Swear warning! Only one, though.

I looked at my newly received schedule that I'd gotten at the principal's office barely minutes ago. What was my first class again? Right, English. That should be easy enough. Examining the piece of paper further, it appeared I had Art for 2nd period, which was actually a rare stroke of luck on my part. Then I had Chemistry. That shouldn't be too bad, as long as I get an okay partner... But everyone knows I'm the luckiest person alive, heh.

Holding my breath, I checked my class before lunch period. Math. I groaned. Of course I had to wait through Math class right before lunch. I guess it could be worse, I thought optimistically for someone with my level of misfortune in seemingly everything.

I finished reading that much by the time I found my classroom. Alright, all I have to do is hope and pray for a teacher who isn't completely monotone... I walked into the classroom reluctantly, seeing that the teacher apparently wasn't there at the moment. The kids I was accompanying the classroom with decided to take advantage of the teacher's absence, whispering (could it really be called that?) rather loudly among themselves, using a colorful array of words to warn the others to be quiet when it was suspected the teacher might be coming. They must have heard my footsteps, I guess.

All eyes turned towards me, expecting the teacher, possibly accompanied by a familiar scolding that had to be meaningless at this point. I guess they weren't expecting a new kid. I closed the door behind me, wincing when it made a noise louder than I'd intended. I wasn't sure if I should introduce myself or sit down considering the teacher was gone and I might have to do it over again, so I chose the easier option, the latter.

There was only one empty seat, one that seemed to be in between a raven-haired, bandana-wearing boy who looked a little shorter than average and a girl with spiky pink hair and a pendant, who really looked like she wanted to be somewhere else right now. I could have had better options, but then again, I could have worse. I sat down, the dark-haired boy waving to me with a bit of a dorky grin, not seeming like the completely annoying type, but maybe a little shy and awkward, maybe a little hopeful. It makes him seem like he doesn't have many friends, but he seems nice enough.

I smiled back shyly, thankful that someone was at least a little nice. The pink-haired girl didn't do anything, apparently taking more interest in whatever she was looking at. Or at least it seemed that way. Once or twice I saw her look towards me with mild curiosity, probably out of boredom, though. The bandana wearer greeted me with a smile.

"Hey, I'm Ninten. Mrs. I-Don't-Care over there is Kumatora. I'm honestly surprised she's not asleep right now, and now that I think of it, shouldn't she be introducing herself then?" He seemed to ponder the question for a half-second before continuing. "I guess I just got used to introducing her since she was asleep. Anyways, you are?" He smiled goofily, adjusting his red and blue hat a bit.

I blinked because of the odd introduction to his friend, but I smiled anyways. "I'm Lucas. I have a brother named Claus, but we're not in the same class right now. We're twins." "Twins, huh? Lemme guess, total opposites, right?"

I blinked again. "Yeah, how'd you guess?" He shrugged. "Just seems pretty common to me. So are you identical, or...?" I laughed a bit. "Nope, our hair and eye color are completely different. You'll see if you get to see him in another class."

We small-talked until the teacher came back, who gave the class a quick scolding. Not sure anyone actually payed any attention to it, though. She must have noticed me at some point, because she called me up to the front of class. "Class, we have a new student today. His name is Lucas Rethom, and he's from Tazmily, in the Nowhere Islands. At least try and treat the new kid kindly for once, please?" She said the last part almost pleadingly.

Just from her introduction to me, I could already tell this was going to be a fantastic school year. "Anything you'd like to tell us about yourself?" I pondered this for a bit, but not long enough that people would get impatient. "I..." Not thinking of anything important, I shook my head. "... No." "Good, then go sit back down." I did as told, going back to my seat.

I sighed. They must think I'm boring now, not saying anything. Oh well. So the teacher, whom I later learned preferred to be called Ms. Trist, began reading a book to the class which couldn't catch my interest, simply because of the way she read it. So much for a teacher that isn't monotone.

She continued to drone on, and no joke, I fell asleep. I was poked awake by Ninten, who probably woke me up because it was my first day and he didn't want me to get in trouble for falling asleep since it would probably make a bad first impression. I'd thank him later, I guess. I looked over to see that Kumatora had fallen asleep and felt a pang of sympathy and perhaps slight envy at how she could get away with sleeping in class. I groaned quietly and put my head on my desk, already wishing I wasn't where I was.

When the bell rang, I don't think I'd been so grateful for such an annoying, shrill sound in a long time. I walked out of class, almost running because of how badly I'd wanted to get out of there. I felt a bit of annoyance at how that had been my first class and it was already really boring. At least I hadn't run into anyone who was too annoying or bad news yet. I guess I hadn't been paying attention to where I was going, because I ran into someone.

"Hey! Watch where you're goin', will ya, runt?" I looked up from my books and whatever else I dropped to see some blonde kid who I wondered how he could see with all of that hair in his eyes. He was wearing suspenders with a white shirt underneath, and he was, well... He was a little chunky, to say the least. He looked like bad news.

I jinxed myself, didn't I? I thought a little bitterly. He took a few steps toward me. "You're the new kid, aren't ya? The name's Porky, Porky Minch. Ya better not forget it, blondie!" His grimace twisted into a sadistic grin that honestly scared me a bit.

"Because if you do..." He continued, "You'll need a little punishment, eh? I'll make sure to swell up one of those pretty little eyes of yours, and ya might not see it open for a while... If ya even see those eyes of yours open at all!"

By that time I felt my back when it hit one of the lockers. I guess I'd been backing up subconsciously. My eyes darted around nervously to look for a possible escape, but saw none. So when he'd pinned me against the lockers it was no surprise. "I might as well even give ya the official newcomer's initiation!" He raised his fist, and it went rocketing towards my face in what seemed like slow motion.

But at the last second, his direction swerved and he hit the locker to the side of me, even grazing my skin a bit. It made a loud bang that seemed right in my ear, and my ear was ringing after that. It made a significant dent in the locker, and his knuckles were bleeding a bit, but he didn't seem to care. "Psych!" He taunted, walking away as if he hadn't almost pounded my face in.

I rubbed my ringing, hurting ear and sighed. Looks like I've already run into trouble, and on my first day, too... Literally.

Just then, the bell rang. I cursed under my breath and bent down to pick up my books. "Looks like you ran into Minch, huh? That kid's no good. I'd kick his ass if it weren't for the stupid no violence rule... He's the principal's kid, so he gets away with almost everything." I heard from a voice behind me, and as the source of the voice bent down beside me to help me pick up my books, I saw it was that pink-haired girl from earlier. Kumatora was her name, I think?

We finished picking up my books that I'd dropped and I looked at her gratefully. "Thanks. You're Kumatora, right? Ninten mentioned you earlier." I said, although a bit shyly. "The one and only!" She replied proudly. I grinned a little at her silly answer. "You're that new kid, huh? Lucas, right?" She asked with a rather boyish grin. "Yeah, that's me! I've got a twin brother named Claus too, but we actually look pretty different for the most part."

The bell rang to remind the late people of their tardiness, its irritating shrill scream of a noise seemingly taunting me. My eyes widened just a bit. "Aw, crap... I've gotta get to class, sorry! It was nice talking to you!" I yelled, running off towards where I thought I'd seen the art room earlier. She just stood there and grinned, waving to me. "Same here. See ya later, Stripes!" C'mon, only an hour in and I already have a stupid nickname? I rolled my eyes but I continued to smile nonetheless as I ran to class.

I made it there, huffing and puffing a bit since I'd ran almost the whole way and it was on the other side of the building. Running really wasn't my strong point, or anything to do with physical activity, really. Although I'd always been a little fond of baseball. Claus and I used to play it all the time back in Tazmily, but we lost the bat and couldn't buy a new one, so we'd always use my favorite stick. ... I keep a stick, okay? That's not weird...

I opened the door only to see... A real, live, actual monkey right in front of me. It had a blue collar and was a little chubby. I blinked. Once. Twice. I rubbed my eyes, and it had gone. But then I felt something climb up my leg and then my back. I almost screeched, but held back the rather unmanly outburst, and I knew if Claus were here and I had screeched, he'd be laughing his butt off.

Then the monkey reached my shoulder and decided to stay there, apparently taking a liking to me or something. It honestly reminded me of Ash's Pikachu. ... Not that I watch Pokémon that much, I may like it, but I'm not that big of a fan... After all, I saw enough weird creatures in my later years in Tazmily. Seriously, Slitherhens? As if Mighty Bitey Snakes weren't ridiculous enough by themselves.

A rather irritated-looking man with an odd hat and a mustache snapped me out of my thoughts. "Salsa, down from there!" The monkey, who was apparently named Salsa, jumped down from my shoulder. "I apologize for Salsa's ridiculous behavior, he often startles new students such as you... For now, we're doing a project that requires partners. We're seeing how one art style may differ from the next, and then you'll try and copy your partner's style and vice versa. You'll be partners with Ninten." He grumbled the name as if he disliked the boy. "I'd appreciate it if you called me Mr. Fassad, by the way." I took note of this and began to look for Ninten, noticing that Salsa was following me.

I spotted him, he was near the corner, looking bored and maybe a little anxious. I began to make my way over, but stopped, an idea coming to me suddenly. I listened closely, like I had this morning with Boney. I was right. There was a little voice, and it was coming from Salsa.

I mentally reached for it and latched on to it, which I realized I had done with Boney, too. The moment I grabbed it, it got suddenly louder. It didn't seem to be saying anything in particular, as it was currently jumbled. Still a small victory for me, though. "Salsa?" I tested.

"Huh, what is it? I'm surprised you noticed me, petty human, I was in stealth mode." He said, puffing his tiny chest out. I was still a little shocked and disbelieving that it had worked at first, but I regained my composure and grinned. I picked Salsa up and put him on my shoulder, hoping he could hear me better that way. "Stealth mode, huh?" I asked quietly, as to not get noticed and called crazy for talking to myself and/or a monkey. Salsa looked shocked and almost fell off my shoulder, but I caught him just in time.

I held back some laughter and waited for a response. "Woah, you can hear me? I knew you were different from the other humans! I take back that petty human stuff, I was just playing around. Still, surprised you caught me in stealth mode, that's quite a feat... I perfected that years ago. You see, it was passed down from my great-great-great-great-great-great-grandfather to my great-great-grea-"

I cut him off before he could ramble. "That's cool and all, but I've gotta go see Ninten, since he's my partner. Also, I might not be able to talk to you much, because people will think I'm crazy. Okay?" He nodded in response, still a bit dazed that I could actually understand him. I walked over to where Ninten was standing.

He looked a bit relieved when he saw me. "Thank goodness it's you, I was getting a little worried that Porky or someone would be my partner." He said, explaining why he had been anxious before. "Porky's in this class?" I asked, a little shocked.

"Well, yeah. No one talks to him though, they're all worried they'll get beat up. Porky doesn't seem to care. Still, I feel bad for whoever's his partner." He answered, although a little hushed, as if he was afraid Porky would hear him.

"Hmm, I'll have to remember that... I guess we should start on our project, though, huh?" I changed the subject, seeing how he got a little anxious whenever Porky was mentioned. I had to wonder if he was bullied by him... I felt a little concern towards Ninten and anger towards Porky at this. I guess I'll have to ask him whenever I get the chance, but I'll have to be careful since things like that can be touchy subjects...

"Yeah, we should." He grinned, looking a little more comfortable with the subject change. "I bet I can finish mine before you!" He challenged, smirking jokingly. I laughed, even though it was probably true. "You're on!" I said, accepting his challenge with a grin. I picked up my tools of choice, good ol' pencil and paper. He picked the same, and we both sat down at a table. "On the count of three..."

"One..."

"Two..."

"Three!"

With the three familiar words, I made the first marks on the paper with a smile, determined to win the good-natured race.

Yay, 2,500+ words on this one! I'm going to try and write a little more each chapter until they're a length I feel comfortable with. Also, I forgot to mention last chapter, but a lot of the last names will probably be either references, puns, or rearrangements of words to do with the game. Like... Lucas Rethom. And Ninten Itoi. Stuff like that, should be fairly obvious... Anyways, I hope you like the introductions to Ninten and Kumatora! Salsa may be in the story here and there, too. I plan to introduce Ness somewhere in the next two chapters, and maybe Duster sometime after that. Also, while I find dialogue fun to write, I feel like I need a few tips on it, so that would be appreciated! owo Anyways, I think that's all I wanted to say for now. So... Bye! Don't forget, reviews, favorites, follows, and all of that are appreciated! Especially reviews!