“Why are we here again?” The young, slightly high pitched voice asked his companion. Walking through the door of the arena the two ‘mon easily made their way to the stands with so few other spectators filling the battle area. Tuesdays were rarely a popular night for fights for a variety of reasons and usually reserved for the new, the desperate or the revenge seekers. The two young freshmen would usually be found in the first group, though tonight they didn’t have any battles or testing for themselves. They’d still been fairly regular at the weekday fights whenever their homework had allowed.

The first of the two was Aaron Aronson, a young Aron, the leader of Team Young Dumb and Ugly, or YDU as they called themselves for short. As a younger battler he’d assumed the mantle of leadership almost by default within his team, but it was one he still eagerly took on. He wanted to go into the battle ranks post Academy and knew that by being a team leader it’d help him later on. Studying other fighters, even other freshman, was a good way to try and gain an advantage; especially when he was tired of working out to gain one and wanted to use some brains over brawn.

His companion was one Rodrigo Lopez, Lotad, transfer student, and son of the famed Lucha Ludiloco, masked champion of the Southern Johto regions for many years. He’d been sent to the illustrious PCA in order to learn from some of the best fighters and to toughen up his young son. Even though he’d yet to want to actually battle he’d found himself picked up by the young team of outcasts and found a place with them, or at least with Aaron who dragged him along everywhere. The fact that his father was sponsoring the team didn’t hurt, but the two had indeed become friends. Rodrigo still wasn’t sure if he could say the same about his other teammates; in fact they both scared him.

The two made their way up the stands quickly and without much in the way of obstacle as few other students or teachers were there beyond the studious, the required, or the desperate. Aaron was huffing a bit as they climbed, his thick limbs working against him and proving once again the young ‘mon needed some more conditioning. He smiled though when he saw his ultimate destination and pointed it out to his Latino friend.

“Right there, amigo!” He said pointing upward and over. Rodrigo tried to follow his fingers and saw something that made him frown.

“The snack bar?” Aaron blinked and frowned, shaking his head.

“No no, those two!” He looked again and saw a Smeargle and a Persian sitting together.

“Who’s they?” Rodrigo asked, starting after Aaron when the Aron started walking again.

“Eddie and Remi,” He began explaining, “They’re known for being more approachable than a lot of upper classmen and I wanted to pick their brains about being a team leader,” the two got up about to where the two upperclassmen were talking. He waited a moment before clearing his throat to catch their attention.

“I'm still not sure I can really believe what just happened out there," Remi chuckled, staring out at the arena floor as the cleanup for the next match got started.

"*You* don't believe it?!" Eddie asked incredulously. "I just sat here and watch you trick a snake into trying to tie shoes he couldn't even potentially be wearing! Seriously, I wouldn't have even *bet* that you could pull that one off!"

Remi laughed and gave the Persian a pat on the shoulder. "Man, I mess with Stuart all the time like that... you could tell him that the sky is green and he'd still stick his head out the nearest window to check. Whatever's in those cigarettes he smokes, it's not exactly boosting his IQ."

“Uhh, yeah, excuse me?” Before Eddie could reply, he heard someone from behind trying to get their attention. Both he and Remi turned around to see a somewhat nervous looking pair standing in the aisle, an Aron and a Lotad.

“I, uhhh, my name’s Aaron and this is my teammate Rodrigo. I was…well, I, uhhh, heard you are…willing to talk to freshmen about stuff…like being a team leader. I’m my team’s leader and, well, I can, uhh…use some…help?” He offered another smile, hoping he wouldn’t get laughed at like what had happened so many times before. Rodrigo for his part stood there looking somewhat apathetic to the situation, though it was more of a deer in the headlights look than an actual sense of apathy. After an introduction and quick explanation, the Persian and Smeargle glanced at each other for a moment, as if deciding whether they should help or not. Finally, Eddie gave his reply.

"Hey, if you're going out of your way to ask us for advice, it just wouldn't be right to turn you guys away!" He smiled cheerfully and stood up, taking a second to stretch his back. "Isn't that right, Remi?" Remi also smiled and stood up as he replied.

"Sure, not every day that someone actually *wants* my opinion..." Both he and Eddie moved one seat away from each other, so Aaron and Rodrigo could sit between them. "I admit I'm still kinda new to the whole leader thing myself, but I'll help where I can," the big Smeargle continued. "Oh, sorry about the paint smears there, I think they've mostly dried by now though."

Eddie waited for them to get settled, and then directed his attention to Aaron. "So then, what's on your mind pal?" The two settled in between the pair of leaders, though the Aron seemed to be more enthusiastic about it than the Lotad. Clearing his throat for a moment the chubby Aaron looked up between the two and then called up his courage.

“Well...Rodrigo here and I are teammates on a freshman team and we’re still kinda figuring things out. At least I am,” Aaron started. Rodrigo sat watching the arena, partially out of trying not to catch attention and partially out of some interest in the next match coming up, “We’ve got a couple others on the team and together we’re Team YDU…Young, Dumb and Ugly,” Amusingly he didn’t seem to have issue with the name, and why should he since he came up with it.

“The biggest problem is I’m in charge because Xander is to pig headed to do it and Carla says she doesn’t want to because…” He looked over to Rodrigo, “Why does she say she doesn’t want to lead again?”

“She says the sorrow she feels for the world prevents her from leading anything since she’s busy revealing the dark blackness of our souls,” The Lotad didn’t even blink as he rattled off the explanation.

“Yeah, that,” The Aron then looked back up to the two on either side of him, “Anyway, I’m trying to figure out how to lead a team, let alone when I have a James Dean wannabe, a Croagunk that wears to much white makeup and black clothing, and Rodrigo here. No offense buddy,”

“S’okay,” the reply that echoed of being used to such sentiment.

“So…I need some suggestions on how to get my team started and moving along, and I’ve heard that you two are pretty open to helping the new guys,” Aaron looked up expectantly as if the two would suddenly rain advice and wise words down on his shiny metal self.

Eddie patiently listened to the Aron explain his situation. For the most part, it sounded a lot like a story that was fairly common in the freshman ranks; four kids who weren't able to fit in anywhere else falling in together, trying to make the best of what they were dealt. Occasionally it worked out, but more often than not most of these 'leftover teams' only seemed to last a year before breaking up, if that.

There were some things to Aaron's team however, little details that didn't seem to really add up. Usually with these kinds of teams there was some sort of a power struggle, or at least bickering over who the leader should be. It was very unusual to hear of a team whose leader was chosen because nobody else wanted the job. And then there was that name... 'Young, Dumb and Ugly'? To say that was an unflattering name would be like saying Mt. Coronet was 'kinda big'... it was practically a flat-out insult. Eddie glanced over at Remi, who seemed rather stumped by what he'd just heard. Obviously, helping these guys out was going to take more than just a pat on the back and some reassuring words.

"Okay, first things first," Eddie said as he looked at Aaron, trying to ignore the fact that he could kind of see his reflection on the metallic Pokemon's face. "Before we can give you any advice, you have to answer a question for me. Do you want to be your team's leader?"

Before Aaron could reply, the Persian quickly continued, "Now think about it for a while before you answer, and all I want is a simple yes or no. Not 'Well, I guess', or 'I think I can handle it', or 'Mostly yeah, but not on alternating Thursdays after 7'. Just yes or no." He turned his gaze out to the arena, to avoid pressuring the Aron into answering too soon, "Be honest now."

Aaron found himself dumbstruck at the question, something that he’d never bothered to ask himself before. He fell silent for a long moment as he pondered the question, going over it in his head and trying to form an answer. It took sometime for something to come to him and his ruminations. He looked up towards Eddie and nodded, his face screwing into a determined look.

“I do,” He finally said, “I’m the first in my family to be accepted into a place like PCA, my family mostly being miners who looked at battling and education as something of a luxury. I want to prove that someone with that kinda background can step up around here and prove themselves,

“I just…don’t know where to start,” He shrugged as the pride he’d shown before slipping from his face, “Doesn’t help that I’m not getting many suggestions, or at least good ones, from any of my teammates. No offense, Rodrigo,”

“S’okay,” the Lotad responded, still watching the arena rather than really look at anyone.

“So, uhhh, life story aside…yeah, I do,” The Aron looked up towards Eddie more since he’d been responding more to him.

Eddie turned back to Aaron, looking quite satisfied with that answer. "Now see, that's good. You've got confidence in yourself and a reason that's not 'I wanna be in charge of everyone else'. Those are both important, especially since you're just starting out."

"Yeah, having a good reason to run a team is critical," Remi chimed in, idly twirling his tail in his hand. "Heck, I didn't leave a top ten ranked team just because I wanted to call the shots. I wanna make sure that Team Fuego is successful, so the Ironworks will keep it going after I graduate and give other kids a good opportunity at this school too."

The Persian nodded in agreement, "Of course you don't have to have intentions quite as noble as that, but now is the time to decide what direction you want your team to go in so you can lead them properly. If you do that, you'll have an advantage over all the teams who just care about their win/loss records or their reputations."

"Plus having a common goal means you'll avoid a lot of trouble down the road from everyone else putting their own interests ahead of the team," Remi quickly added.

"Well not always, but it'll be a lot easier to notice if it does happen," Eddie countered, "Then you can deal with it before it gets out of control."

"You do get what we're saying though, right?" Remi asked Aaron.

“I, uhh, think so,” Aaron said, scratching his bald and metal head for a moment, “Basically what we need is a theme? A common bond…like say masks! Hey, yeah, masks!” the Aron turned to face Rodrigo with a bright expression on his face, “Your dad wears a mask while battling, right?”

“Si,” he nodded, looking a bit downtrodden at the mention of his father though Aaron didn’t really seem to notice.

“Maybe he can set us up with some masks then in order to have a unifying theme. Become Los Team YDU!” He stopped and thought on this for a moment, “With Carla we’re going to have to make the mask white and black or she won’t wear it. Still have to leave it open so people can see her smirk,” he shuddered at the thought of it, “that way she can keep freaking people out.”

“I don’t think that’s quite what they had in mind, amigo,” Rodrigo said with a bit of a sigh, looking up towards his excited teammate, “theme and goals are bueno, but just having a common uniform isn’t what they mean,”

“Oh,” Aaron said in response as his head of steam became deflated. He looked up towards Eddie and Remi for confirmation.

"He's right Aaron," Eddie said, looking a bit relieved that the Lotad managed to halt his friend's train of thought. "That's not really what we were saying at all."

Remi nodded in agreement at the Persian's remark, but at the moment he was a bit more interested in Rodrigo's sudden downswing in emotion. The mention of his father's history and the reaction it ended up getting was starting to make him curious.

"See, what I'm trying to say is that you need to come up with a plan,” Eddie continued his explanation to Aaron, “If you're going around just randomly picking opponents without any kind of direction, your team's not likely to last four whole years. You gotta sit down with your teammates and figure out what kind of team you want to be, what you're hoping to accomplish."

"Yeah, what you're thinking of is more of a gimmick than a team plan... gimmicks come up later on. *Much* later," Remi added. "And if I remember the customs correctly, taking the masks off afterward would be kind of a big no-no... is that right, Rodrigo?" He hoped adding in that question wouldn't further ruin the Lotad's mood, but at the same time his curiosity was starting to get the better of him.

“Si. My father has not taken off his mask in public since he put it on twenty years ago,” Rodrigo answered, though his mood didn’t seem to change too much. Then again it was downcast to begin with, “He says his identity in public as El Ludiloco is what is importantm” Remi whistled appreciatively when he heard that.

"Wow, twenty years? Now *that's* what I call commitment!" He gave the Lotad a friendly smile and a pat on the shoulder. "Hey, thanks for explaining that, Rodrigo." Rodrigo looked up towards Remi, the first person he’d actually made eye contact with since they’d gotten there and settled in. Some think that the Lotad was shy upon first meeting him, but such wasn’t the case. He was just very introverted.

“De nada,” He responded and then translated, “You’re welcome,” Rodrigo then turned and looked back to the end of the latest short and ugly match finishing up.

“Ohhhh, okay,” Aaron nodded, realization starting to dawn on the young ‘mon, “So it’s something I shouldn’t just decide but should work on with my team?” He looked to Rodrigo for confirmation for a moment, drawing a nod from the Lotad before Aaron looked up Remi and Eddie, “Cool. I think I know where to start then.”

"Now you're getting it! Once you actually know where everyone stands, then it'll be a lot easier to make some of the bigger decisions later on. The key is to get some communication going between you and your teammates, let 'em know that even though you're the one in charge you're not gonna just treat them like a drill instructor."

"Yeah, please don't start doing that! I've been on the receiving end of that kind of leadership, and trust me it gets old very fast," Remi groaned.

"Not that you should bend over backwards at every whim to keep your teammates happy," Eddie continued, "but at the same time nobody likes putting up with being ordered around by Captain Bossy-Boots." Aaron followed between the two like a tennis fan as they offered up their last bits of wisdom. He smiled widely and nodded.

“I think I got it! I’ll get everyone together tomorrow after school and…well try to talk to them anyway. If nothing else I’ll just get Rodrigo to kept hem in line,” He glanced over to his teammate, “Right Rodrigo?” Rodrigo shrugged in response. Aaron pushed himself off the bench, drawing his companion to do the same, and then turned to look back to the upper classmen.

“Thanks again, guys! I think I got some great info tonight and I’ll try and get it right,” He stopped for a moment, the smile dropping from his face, “Umm, if I get confused again can I come back and ask you guys more questions?” Eddie grinned and nodded as he stood up.

"Hey, I can always make time to help a friend out. Actually, tell you what..." Reaching into his pocket and retrieving a pen and a copy of the evening's schedule, he tore a piece of the paper off and quickly jotted something down. "There, that's my cellphone number," he said as he handed the paper to Aaron. "Leave me a message next time you want to talk; I'll get something set up, okay?"

"Oh hey, good idea! Lemme give you mine too!" Remi produced his own copy of the schedule and patted at his pockets, as if he was looking for something to write with. After a couple moments of this, he snapped his fingers and swung his tail up over his shoulder, taking hold of it like he was going to use it to paint the side of a barn. "I think I might need some more paper..."

Eddie laughed and held his pen up under Remi's nose, prompting the Smeargle to give it a cross-eyed look for a second before letting go of his tail and taking it. "Oh sure, suppress my artistic nature why don't you," he mock-protested, writing his number down and handing the paper to Aaron. "Um, I accidentally wrote the eight backwards and the zero upside-down, sorry about that."

"Don't mind him, he just got into some spoiled Pecha berries this morning," Eddie chuckled, flinching a bit as Remi responded by poking him in the side. "Hey...!"

Aaron beamed as he watched the act, looking back and for the between the two upper classmen. He accepted the numbers and looked down at them almost as if trying to commit them to memory right then and there. Realizing it wasn’t going to happen the Aron instead stuffed the paper into his pocket, still smiling widely.

“Hey thanks a lot guys! I’ll, uhh, try not to bug you too much,” With that he waved and headed down the stairs. Rodrigo hopped off the bench as well and tipped his brimmed hat towards Eddie and Remi.

“Adios, Señors,” He then followed after his team leader, though he seemed a little less downtrodden than he when he first walked into the gym that night.

***

Eddie sat back down next to Remi as the two freshmen left, snatching his pen back from the Smeargle in the process. "I'll take that, before you try to eat it," he joked.

Remi smirked. "Don't worry, the doctor said I can only eat blue ink now." He leaned back in his seat, watching as the cleanup from the previous match got started. "So, whaddaya think? They gonna last four years, or is it doomed to end messy?"

The Persian shrugged, getting settled in. "Too early to tell, I think. I'm definitely going to have to see them in action to get an idea of what their chances are... truth be told though, the way Aaron described them it sounds like he either needs a lot of work or some new teammates to get things off the ground."

"And that team name sure isn't helping," Remi replied. "I know there's some teams that have kinda jokey names, but sheesh! Who'd they lose a bet with to end up getting named 'Young, Dumb and Ugly'?"

"They're not going to get many folks to take them very seriously... of course, that might be the point. Regardless they're stuck with it, at least until next year starts," Eddie said.

Remi nodded. "It might work out for 'em though. Heck, the Meanies are still together after all they've been through... well, together more or less anyway."

"Oh, *that's* really a nice comparison," Eddie remarked. "I'd hope Aaron's team could do better than one win in three years!"

"Well I didn't mean it *that* way," Remi said defensively. A moment later, he smirked and added, "You don't have to act like Captain Bossy-Boots about it, y'know."

Eddie just smiled as he shook his head, turning his attention back to the arena. "Don't even go there, Avanti."

I dig Aaron and Rodrigo's dynamic. You can tell they've become close friends in a short period of time. :D Also, Young Dumb and Ugly? How is that, like, the complete opposite of my team? ;D

Backward eights and upside-down zeroes indeed!

The team name actually comes from a song by Weird Al called Young, Dumb and Ugly. Now the idea behind the song is different from the idea of the group which is they take umbrage to not finding a team wanting them and making up reasons why they weren't drafted into a team already. Sorta done to try and give themselves motivation...that and I"m a big fan of Weird Al.

And glad to hear Aaron and Rodrigo came out well. They're a lot of fun to play off one another.

fffff, who isn't? :D

I totally wanna see your team go up against mine now. XD

My only thing...with 497 pokemon to choose from and no basis for it whatsoever....why a mixed Jigglypuff/Cleffairy?

#1, it's 493. ;D

#2, Kay started out as a Clefairy (for reasons I don't recall), but when I wrote the piece about his mom, I kept envisioning her as a Jigglypuff. So, since hybrids are allowed in the PCA, I figured, "Why not?" and combined the two. Basically, it means he's just pink and has a head curl and big eyes.

I don't think I've ever seen another hybrid. Just lots of strange parentage.

No knocking on you, man, just...like I said you're the first I've ever noticed.

I've seen a few mentioned, but mostly in stories, or more likely bios, by some of the less well-known people involved in the Academy.

I think the entire reason for Kay's existence is the pun on his name, anyway. That's pretty much the reason for anything I do that's Pokemon related. :P

Good to see Aron's not too stuck up to ask for help.

... is it wrong taht whenever I try to envision him, he always ends up with a Naruto headband on? :3

Yes, yes it is! Poor Aaron is no ninja fanboy!

...now if you were to say Master Roshi style Hawaiian shirts that's not as off. He's Fluffy

hehe, sorry, taht was just the kind of mis-directed energy feel I got when I started talking about costumes. XD