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Chapter 3: Isaac

The setting was a classroom, Ms. April's class to be exact. There was nothing out of the ordinary in her classroom; it was strikingly similar to the only other one that existed in the school. There were desks, a respectable number of students, a large blackboard in the front, a teacher's desk set in the middle in front of the students, and still plenty of space for hanging around when there were free study periods. All in all, it was nothing remarkable to catch the interest of anyone, unless they wanted to get into the Pokémon Ranger business that is.

"Late again, Keith? Where'd you go now? The forest?" A blond boy with pale green eyes queried the bronze-haired boy seated next to him. Curiosity sparkled in the eyes of the questioner, as he seldom left the school and was always eager to find out about Keith's escapades. This boy was another who could be considered one of Keith's friends; he wasn't as close to Keith as Rhythmi was, but that was simply due to the fact that Keith and Rhythmi had known each other since they were kids. After all, Isaac and Keith didn't meet until they had both enrolled in the Pokémon Ranger School. The two close friends had to keep their voices down so Ms. April wouldn't hear them. After all, Keith had just entered the class and, after receiving the disapproving stare from his nicer teacher, had taken his usual seat next to his buddy.

"Nah, the beach," he answered, half-lying; he felt that only one friend should worry about him today and decided to keep Isaac blissfully unaware.

"How is it at night?" Isaac asked, keeping his enthusiasm in check. He didn't want to seem like he was hovering over his friend too much.

At his friend's question, Keith thought back to the marvelous view he had witnessed the night before. He never questioned his friend's curiosity, in fact, he almost felt like he was doing him a favor, as Isaac's dedication to his studies rarely let him go outside. A million words passed through the descriptive channel of Keith's mind to describe the wonderful scene, but his thoughts came to a screeching halt when he made a decision. He wasn't going to waste time telling Isaac all about the beach; he was going to take him there, yeah, and sometime soon too.

"It was pretty freackin' sweet," he kept it simple.

"I wish I could go as well," Isaac admitted. He got a dreamy look in his eye at the thought, but it quickly dulled. "It's just that Mr. Kincaid wants me to focus on that project."

'Oh yeah, that,' Keith thought, a disturbed look dawning on his features. He could never quite understand how Isaac insisted that Mr. Kincaid was also a nice guy that was 'simply misunderstood', Keith called bullshit.

'Well,' Keith thought to himself, 'I never really gave him much of a chance, did I?'

The feeling in his gut didn't leave though, and before he realized it, he was voicing his disapproval.

"I don't see why you let that," Keith restrained himself from calling the individual a bad name, "guy get in your way,"

He felt the blond male tense next to him; he was able to sense the new tension in the air. He almost felt like taking his words back in order to not sour his only other close friendship. Almost.

Isaac paused, noticing his friend's negative reaction, and chose his next words carefully. This was something that came almost naturally to Isaac and, admittingly, it almost made him feel guilty sometimes, knowing what others wanted to hear, what combination of words best suited their interest.

"He's not getting in my way," he started, "He's showing me a path. And you remember what that machine is going to turn out to be, right?" he muttered his reply. He knew he hit a spot with that one, but it was the truth; this machine was going to bring a brighter future to Almia, and make the life of Pokémon Rangers world-wide easier. Next to him, he could almost feel the gears turning in his friend's head.

"Yeah, you're right…" Keith trailed off, grudgingly accepting the fact. He felt as if this conversation was coming to a close and honestly, he felt a bit disgruntled. He took a breath and got ready to apologize for his previous statement that caused the disagreement.

"Isaac, can you answer the next question please?" Ms. April's voice projected through the class and Keith's apology died in his throat.

'Maybe next time,' he decided.