Island Navigation #1 - Kaitlyn Brady

[Tanya Christianson]

Smiling when Astrid came in, she giggled softly, enjoying the comment she had about their teacher. When she noticed that the teacher was looking at them though, Tanya quickly looked to the ground in embarrassment. Did she hear what Astrid said about her? Tanya didn't want to think that she already made a terrible first impression. The teacher didn't look like the type that was about fun, so she didn't say anything, waiting for the class to start.

Judging from how the teacher explained her class, Tanya thought that it was a good thing that she came to her class. She probably was going to go on adventures in other regions after she graduated from here. Having an idea about how to read a map and survive in the outdoors sounded like lessons she really needed to take if she didn't want to die or get lost during her adventure. With the classes being outdoors as well, Tanya could imagine that they wouldn't be really boring either.

"Maybe a Compass?" Tanya offered to the class, thinking about the things that her mother and brother had told her about their own travels around the region. "With a Compass, you have an idea about what direction you're going in. If you like know what forest you're in or something and you know which direction it is to get out, you can like use a compass to go in that direction and get out for example." Having not had that much experience trecking herself, her answer was filled with insecurity and once she had spoken, Tanya let out a relieved sigh and relaxed back into her seat, pen at the ready to take more notes.

[Oleg Kirrlov]

Oleg listened as the teacher spoke, sinking in her words as he then pondered for a moment. She seemed rather lax, maybe even a bit too casual to be a teacher, but Oleg considered himself to be a rather poor judge of character considering these kinds of things, so he had no place to say anything about that.

He then tapped his chin for a moment as he thought about the question for a moment before nodding to himself, sure of his answer. "Well. A compass would be nice, I'd feel." He nodded. There, simple, yet it was probably one of the more simple answers.

[Alice Geissler]

The teacher had introduced herself as Kaitlyn Brady and she was the navigation teacher though she had seen that a girl's Croagunk had become rowdy which prompted the teacher's Marowak to watch over the Croagunk for a bit. She heard Missy quietly snicker before composing herself next to her trainer. Alice didn't think that it was funny at all, but it had some kind of humor to it. Well, the teacher did become alarmed at her Misdreavus, but decided that Missy was tame, so she went on with her introduction. And then, the teacher asked a question about if one of her classmates had separated from their Pokemon and had gotten lost. Specifically, what kind of things could help a student find their way through a forest. "Well, I think that a compass sounds good for finding your way if you get lost. And I think that drawing your own maps might help get directions as to where you're going." Maybe this answer might be satisfactory, given that maps could be proven to help know where you're going, but drawing them from scratch was kind of hard to do.

[Benji Aldaine]

Finally the class was starting and Benji sat up a bit straighter, his Absol Kai raised his head from his doze as well as if he was also interested in hearing what the teacher had to say. She seemed quite friendly, better than the PE teacher by far. He smiled as she brushed off any formalities, he was going to like this one. Especially since this had been a class he had looked forward to in the first place. When she asked the question of what the most important item to have to find your way back to civilization Benji thought for a moment. A few students answered as he tapped his chin, letting them throw out their ideas. He nodded at their answers agreeing and when they quieted he chimed in with his own.

"A GPS or compass would be very handy, but I think a very detailed map with markers on it would be the best. It could have certain place markers that could help you pinpoint your location and then from there you could find your way back." He kept his answer short and sweet and leaned back in his chair once more.

[Akihito Kamakura]

Aki sat in his chair with his Axew sitting on the desk. He was half listing to the teacher as she gave the introductionto he class. He ddidn't care for the class but he pomissed his parents he would take at least one physical class while attending. He opted for this one due to just thinking about running made his tired. Couple kof students game their answers and he wasgoing to say basically the same thing. "I believe the combination of a phycial map and GPS because new terrain could be on the GPS and not the map" The Lava dorm member said giving it a shot in the dark. She grew up in Lumiose City, he didn't have to worry about getting lost. He could just hail a cab or ask someone where something was.

(Dratini egg 5/10)

[Adriel Sorano]

Crap! Crap! Crap! Crap! Crap! Crap! Of all the days for her alarm clock to die in the middle of the night, it just had to be on one where she had a class she needed to go to. If only this had been outside somewhere. Then she could have at least used the excuse that she got lost on the way. Granted, considering which class this was, that would have been extremely ironic, but not totally unreasonable. After all, this was a rather huge academy, and Adriel had barely scratched the surface in terms of exploring this place. But nooooo. It had to be in a classroom, like a normal class.

Naturally, once she arrived and saw that class was already underway, she knew this day wasn't going to end well. Unless, she could be try to sneak in quietly without the teacher noticing. Of course, any attempt at stealth was immediately abandoned when she got a look at the teacher. Once again, she was blessed with a class that had a hot teacher. However, she also made the fatal mistake of looking one direction and walking in the other. Not noticing the deck in front of her, she proceeded to walk right into it, causing her leg to hit the corner of the seat

"ACK! Son of a..." Remembering where she was, she stopped herself from saying what was on her mind, though it was probably quite obvious what she was about to say. Either way, having failed spectacularly at being subtle, she casually sat down in that very seat, and quietly awaited whatever doom was about to befall her.

[Seria Floria]

Seria patiently sat there as the teacher spoke, and everything that Miss Kaitlyn said was pretty much to be expected. Unfortunately, Seria couldn't help but feel a little bit jealous of the teacher, if only because of how pretty she looked. Seria would love to be pretty and lovely for Amanda, after all. She quickly shoved aside those thoughts and went back to focusing on the lesson. Brady posed the class a question - what would be the most important item to have on you if you were separated from your Pokemon and trapped or lost in some sort of woods or forest. Immediately two people opened with 'compass.' Well, duh. Of course you should have a compass. Two other people brought up the idea of a GPS or a map. Unfortunately not everybody had the luxury of owning a physical map or a device with a GPS tracking device.

"I'd have to concur with the fellows who said you should have a compass," Seria said. "As long as you know the general direction of civilization from where you are, the compass can help you to navigate back when visibility is relatively low. A GPS device, as I've been told, relies on a connection to a satelite. This isn't always reliable. Signal could potentially be lost. As for a physical map, certain territories may be uncharted. Thus the compass would be the most important item, I believe. Other items may be important to an explorer or someone lost in the wilds, but they may help in other ways that don't necessarily relate to navigation."

[Meili Jie]

The Croagunk looked over at the Marowack staring at her. She laughed and waved hello, tipping her stolen hat as a joking greeting. Meili sighed and placed her face against the desk. It was amazing how Du is so cooperative in battles yet outside of them she is a hassle to handle. She slowly raised her head as she heard the teacher speak. Hopefully things will be much smoother...

...actually that earlier statement was a lie. It seems she wasn't much for formalities or language...actually this teacher was shaping up to be more tolerable than the PE teacher at least. The teacher did give out a question out to the class like most of the other classes. What to do if you are lost and trying to get back to civilization, what is the most important item? They all said compass so far. Meili wanted to agree but...

"Wouldn't you want something that can contain or preserve food? I dunno like a flask?" Something worth a bit of curious. "I mean...you want to last the entire way and you might be days away from civilization..."

[Amanda Dupomme]

Amanda smiled. Although the teacher was hardly the most professional or stuffy person of her profession, it really did seem like the staff at this school had some unspoken rule for violating as many stereotypes as possible. Be they complete jerks, calculating battle experts, or surprisingly attractive outdoorsy people.

Not that it was a terrible thing, with a majority of her classes taking place indoors, the idea of being able to explore various places, even though she already had. It was a rather enticing prospect, particularly as it was one she could share with Seria.

Shaking her head to clear it once more, Amanda did ponder what the teacher had asked. Although the idea of a private jet WAS awesome, a more practical idea would likely be...

''How about learning the basics of survival?'' Amanda queried. ''Sometimes, if you can't have Pokemon or prepare survival tools beforehand, it can be good to know the ways one can discern locations from nature, the location of constellations for direction, that moss always grows in one direction, depending on what side of the Equator you are on, and so forth.''

The girl beamed, it seemed all those conversations with Seria were leaving an imprint.

[Deleted]

With Jacques in his arms Sapphira would do his best to rush to class while trying not to muss up his hair. Of course his hair would take an extra five minutes to dry, it’s not like he had a class or anything. Letting out an annoyed huff he was not looking forward to this class. They were probably going to have to go out in all the bugs and dirt and… icky things. A shudder would run through the vain boy at the thought of sweat and dirt. The Sandile in his arms would let out an excited squeak, he was kind of glad he didn’t have to walk. Slipping in right behind a shorter, very uncoordinated girl, he would sit near a rather… ugly boy, looking over at the Yanma flying above the Bolt Dormer's head Sapphira would shudder and let out a disgusted sound.

By the current topic of conversation, compasses, it seemed he had missed the start of class by a small bit. Fussing with getting his hair back into place Sapphira would set Jacques down on his desk, the small Pokémon locking eyes with the teacher and settling down on the desk, just watching. Of course he did catch his roommate’s response. “Why not indeed William.” He said with a slight chuckle.

[Astrid Sherinian]

Well. That happened. Had the teacher heard what she said, or was she just upset about the whispering? Astrid hoped for the latter. Other than the 'hermit' comment, everything that had been said was pretty harmless, but she was still getting a look like she was suspicious. Fortunately, class started soon after, bringing attention back to the reason why they were here in the first place. Astrid listened with some interest, amused by how quickly she threw formality out the window. She also took note of the fact that the class was more geared towards learning to survive and find their way in the wilderness than just learning their way around the island. Which was great, considering that she wanted to be able to travel around other regions in more ways than just riding a tour bus. Or on Quadraxis, technically, but she'd probably keep doing anyway.

Then a question came up. A rather unfair question that forced them to pick a single item they'd want most when stranded out in the wilderness. Most of the class immediately settled on 'compass', although a few of them picked a GPS or a map. All mostly concerned with finding their way back. Two people suggested knowledge and training, one in a silly way that Astrid was going to sit back and watch if it set off Kaitlyn. (Hey, if she could call the teacher whatever she wanted, she'd go for the easiest one.) One person suggested a flask. Those answers were hard to compete with.

"A Xtransciever, or something similar," Astrid said after pondering the question for another minute. "Like with a GPS, it relies on a signal and battery power, but if you can contact someone and and get help, wouldn't that be preferable to trying to survive and find your way back on your own?"

[Aile Reese]

This was not good. Aile had overslept and had almost forgot that he had class today. So, doing what a usual student does when they were late, he was running down the halls to get to his classroom. His Totodile was clinging to Aile's shoulder for once, instead of attached to his head, and Mega was currently in his pokeball; Aile would have loved to have him out, but for the most part, the Aron was slow, and Aile needed to bolt to class.

After a few short stops to take a quick breather, and going down the wrong hall once or twice, Aile had finally arrived at his destination. Before he walked in, he took a deep breath, and patted the Totodile, before letting Aron out of his ball as the boy walked in the room, and much to his chagrin, realized the class had already started; though it didn't really surprise him. So, to avoid making too much of a scene, he walked over quietly to a seat after reading the board. So much for being on time for my first class, he thought. And as per usual from their past day or so together, the Totodile attached itself back to his owner's head after viewing all the other pokemon that he deemed competition; Mega, however, merely just laid across Aile's feet. It didn't really bother him that much, though if Mega evolved, he'd have to find a new place to lay that wasn't on him.

Now seated, quietly though being slightly embarrassed at his tardiness, he too looked around the room in more detail as the other students continued to speak. There's a few big ones around here, though the little ones that the other kids are holding seem adorable..like babies, he thought.

Now, Aile wanted to be here for Island Navigation, he thought it would be interesting, teaching him how to traverse the land with effectiveness, but also because he knew it would make him a better trainer, despite how hard actually learning and applying this knowledge might be.

[Alisa Hauser]

Well shit. Alisa was late. She told herself she wouldn't be late to a class, that she had to be responsible. Being late to class was rude, too, especially since she may or may not interrupt the class. But this was the shit she'd have to deal with for being an idiot and getting lost in the hallways. If not for the fact that she had decided to ask for help, she probably still would've went the wrong ways. This is the type of person that was going to the Island Navigation class.

When she walked through the doors she quickly muttered to the teacher "I'm sorry." Then she went to look for a seat, and took the first empty one she saw. She wasn't going to waste her time coming up with excuses, nor was she going to waste time of the teacher and class. Her being late was her fault and no excuse was going to save her. She hoped the Teacher wouldn't be too angry.

[Kaitlyn Brady]

A few more stragglers made their way in after the class began, some with more...subtlety than others. Kaitlyn wasn't the type to laugh at others' misfortune, especially not students, but she had to try very hard not to snicker at the girl who tripped over a desk while very clearly ogling her. Instead, she casually gestured for the girl to sit down. After some more quiet and an apologetic late arrival, Kaitlyn decided she'd have to address it before letting everyone out. Not while people were still contemplating and answering the question she'd posed, though. And a good thing, too, because amidst all the generic answers of "compass" "map" or "GPS", one kid actually had the nerve to say "a boy scout."

Kaitlyn stared at the kid for a few seconds, then burst out laughing. "Hah, looks like we've got a smartass over here!" Despite her word choice (yes she just said 'smartass' in front of a bunch of teenagers, what of it), she was grinning and sounded delighted by his answer. "I like that. Yes, boy scout training would definitely help you, whether it's your own or," she cleared her throat, "A friend's. Plus, it's always better to have someone else with you when you go out in the wilderness in case something happens. For the purposes of this class, though, we're going to assume that you need to know and be able to do anything that anyone along for the trip does, though." She focused next on the girl who'd suggested an Xtransciever. "Also good. If you can inform Rangers or someone similar of where you are, that will greatly increase your chances of surviving. Being able to find your way back on your own is great, and sometimes it's necessary. That's what this class is for. But don't ever assume you won't be the guy or girl who steps in a Diglett hole and breaks their leg.

"That said, there is no singular right answer, and there isn't an objectively wrong one either. Even an Xtransciever won't always get signal. Your buddy could get injured too, or turn out to be all talk. Those of you who said a compass, great. A compass is a fantastic tool for orienting yourself, especially if you don't have easy view of the sun or the stars. But if you don't know where you have to go to get back, that only goes so far. A map of the area is also good, but it depends on what kind." Kaitlyn gestured around the room. "Most of these are topographical maps, and I'll be teaching you how to read them next class. Usually, that's what you'll want for navigating the wilderness. But they only help if you have a general idea where you are. Say you're in Sinnoh and you're trying to climb Mount Coronet, you better know which side of the map you're on or you're just gonna be even more lost. And for those of you who said a GPS, a GPS will tell you where you are, but it's up to you what to do with it. One that just displays lattitude and longitude isn't helpful if you don't know the coordinates for anything around you. If it has a map, it won't be one with the same detail as a topographical map. And if it's anything like the piece of junk I used to own, the battery might give you enough time to scroll around and look for the nearest town." That covered everyone who was set on finding their way back foremost. There were also a few who suggested using two or all of those in combination, who were probably feeling pretty good about themselves now that Kaitlyn had pointed out the flaws of each of them on their own. That just left the girl who'd suggested a flask. "You'll want to have a flask regardless. Would it be the single most important item you have? That depends on where you are and what the situation is."

Now, she did lean against the podium, but only for a second. Talking that much, and doing it while restraining herself from most of her usual brash mannerisms was surprisingly wearing. "The reason I asked this was to get an idea of how you all approached a situation like that. Most of you immediately went for finding your way back, which is a good mindset to have. If you're lost, you don't want to stay lost. If finding your way back, or getting rescued, is going to take a long time," she looked towards the girl who'd suggested a flask, "You want to be able to survive for that long. But, you also don't want to be completely out of contact if you can avoid it, in case the worst happens. Now, with all of that out of the way, are there any questions before I continue?"

[Tanya Christianson]

Tanya felt lost. Words just came out of Kaitlyn that made her head spin. It made her really sure to write as many notes as she possibly could just so she could review it with someone who actually knew what they were doing. Maybe she could ask Seria. She seemed to be the most well traveled person she knew. She probably had a better idea of this than Tanya.

From that point on, Tanya elected to stay quiet. It was more out of an inability to ask a question than anything else. She was now busy furiously writing notes, putting down things she didn't even understand and trying to get as much detail as possible just so she could cross-reference it with someone. A worried look overwhelmed her face as she struggled to find meaning out of the things she wrote.