pokemonsora01 requested this one. Here you go, Amigo! Enjoy!
Jamie belongs to pokemonsora01. The Spanish words and their translations were found with Bing Translator and the jokes were ones I had read somewhere or heard. I only own Rachel, Sparkle, and Tina. All other characters belong to their respective owners.
A New Language Can Lead To A New Brother
Jamie sighed as he walked down one of the halls of the Grant Mansion. He was worried because he had a Spanish test coming up in school and he was struggling with it. He could say a few words, but that was pretty much it and although he studied, it was still a struggle for him. He then saw Rachel coming up the stairs and she saw his worried face. "Hey, Jamie, what's wrong?" she asked.
He sighed. "I've got a Spanish test coming up at school and I'm worried I'll fail it because I have a hard time with it," he said. "I can speak a few Spanish words, but not a complete sentence."
Rachel gave Jamie a sympathetic look. "I know how you feel," she said. "I only know a little Spanish myself and my translation skills when someone speaks Spanish to me stink."
Jamie looked at her in surprise. "Really?" he asked. "But I heard you speak Spanish the other day to that lady at the bake sale."
"Yeah, but that was just numbers," she said. "Numbers in Spanish are a bit easier for me than some words and sentences and it bugs me that my Spanish is so limited."
"Join the club," said Jamie. "I know I'm going to fail this test and have to probably repeat the class unless I can get a passing grade, but that won't happen."
Rachel saw how down the boy felt and then remembered something. "You know, there is one alien here at the Mansion who speaks Spanish really well," she said. "But, he's kind of unpredictable."
Jamie looked hopeful. "Do you think you can convince him to help me?" he asked. "I really need to pass this test."
She looked a bit uncertain now. "Are you sure, Jamie?" she asked.
He nodded. "I'm willing to give it a try," he said. "Please?"
She nodded. "Okay," she said. "I'll be back with him."
Jamie quickly got his books out of his backpack and sat down in the living room, hope filling him that he now had a chance to pass the Spanish test. Rachel came in a moment later with a huge tiger alien beside her. "Jamie, this is Rath," she said. "He's the alien that I told you about."
Jamie was a bit shocked and started at Rath, both amazed and a bit scared because Rath looked fierce. Rath now growled at him. "What are you staring at, punk?" he growled, making the boy quickly look away.
"Rath, be nice," Rachel said, a warning note in her voice. "Jamie needs someone to tutor him on Spanish so that he can pass his upcoming Spanish test and get a good grade for the class. As you speak Spanish better than anyone else here, that's why I asked you to help him."
To Jamie's surprise, Rath actually calmed down a little bit and Rachel turned to the boy. "Okay, Rath will help you," she said. "I'll be in the other room in case Rath gets too…well, aggravating."
Jamie let out a nervous chuckle. "I'm sure we'll be okay," he said, but he was still fearful.
An hour later, it was going pretty well, to Jamie's relief as he tried to repeat the words Rath spoke and translate them.
"¿Hola cómo estás? means 'Hello, how are you?' Repeat," said Rath.
Jamie repeated it perfectly. Rath nodded. "What is the Spanish word for cat?" he asked.
"Gato," said Jamie.
"Now, book."
"Libro."
"Good," said Rath. "Now, what's the Spanish word for car?"
Jamie thought for a moment. "Auto," he said.
"No!" Rath shouted, making Jamie jump. "It's carro! Carro!"
As he repeated the Spanish word, the alien tiger had raised his fist, making Jamie cringe sharply. "I'm sorry!" he said. "Don't hit me, please!"
That made Rath stop short. "Why do you think Rath would hit you?" he asked.
Jamie looked down. "My older brother used to help me with Spanish, but he would hit me if I got anything wrong. Dad found out one day and forbid my brother from helping me with my Spanish again," he said.
Rath stared at him, but lowered his fist. "Let's continue," he said. "What's the Spanish word for house?"
"Casa," said Jamie.
"I am going to school."
"Voy a la escuela."
"I like a good story."
"Me gusta una buena historia."
"This is my friend."
"Este es mi amigo."
"Good," said Rath. "Last one. What's the Spanish word for apple?"
"Manzana," Jamie answered. Rath nodded.
"You did good," he said and got up and walked away, indicating tutoring was over. Jamie breathed a sigh of relief and put his books away. Rachel came in.
"From what I heard, that sounded good," she said. "Although I did hear you ask Rath not to hit you."
"Yeah, but he didn't," said Jamie. "He was just frustrated 'cause I had gotten a word wrong. But he helped me with it."
"Okay," said Rachel. "Think you'll pass your test?"
"I hope so."
The next day, Jamie raced to the Mansion to find Rachel and Rath. He was happy and wanted to tell them the good news. He found both of them in the living room. "Hi, Jamie," said Rachel. "What's up?"
"I passed," he said. "I passed my Spanish test with an 82 percent."
"Jamie, that's great," said the owner of the Grant Mansion with a smile. "You should be proud of yourself."
"I am," he said. "While it's not a perfect score, my teacher said if I do that well on the next two tests, I'll pass the class."
"Good job," said Rath with a nod.
"I couldn't have done it without you tutoring me," said Jamie as he tried to hug the tiger alien in thanks, but Rath grabbed his arms and gently, but firmly, pushed the boy away.
"Rath doesn't do hugs," he said and walked away. Jamie felt hurt and a bit confused and Rachel placed a hand on his shoulder.
"I'll talk to him," she said.
"No, it's okay," Jamie said, a little sad. "I understand."
With that, he left, leaving a worried Rachel who still had half a mind to chew Rath out for hurting Jamie's feelings, which is what she did a moment later.
"Rath, you really hurt Jamie's feelings," she said sternly. "He just wanted to thank you for helping him."
"He could have just said 'thank you'," said Rath.
Rachel let out a frustrated sigh. "And you wonder why a lot of us don't like your company," she said. "It's because your attitude stinks and that's the reason the others don't often stick around and why the kids are downright terrified of you!"
That stung Rath a bit and he looked at Rachel, who looked very upset. "Would it kill you to drop the attitude around your friends and family and save it for the Forever Knights or Vilgax or whatever villain comes?" she asked. "I had to comfort Sparkle and Tina the other day because you scared them so badly. Feedback and Snare-Oh were furious and I just barely stopped them from giving you a pounding that you no doubt deserved."
Rath flinched as he remembered when the girls had come to see him and he had scared them off and Rachel's sharp, reprimanding tone made her words sting sharply. She then left, making Rath feel even more guilty and he decided that he'd think of a way to show the others he could be more civil, especially to the kids. He sat at his desk for a long time.
Jamie was walking home from school the next day when trouble came around the corner. It was three boys from his Spanish class who were bullies and didn't pass the last test in Spanish. They now came up to him and cornered him.
"Hey, freak," said the leader. "Word has it you cheated on that last Spanish test."
"Yeah, there's no way you could have gotten such a good grade," said the second boy.
"Cause we all know you're no good at Spanish," said the third.
"I didn't cheat," Jamie said. "A friend of mine speaks Spanish really well and tutored me to help me pass the test."
"Yeah, right," sneered the leader. "Grab him, boys."
The other two grabbed Jamie and pushed him into a nearby thorn bush, making Jamie cry out in pain as the thorns scratched his arms and face. The bullies all laughed as he tried to get free of the bush, but the thorns kept scratching at him, making it hard to move, but he managed it as the bullies kept laughing.
Suddenly, something landed on the ground hard enough to make it shake and the bullies all turned to see a huge angry tiger behind them and did he look mad.
"LET ME TELL YOU SOMETHING, PUNKS! RATH DOESN'T LIKE BULLIES LIKE YOU! RATH EATS PUNKS LIKE YOU FOR BREAKFAST!" Rath roared with anger, scaring the bullies badly and they all ran, but he jumped in front of them, growling.
"Never hurt mi hermanito again, or Rath will make sure you pay!" he hissed warningly.
The bullies ran off and Rath laughed aloud, pleased that he had scared the pants off the bullies, but he stopped laughing when he saw how hurt Jamie was from the thorn bush. Without a word, he picked up the boy and carried him back to the Mansion. Rachel, who was out working in the garden, looked up when she heard them and gasped.
"What happened?" she asked. "Jamie, are you okay?"
"Kind of," he said.
"Bullies," said Rath. "Rath scared the pants off them for hurting hermanito."
Rachel's eyebrows shot up in shock before she regained her composure. "Well, that's good that you scared them off," she said. "But it looks like Jamie needs some first aid."
Rath nodded. "I'll do it," he said and carried the boy inside the Mansion, leaving a stunned Rachel behind to figure out what she had just seen.
Jamie was still trying to figure it out too as Rath set him down on the bathroom counter and got out the first aid kit and bandaged up his arms and face. After he did so, he put away the first aid kit. "Rath?" Jamie asked. "Why did you help me? I thought you didn't like me?"
That made Rath pause and sigh. "Jamie, Rath does like you," he said. "Rath didn't mean to scare you and make you sad when you tried to hug Rath, that's just how Rath is."
Jamie looked down. "Oh," he said.
Rath then smiled. "Hey, Rath isn't all that bad," he said. "Rath once pulled a prank on Big Chill."
Jamie looked up. "Really? What did you do?" he asked.
"Tricked him into going into a room where Rath had set up balloons filled with tomato sauce that fell on him."
That made Jamie laugh. "Bet he didn't care for that," he said.
"Nope," said Rath as he told the boy of some other pranks he had pulled, including one he had pulled on Rachel once. He had hidden the book she was reading and she couldn't find it anywhere and when she found out who had taken it, she had gotten really upset and was about to chew the tiger alien out when he had doused her with a water gun and she had retaliated. They had both gotten soaked, but it was funny too.
Jamie laughed, feeling a lot better. "Hey, what time is it when your clock strikes 13?" he asked.
"Rath don't know," said Rath.
"Time to fix the clock."
That got a chuckle out of Rath. "Tell another one," he said.
"Okay, what's black and white and says Boo?"
Rath shrugged. "What?" he asked.
"A cow with a cold," said Jamie. "Okay, how about this one? What's all around you, but can't been seen or touched?"
Rath looked thoughtful. "I don't know," he said.
"The wind," said Jamie.
Rath smiled. "Good one," he said.
Then, the boy couldn't resist. "You know, you purr like a housecat a little when you laugh," he said.
Rath smirked. "Now you've done it," he said and grabbed the boy. "Let me tell you something, Jamie. There are consequences for calling Rath a housecat and you're about to suffer the consequences right now."
With that, Rath trapped Jamie in one arm and his free hand began tickling the boy. Jamie squirmed and laughed as the tiger's huge fingers tickled his sides, ribs, and his stomach before tickling his underarms.
"AHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! OKAY! OKAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAY! YOU WIN! YOU WIN!" Jamie laughed out.
Rath, hearing that, stopped and picked up the boy, hugging him as he held him protectively. That surprised Jamie. "Hey, I thought you said you don't do hugs," he said, reminding Rath of what he had said the other day.
"Eh, Rath can make an exception this time," said Rath. "And for you and the rest of Rath's family."
That made Jamie smile as he hugged Rath back and then remembered something. "Rath, what did you say in Spanish back there with the bullies and with Rachel when we came in?" he asked.
"Hermanito," said Rath. "It means 'little bro'."
Jamie smiled again. "Thanks, gran hermano."
Rath smiled. "Big bro, eh?" he said. "I like it."
With that, the two brothers hugged. Rachel, who was watching silently from the doorway, now smiled and quietly walked away, glad to see that the two were getting along and seeing that Rath had taken her advice to heart and now considered Jamie not only as a good friend, but also as a brother.
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GoldGuardian2418