[Story]: The Assembly

Naomi couldn't wipe the look of annoyance off of her face as Juniper continued to speak, but what she was saying about them failing their parents struck a chord with N. She couldn't fail them, she had to avenge her mother, she had to prove that it wasn't an accident; failure wasn't an option.

Naomi clapped along with the others to welcome their new guest, a rather beautiful woman in such a serious-looking outfit. Ariadne did not look like the type of woman you messed with and got away with it. Naomi raised an eyebrow when the General stated that the test would only be two questions and that standing equated to yes, sitting to no. "It seems easy enough, I won't fail." She gave the woman a nod and waited for the test to begin. Upon hearing the first question her eyebrows knitted together in a face of disgust. How could anyone say yes to this question? Apparently, a few people did, at least, before they immediately sat down after she and the other students gave them looks of utter disgust. They seemed visibly embarrassed from not understanding the question. "I hope that they just misunderstood the question, but at least no one stood up. I wonder why Draco didn't..." As Draco came to mind she locked onto him sitting a row in front of her, still seated.

She felt some relief when Ariadne confirmed that no was indeed the right answer. It seemed intuitive enough. "One down, one to go." When the General asked the second question Naomi's face contorted in visible confusion. "Us? Who's she referring to? The Confederation?" Something about the question just felt too ominous and Naomi started to get a bad feeling in her stomach and the hair on the back of her neck began to stand on end. To ease her paranoia she tried her best to get a reading on the woman's aura and as she squinted her eyes in concentration a visible hue of gray began radiating around the General's body. Ariadne wasn't entirely good, but she wasn't entirely bad either, she was somewhere in the middle.

When the General reiterated who "Us" was and gestured behind them Naomi was one of the last to turn, but before she did she saw that all the students in the rows in front of her had looks of visible confusion, shock, or fear plastered across their faces. Naomi looked down and then to the side, sensing that there was someone in her peripheral vision. She slowly turned her head and twisted her body around to look and that's when she saw them. The figures with the glowing blue looking space suit uniforms, but what made her feel like the wind had just been knocked out of her was the glowing blue G insignia on their chest. She knew that symbol, she had seen it many times before in her fathers police documents or on the news when she was a child. As the grunts got into position around the auditorium and everyone turned back to the stage a slew of questions began popping up in her mind. "Was this a dream? Were they really back? They never did find the rest of them, they just vanished off the face of the Earth..."

At the exact same time that Ariadne began to say their name, Naomi whispered it breathlessly in unison with the General. "Team Galactic..." She felt herself getting sick from shock. This couldn't be happening, not now, not here. She didn't have time to be dealing with Team Galactic, she had to deal with the Crimson Marauders! Her eyes refocused and she looked back to Ariadne as the woman began to explain herself, all the while Naomi struggled to steady her breathing; now wasn't the time to panic. Ariadne was actually making sense and when she condemned her brother for his reckless ways Naomi began to realize that her aura wasn't lying. When the woman mentioned the lake, part of Naomi wished that she had been there; maybe she could've recognized her, maybe she could've warned Cynthia. That's when her eyes widened in realization. "Cynthia! They have to have gotten to her, why else would she be missing for this long? That means..." Her eyes scanned the room until they landed on Headmistress Juniper who moments later turned and locked eyes with N and gave her a wicked smirk. "She was working for them the whole time, how didn't I see this?!" It didn't take long after Ariadne reiterated the question for people to begin to stand up, but the first person knew who did made her feel like she got hit in the stomach again. "Vander?! No, you can't be serious. You've had a hard few months but joining Team Galactic isn't go--" Her thought was cut midway when he immediately began rebelling against the Galactic Leader and a semblance of faith was restored as Naomi saw his golden aura flare out around him defiantly.

The second person definitely caught her by surprise; it was Leon. She didn't know much about him and the two hadn't spoken much, but she didn't think he was the type to join a group that... wanted... to stop evil people... "Oh..." It clicked, the way he stood up to Draco and the way he stood up now showed that he didn't want people like that to be allowed to continue doing what they were doing, but if what Ariadne said is true, then she couldn't blame him for joining. She didn't know his story, but she knew some of what he stood for and Ariadne didn't seem anything like her brother Cyrus, she had a genuinely noble goal of making the world a better place. Her thoughts were interrupted when Draco stood up as well, confusing her even more. Had he been reformed? He too wanted a world devoid of pain, violence, and fear? One by one more students began to stand up either in defiance of, or in agreement with Team Galactic's new ideology. One of which was a beautiful girl with purple space buns, who she hadn't noticed was already standing far before the rest beside some red-haired girl. "Violet..." she breathed. Her story may have been like Leon's or Draco's because Naomi knew that she wasn't an evil person. She was just like her.

Naomi began to contemplate in her mind if joining Team Galactic was ultimately the right thing to do. If Team Galactic had been run by Ariadne all those years ago, or if Cyrus had actually changed the world for the better then her mother never would've been killed. The Crimson Marauders never would've ambushed them on their expedition. She'd still have a loving mother in her life. She felt her eyes prick as tears began to well up and blur her vision at the thought of a world that could've been, one with a mother, a father, and Osiris happily living together in utter bliss. The girl gritted her teeth and clenched her fists with eyes shut, averting her gaze downward as she released pent-up tears down the side of her face.


But that's not the world that she lived in and nothing could change what happened to her mother. The world that Ariadne desires is a world that she agrees with, it could prevent someone else from going through the pain that she did, a pain that no child should ever have to endure. However, Naomi couldn't allow it to become a reality until after she tracked down and eliminated every last one of the Crimson Marauders.

Camilla rolled her eyes at Juniper's concluding speech; failure wasn't in Cam's vocabulary and she didn't intend on adding it now. The questions were odd but pretty easy to answer. In her mind, she already passed and had that diploma in her hands.

When Ariadne got to the second question and referred to a mysterious "Us," Camilla turned in unison with the others and saw the figures at the back of the auditorium. She caught sight of something glowing in her peripheral vision and turned back to face Ariadne, only to see even more of these people standing behind her up on the stage. Camilla locked eyes with the General who gave her a faint smirk. Whoever they were, their outfits were honestly pretty cute. They made everyone look at you which was an aesthetic that Camilla undoubtedly desired. When Ariadne revealed them as members of Team Galactic Camilla's eyes widened in shock. She listened to the woman's explanation and it honestly made a lot of sense, Camilla never would've been bullied by those girls and became the person that she was today if they had lived in a world like that. However, Camilla wouldn't have been who she was today and that's something that she didn't want to change. She never wanted to go back to that spineless, oblivious nerdy girl who let others walk all over her. However, with a group of people and the stigma of being a member of Team Galactic, she'd have more than enough tools to use in order to get back at those vile girls. Above all, she'd have immunity from the law meaning she could do whatever she wanted if it came to that. Upgrading from leading one clique to the prospect of leading an even bigger one? Her mind was already made up.

She turned her neck to the side and was met with Violet's gaze. The girls nodded in unison and Camilla squeezed Violet's hand as the space-bunned girl grabbed hers. "Sisters.. forever," she her Vi whisper. "Forever," chimed Camilla, reciprocating a smile back to her best friend. Camilla stood up in sync just as Violet did and locked eyes with Ariadne. She heard the gasps behind her and couldn't help but reveal a wicked grin, she loved the attention.

Camilla turned her attention toward her other friends and smirked. "Let's go girls, we're done here. It's time to graduate from rulers of the school to the rulers of Sinnoh," she cackled. It seemed like a joke, but anyone who knew Camilla knew that she was being absolutely serious. However, the girls merely looked up at her wide-eyed and then to one another. Camilla's face twisted into a look of confusion and annoyance. "Sarah? Elise? Hello? Stand up???" The two girls looked to one another and then back to their leader and shook their heads in fear. "Whatever, you two always were spineless," she barked. The two girls looked down instantly both ashamed and defeated. Camilla looked over to Cheryl and smiled. "Come on Cheryl, we don't need them anyway. They're nothing without us," she said. Cheryl bit the inside of her lip and looked down toward the floor as well. "I'm sorry Camilla, but I can't join Team Galactic. I won't. That could ruin my career. It could ruin our careers," said Cheryl, shaking her head as she look over to the other girls.

The vein on Camilla's forehead began to bulge as she gritted her teeth in anger. "You won't?! Fine! Who needs you three anyway. You'd be nothing without me, you were nothing before me. I made you popular. I made you important. And I will make sure that NONE of you ever have a career if it's the last thing I do. And yes Sarah, you do have a big nose, but I was a good friend and made you feel better about it. But you're just a good-for-nothing big nosed bitch." She didn't even take a breath before going after the next girl.

"Elise, your eyes are too far apart and you look like a fucking Stunfisk, good luck ever finding a husband. And Cheryl, the best you're ever going to get IS Pimpleface Paul. None of you can dance, cheer, nor put together an outfit to save your fucking lives. I became friends with you three because I felt SORRY for you, you were nothing more than a make-a-wish charity case. You're all nothing and that's all you'll ever be. Nothing. I'm glad I finally get to be as far away from you three as possible, because if I have to hear you cry about the stupidest fucking thing one more time I'm going to personally give you something to cry about," she spat venomously. The sound of stifled sobs emanated from the girls and Camilla couldn't help but laugh and roll her eyes.

"Absolutely pathetic... wastes of space. There's a reason that I was the Queen Bee. You'll never be like me, no matter how hard you try."

And with that, she turned her back to the trio and looked over to give a Violet a smile, then averted her gaze back up to Ariadne and gave the woman a smirk. This woman was a bad bitch and Camilla wanted to be like her. She wanted to be more than her and the tears of the girls beside her only further fueled that wicked desire. Plus, who needed a stupid piece of paper to say that they graduated anyway?