The dormitory was as Arthur had expected it to be, and more. Upon entering the building, the first room he found himself in was the lounge. In the middle of a large, decorative rug, sat a sectional couch with a small table in the center. A massive plasma screen sat on the wall facing the couches. Behind the sectional couch were several book cases and above them was another floor that overlooked the lounge. Just off to the left of it all sat the front desk where a young man with light brown hair sat, going about his work while simultaneously trying to figure out his homework.  Scratching his head, the youth looked up from his work to spot Arthur standing in front of him. 

        "Uh... hi. I'm—"

        "The new guy, Arthur, right?" the student answered, putting down his pencil while giving Arthur and amused look. 

        "Yeah, that's me," Arthur replied with a nervous laugh. "Just here to see if my stuff arrived. I don't have the key to my room yet."

        "Key? my friend, we don't use keys here," the student chuckled. 

        "Eh? then how do you get into the rooms without a key?" Arthur inquired, confused. 

        The student smiled and then came out from behind the desk, revealing that he was in a wheelchair. Intrigued, Arthur thought to ask what happened, but he didn't want to start things off on something like that. 

        "You're probably wondering why I'm in a wheelchair, right?" the student asked, giving Arthur a knowing look. 

        "Well I—kinda?" Arthur said, scratching his head. 

        "It's cool if you want to ask. I'm not ashamed of it or anything," he laughed, shaking his head as he wheeled his way over to the elevator. 

        Arthur stepped inside as the doors closed and the two began to ride up to the third floor. The doors opened, and the two strolled out of the elevator and began to make their way down the hall. 

        "A few years ago, I had an accident that left me paralyzed from the waist down," he said, blinking in surprise as he realized he'd forgotten something incredibly basic. "I'm Magnum, by the way. Most of the girls call me Maggie, for whatever reason. I think I sit in your row in Mrs. Auclair's class," Magnum said as he stuck out his hand. 

        "Nice to meet you, Magnum," Arthur replied after shaking his hand. 

        The two soon stopped at a room numbered three hundred five. On the side of the door was a glowing panel. 

        "Just put your hand on that panel. It's designed to recognize the hands of the people that are assigned to that room," Magnum explained. 

        "That's different. Back at Unova Tech, we had card keys," Arthur said as he placed his hand on the panel. 

        An electronic voice soon verified his identity and the door was unlocked, opening automatically afterwards. 

        "It's pretty nifty isn't it? it's a recent installment. Everyone likes it because it's far more secure than most systems are. Go ahead, check out your room," Magnum urged him. 

        Arthur walked through the entryway and onto the carpeted floors of his new dorm room. It was fairly spacious and had two beds on opposite sides of the room with desks beside them. A large, ceiling to floor window that was covered by drapes. Another door in the room indicated that there was a bathroom which connected two rooms, making his a suite. 

        "This is way bigger than what I had at Unova Tech," Arthur breathed, drawing back the drapes to get a view of the campus below. 

        It was a breathtaking view to say the least. He could see the main administration building across from the dormitory. Not only were classes held there, but several clubs had meetings on the bottom floor every night. There was a Milotic fountain in the center of the campus that was surrounded by benches and hedges that were finely trimmed. A stone's throw away from that was the girl's dormitory. Following the sidewalk from there, the gymnasium stood out among the other buildings as it was the most visited one next to the administration building itself. 

        "It's a lot to take in, isn't it?" Magnum said, wheeling himself into the room. "I had the same reaction when I first got here. I couldn't believe how big this place was."

        "You're not kidding. This place is amazing!" Arthur said enthusiastically. 

        "Hey, so, my friend and I are going to be heading out to catch a movie later. He's bringing his girlfriend, and I kinda don't wanna be third-wheeling—no pun intended—if you know what I mean. I'd bring my own date but the girl I like is sorta aloof, ya know?" Magnum admitted sheepishly. 

        "I guess? what's playing? I was planning on getting some work done, but if anything good is on then—"

        "Noivern Man," Magnum interrupted. "They remade it and trust me, from what the trailers have shown, it's damn good."

        "A remake huh? I guess I could start on my homework now and catch a movie," Arthur said, stroking his chin in thought. "Sure, why not?"

        "Thanks dude, I owe ya one. It starts at eight. I'll swing by at seven thirty and pick you up," Magnum said as he wheeled himself out of the room. 

        "Sounds like a plan. See you then," Arthur replied, watching him roll down the hall. 

        Arthur sighed and turned towards the window again. It was a view he could definitely get used to. He could see several students sitting by the fountain now, all enjoying a lively conversation. 

        "Okay, not to be a gossip girl, but what do you all think of the new guy?" one girl said to another as she leaned over to look at her friends. 

        "He's okay, Holly. Easy on the eyes, and he's got a nice sounding voice," one girl replied casually. 

        "Easy on the eyes? that man is a full course meal! I'd eat him up like a starving Munchlax—"

        "You are so shameless, Holly!" 

        "Well, I think he's cute. The way he seems all flustered when he's asked a question is pretty damn adorable," another spoke up. 

        "Not to mention he's actually a decent battler. That match between you two was pretty exciting, Fi," said Holly, drawing the attention of Fiametta towards her. 

        "Don't you three have anything better to do?" Fiametta asked, raising a delicate brow. 

        "Oh come on! you have admit he wasn't too bad," one girl chimed in. 

        "He was alright, I'll admit that much. He wasn't exactly difficult to defeat, but he wasn't a slouch either," Fiametta added. 

        "Wait... Fi, did you just compliment him?" 

        "Did I compliment him? No I—"

        Her friends pinned her with a stare. Putting her hands up defensively she replied, "it doesn't matter if I did or not, right? I mean, isn't it common decency to give credit where it's due, Amélie?"

         Amélie squinted her eyes at Fiametta and then relented, crossing her arms as she leaned back. 

        "I guess that's true. Though it is a little weird for you, considering you're not one to hand out compliments to anyone unless they're wearing something cute or look well put together,"  Amélie added, giving her an inquisitive look. 

        "That's... fair," Fiametta admitted, tapping her chin in thought. "I suppose he did look decent enough to deserve re—why are you three staring at me?"

        Arthur sat at his desk, busying himself with his homework while he waited for Magnum to come by his room. His roommate was the captain of the basketball team and was at practice, meaning that Arthur would be meeting him later. Setting down his pencil, Arthur glanced over at the picture frame he had on his desk and smiled. In it was a photograph of a tall young woman with sun bleached wavy hair and bright green eyes. The caption below the photograph read: "best friends for life." Looking away from the picture of him and his step sister, he continued to focus on his homework. Time seemed to fly by swiftly, and before he knew it, there came a knock on the door. Arthur stood up and walked over to the door and opened it to reveal Magnum in the doorway. The brunette was in more casual clothes consisting of a burgundy sweater and jeans with a white scarf draping over his shoulders. 

        "Ready to go?" Magnum asked. 

        "Yeah, give me a second to grab a jacket," Arthur said, walking back into his room to pull his coat off the hanger in the closet. "Alright, I'm ready."

        The two headed toward the elevator and began to descend to the first floor. Turning his head, Magnum asked, "I noticed a picture on your desk. Was that your girlfriend or something?"

        Arthur gave Magnum a confused look before saying, "no, she's my sister. Well... step sister. We're just really close."

        "Oh! well... this is awkward. Sorry for the assumption. You two just looked so happy together, and that's usually a couple pose so... yeah," Magnum replied. 

        "It's okay, you're not the first to assume that," Arthur laughed.

        The elevator doors soon opened and the two walked out into the lobby where Magnum's friend and his girlfriend, a petite brunette with hazel eyes, were waiting for them.

        "Hey Maggie, you ready?" the girl asked as she took her boyfriend's arm and leaned against him. 

        "Estelle, I know I said you could call me that, but something tells me you enjoy it too much," Magnum muttered, glancing up at his friends with a smile. "How was practice, Victor?"

        "It went alright. The coach had us running the usual drills before game day. We've got an away game in Anistar City next week, so we're preparing a bit more since they're pretty good," Victor replied. "What about you? how's the number one chef and his team doing?"

        "We're getting ready for a cook-off next month. Honestly all the waiting is making me anxious," Magnum said nervously. "By the way, this is Arthur. I know you two weren't there for the match, but he did pretty good against Fiametta in a match."

        "Ah, so you're the new guy everyone's talking about," Estelle said with a bright smile. "I'm Estelle, it's nice to meet you!" 

        "Err... nice to meet you too," Arthur replied, reaching out to shake her hand. 

        "I heard you put up a pretty decent fight. Too bad she won though, I would have liked to have seen someone best her for once," Victor inputted, extending his hand to shake Arthur's. 

        "I wasn't expecting an easy match. I found out she's right at the top of the five strongest students here," Arthur said with a nervous chuckle. "It was no wonder I was rolled up and tossed aside so easily."

        Magnum waved him off. 

        "I wouldn't say it was easy for her. Pulling out Conversion Two seemed to threw her off a little. Normally, she's able to overwhelm her opponents into making stupid mistakes. Not to mention she's able to get inside their head and mess with their thinking which is really a pain. But you kept your cool for the most part. She's just really good, that's all," Magnum pointed out. 

        "She didn't seem all that thrown off to me," Arthur mused. 

        "Enough about that! I heard Mrs. Auclair made you two doubles partners, and that Fiametta totally freaked. She only does that when—oops, I'd better stop there before I say too much," Estelle giggled into her hand. 

        Arthur eyed her suspiciously before dismissing the remark. 

        "Anyway, we really should get going. The movie starts soon and I don't want to miss the previews!" Estelle exclaimed, yanking on Victor's arm to get him to move. 

        "Is she always this cheery?" Arthur asked Magnum as he watched Victor and Estelle exit the dormitory. 

        "Oh this is her when she's mellow. It gets real crazy whenever she's in one of her extremely happy moods," Magnum replied, wheeling himself toward the door, Arthur following beside. 

        "If that's her when she's mellow... I don't think I could handle what she's actually like," Arthur replied as a nervous sweat trickled down the side of his cheek. "Then again, my sister is a social butterfly herself so..."

        "In other words, the opposite of you," Magnum joked.

        "Well I mean, if you're just gonna say it," Arthur chuckled. "She's nothing like me, and yet we have so much in common at the same time. She's amazing in every sense of the word. I look up to her, considering she taught me a lot about Pokémon," Arthur trailed off.

        "She sounds pretty cool. Perhaps I'll get to meet her one day?" Magnum replied, almost hopefully. 

        "Maybe. We'll see..."

        Exiting the dormitory, the duo joined Victor and Estelle who were waiting for them by the fountain. Some time later, they reached the campus theater and made their way inside to claim their seats. Two hours passed, and the group walked out of the theater, chattering away about the movie they'd seen. As they approached the fountain, the group said their goodbyes, everyone parting to their own rooms soon after.