're wondering about these translators I'll give you the run down. Though this school teaches everything, it mainly focuses on pokemon related studies. Classes often go to the safer areas and learn from the pokemon themselves. The translator itself is just a small card you can slip into your wallet; it detects pokemon sounds in its vicinity and translates them directly into human tongue that is if there are any sounds translate. As long as you have one, a group of people can listen in on the sounds around them. But if you break it you pay to replace it.

On the back of my schedule there was a list of things to do on your first day. After orientation and collecting my schedule I should head straight for the dorms to get my room. "Guess I get to ride the cable car." I said as I folded up my schedule and slipped it into my pocket.

There were two cable cars going in each direction so at max you would have about a two and a half minute wait before getting a ride. I arrived just in time to find a humongous cable car. Ha thought I ran out of synonyms? Think again. The male and female cars were clearly labeled; mostly because setting foot on the wrong car pretty much gets you deep shit.

The male car went left and the female went right. I watched the University shrink as we went higher and higher. The view was awesome. I couldn't exactly make out half the pokemon we passed, we were moving so fast.

When we finally came to stop, I stepped out of the car to something I didn't quite expect. Yes the dorms were there and they were gargantuan. (I'm on a roll with these synonyms drum roll please.) But I saw tons of guys with their pokemon out. It was just a shock to see so many out after being in the central area for so long; maybe there was some kind of rule I had missed? "I'll have to think about it later, right now I gotta get a decent room."

The main building was just plain gaudy. It had a stone brick build, pokeball shaped stained glass windows, and a pointed top that made it look almost medieval. Looked like a church almost.

Room assignments were as easy as a sign up sheet. There was an immense list of rooms. All the way down the list you could see rooms signed with only one person in them, a pathetic effort by guys who wanted their own rooms. But it would prove utterly futile because about 400 more guys had yet to sign up. I did what everyone else did and placed my name by itself at the end of the list.

Two hours passed before the rooms were finalized. As I suspected I was stuck in a room with three other guys, I can only pray that they aren't assholes. I was the first to my room so I was able to claim my bed. They were bunk beds so I hopped on top of one and got a look at my surroundings while I waited for my roommates to get here.

Just as I expected from this university the room was awesome. Two bunk beds, 1 full bathroom, two desks in the corner for our work, a 40 inch flat screen TV, half a kitchen, and a separate room entirely with our own washer and dryer. You're probably wondering how they can be so extravagant, well with approximately 10,000 students at this high tuition cost im sure they could afford even more.

No sooner then I had finished looking around my first roommate showed up followed by a blaziken.

"Yo." Was the first thing he said accompanied by a half-hearted two finger salute.

He was tall, maybe six feet or so. Short black hair spiked back. He wore jeans and a plain black tee. The average guy I suppose.

"Hey." I said while getting up from laying position into a sitting position. "Something's been bugging me." I said before resting my head on my hand. "Why are there so many pokemon out here and not at the university?"

"You really don't know?" He seemed really shocked.

With no emotion whatsoever I said "Enlighten me."

"Well-" Before he could begin he was cut off by the sound of our next roommate entering accompanied by a zangoose.

He was shorter and a little chubby. Again jeans but he had a white tee with a huge mug of beer on the front. If you look close you can see the words "Chuggin Champ" under it. His red hair seemed to match his zangoose's color though.

"Mike you made it!" The stranger yelled.

"Ryannnnnn wassup?!" Apparently they knew each other. They exchanged a high five while their pokemon simply smiled at each other.

"New guy, this is-"

"Wait" I interrupted "Lets save the intros until everyone is here."

"Suit yourself, in the meantime TOP BUNK!" Mike blurted out before hopping up to the top bunk."

Ryan jokingly said "Aw you son of a bitch."

Mike just laughed manically.

"Anyway" Mike continued "The reason why so many guys have their pokemon out is-" He was cut off once again by our last roommate followed by a lopunny.

Ryan said excitedly "Alright Lece made it too." They pronounced it Leese.

Blonde slicked back hair, sharp looking glasses, and a black leather jacket over a brown shirt, and plain black pants.

"Oh snap we all got the same room again." I was kind of relieved; none of my roommates were assholes.

Lece turned his attention to me. "Oh double snap you're the guy who did that insane flip off the stairs."

"He did what now?" Ryan asked.

"He was at the top of the stairs of the main building when some dude pushed him and almost made him break his neck. But he pushed off the stairs with one foot, did an epic back flip, and landed at the bottom."

Simultaneously Ryan and Mike yelled "What!" before looking at me mouths agape.

"I wasn't all the way at the top." I said while scratching the back of my head.

"You might as well have been, that was the most awesome thing I've ever seen."

"Enough about me, what about you guys? Names please." I said in a sing-song like tone.

"Ryan Johns"

"Mike McKowskey

"Lecil Mayer. But for the love of god call me Lece. Now what about you?"

"Calvin Lee. Just call me Lee though. What about your pokemon, they seem awfully quiet."

Mike spoke up "Well Monica is just shy, Rachel doesn't like meeting new people, and Jessy doesn't talk to anyone but me.

"Soooooo Jessy is the blaziken." I turned my eye to the zangoose looking at me with a bored look on her face. "You must be Rachel, nice to meet ya." She didn't reply. "And you must be Monica." The lopunny was half-hidden behind Lece. She gave a slight nod.

"What about you, don't you have any pokemon with you?" Ryan questioned.

"Nope." A quick and blunt reply.

With an unexpected burst of what seemed like joy Lece told me "Well don't worry, one will find you." I should've been more worried at this statement.

"Anyway back to my question."

"Oh right" Mike cleared his throat. "You know how the academy is split up into male and female sides. Well not only are the students separated but the pokemon are too."

I raised an eyebrow.

"All of the females live to the left of the university, and all of the males to the right. The center is neutral though incase they want to mate. Usually they don't though at least not with other pokemon. For some reason unbeknownst to even the founder of this place, the pokemon prefer human mates. Half the pokemon you saw outside today were just searching for one. It isn't illegal nor is it uncommon, especially here at Halcyon."

I didn't know what to say. I just sat there for a while and blinked. As if all the functions of my brain stopped to try to process this information.

"Yeah I know it's a little hard to accept but you'll see in time."

"Oh he'll "see" alright." Ryan said before starting to laugh. Everyone else just smiled.

We conversed for about an hour until the TV randomly turned itself on. On the TV was none other then the founder. "Hello students, it is now 11 PM, the cable cars will be shut down until 8 AM tomorrow. I suggest you get some sleep because tomorrow you start your first day at Halcyon University. Good luck to you all." The TV blanked out.

Yawning I said "Normally I'd stay up to about 1 AM but it's been a long day." I laid my head back and closed my eyes without even bothering to take my clothes off. I drifted off slowly but not before hearing "Hey the new guys out, now we can-" the rest was a blur. I thought to myself before I slipped out of consciousness "This is gonna be interesting."