The caw of a Murkrow woke Sora and Zeke up.
"I'm up, I'm up!" said Sora.
He put Zeke on the sink that was shared by five other boys, mostly fellow Rangers. Once he had brushed his teeth and did his morning routine, he went to the common room.
"Alright kiddies, time for a rule review! Now I know you're eager for breakfast and your schedules, but we have to make sure the newbies remember the conditions we have for us coming here to learn magic!"
"Rule One! Except in cases of life-or-death emergencies, or during our classes that involve our world, Pokémon are not allowed outside the dorms!"
"Rule Two! No one from this world without a Pokémon given freely is allowed inside the dorms. About the only exception to this is Hagrid, and that is because he is a trainer like us. So long as there isn't anyone around when you visit him, you can let your Pokémon out."
"Rule Three! The Forbidden Forest is full of creatures who aren't friendly with humans, so unless you're a Ranger with an actual Styler, avoid that area! For some reason the centaurs that guard the place only like the Rangers."
"Rule Four! All Pokémon battles will be held in one of the bigger dungeons inside the Hogwarts labyrinth, so when you want to battle, come seek a Prefect to get a pass. Otherwise if Filch or Snape catch you, they will issue a detention!"
Several of the first years sighed in relief. So they didn't have to give up Pokémon battles...
"Now before we all go to eat breakfast, I do have some news you won't like. Because of the fact we are asking you to give up time out of your training, we'll have classes that will help you win gym battles, protect the environment of the Pokémon you use, and how to heal your Pokémon in case you're out on a hunt and the nearest Pokémon Center is too far away."
That had several people groaning, but Sora raised his hand.
"What about the registered Rangers, those under level five?"
"All of you with official Ranger Stylers and partners will level up your stylers on scheduled visits to the Forbidden Forests. We hope to get you at least to level six before the year is out. The only reason we're allowed to go in is because Hagrid always escorts us when everyone else is sleeping. We can't let the other students know about us after all. However those above Rank 4 are allowed in alone, provided you avoid the teachers finding out."
"Question: why are there so few potentials in Hogwarts?"
"There are usually fifty or so each year. Because you were the last batch, you got sent to Hogwarts. Now if you have trouble getting around, just ask a portrait or a ghost...most of them will help, except for Peeves."
Sora was almost immediately swamped by the bushy haired brunette from the train. It took him a second to realize why.
"Sorry...wrong table..." he mumbled, before he bolted for the blue and bronze one. Those who had come from the world of Pokémon were given a week to learn their schedules before they had to attend the classes for them specifically.
Because of the fact that they would be mixing plants and liquids, Snape supervised the rough class on how to make your own medicines, despite not knowing what half the stuff was when he first started.
Almost immediately he was swamped by upperclassman.
"What is that outfit you're wearing?" demanded the prefect.
Sora looked at his blue and bronze outfit. He could see across the hall three others, some of the upper years, wearing something similar in different colors.
"It's my uniform," said Sora, not seeing the problem.
"That is not the school uniform!" hissed the prefect.
Sora was already in hot water with them because he insisted on wearing his goggles to class, despite having his glasses on.
Flitwick, seeing the issue, came up.
"Is there a problem here?"
"This first year isn't wearing the uniform," said the prefect haughtily.
"Ah. Did the prefects mention about the uniform before breakfast?" asked Flitwick to Sora.
"No sir. Just that robes were mandatory during certain classes," said Sora.
"For future reference Mr. Hoshino, I would advise you to throw on a robe before any class that might involve wandwork. Now as for you four, I can clearly see five others wearing a similar outfit and not being harassed. So long as they wear the robes on top, there is no actual set dress code," Flitwick reminded them.
Seeing the look on the prefect's face, Sora knew this wasn't over.
Fortunately Zeke had just recently begun to learn how to create illusions, so this would be good practice until it all blew over.
Snape would have frowned at the goggles, but Sora took off his glasses and put the goggles on instead.
"Mr. Hoshino, are those lenses by any chance prescription?" he asked carefully.
"Yes sir."
"Carry on," said Snape. He couldn't fault the boy for prescription lenses, and some of the other Ranger kids had cited the same thing, and he let them off on it. With his unofficial approval, the other kids passed it along to the Prefects. They had no choice but to allow them.
Sora all but crashed onto the common room couch.
"More walking up hill than you're used to, eh?" said the prefect, a Breeder named Brock. He was a guy who looked more like a mountaineer than a gentle breeder.
Though according to rumor he couldn't cook worth a damn.
"Snape and Flitwick managed to vet my outfit," said Sora.
"Sorry about that. We forgot to warn you that some of the prefects don't really like us that much."
Brock waited for all the first years to come back in from their first day, before he told them that as long as they wore their school robes on top, they could wear anything that was school appropriate.
They always had this minor issue early in the year. After the first week the prefects usually ignored what the 'fifth' house and the muggleborns were wearing and insured they had their robes and wands.
Sora just had the bad luck of being singled out early.
"All Rank 3 and below Rangers, come with me! We're having cooking classes today!" shouted Brent, a rank six ranger with a Xatu for a partner.
All the rangers immediately followed him to the kitchens, where a small classroom was ready with familiar berries and rough cooking implements.
"Alright kiddies, my name is Ranger Brent. Now today we are going to start our lessons in basic food and ingredient prep. In the wild we can't always rely on food we get from our Ranger stations. Normally, we would leave you runts to learn this stuff the hard way, but as magical potentials, you get to learn this here before you get to go on missions. Now three times a week we'll be learning how to prepare ingredients, how to use basic tools in every Ranger's pack, and how to cook simple meals. Those of you with any talent will be allowed to continue on some of the harder stuff, like special ways to cut the food and some of the more difficult meals. Now, since we don't waste food, the house elves will be using the stuff we use up in our meals today, so everyone scrub up good."
Sora raised his hand.
"Yes Hoshino?"
"Are our Pokémon involved in this course? And will this go out into the rest of the school, or is it just us?"
"Everyone from our world is taking these classes. Using Pokémon to help cook is for intermediate classes only, and the food we make stays in-house, as it were," said Brent.
In other words all the food they made would be eaten by them.
Cindy raised her hand.
"Yes Cindy?"
"Where did we get the berries?" asked Cindy.
"Sprout has graciously donated the use of Greenhouse 7 strictly for berry growth and maintenance. In exchange we share our knowledge about berries with her. Now, one of the reasons why only those who pass through Giratina's territory are allowed in here is because of the berries we use."
"And the other?" asked Sora.
"The purebloods think it's beneath them to learn how to cook," said Brent in annoyance.
It was a true fact that almost all of the people from their world were considered 'new bloods', or Muggleborn as the magical called them. Sora was one of the rare few who were halfblood and able to go through the Distortion World.
As they were all set to a different station, Sora immediately gravitated towards Joseph and Cindy.
"Any idea how to do this?" she asked nervously. She never touched a cooking tool in her life, except to do the dishes!
"Just follow my lead," said Sora calmly.
He lead them through the cooking process, and amazingly their food was one of the only edible ones.
"Wow Sora, you're really good at this," said Joseph.
"They always said the same thing at the Academy when we had to do cooking duty," said Sora.
This was far from his first cooking class. They had taught something similar in the Ranger Academy, having the students prepare the food.
Brent came up to them and looked at their food.
"Hmm. How many classes did you take Hoshino?"
"I got as far as learning how to find fresh spices in the wild and how to prep them," he said.
"Right...next week you'll be helping me teach the others. If you can use fresh spices, then you don't need the first ten lessons," said Brent.
"Yes sir!"
It was their second week as students, and Sora was practically bouncing in his seat. The reason why was simple enough...tonight would be their first foray into the Forest to level up their stylers.
Despite his skill at calming Pokémon, he was still a Rank two, and his styler was just barely above level 9.
Brent took them out a secret passage, past Filch who always suspected the 'fifth' house went into the forest and waved to Hagrid, who was the unofficial guard of the trips.
Officially he was going to visit Chomper, his pet Tyranitar. Unofficially he kept the other teachers out of the loop by warning the group through Fang, who would raised one hell of a racket if Hagrid didn't keep him quiet.
Sora found the wounded Unicorn first, and using his styler calmed it down long enough to treat the open wounds.
Because touching unicorn blood forcibly taken was a bad idea, he had a pair of gloves on instead. Zeke was old enough to know where he had his medical bag, something all Rangers had just in case.
The unicorn whinnied once, and touched it's horn on Sora and Zeke's shoulders in thanks. It also removed the curse of the blood on Sora's hands, which meant he wouldn't have to bury his dragonhide gloves to avoid the curse.
Brent ran up to Sora and Zeke with a concerned look.
"We need to pack up early. Bane just told me that something was attacking the unicorns earlier, and we don't want to deal with whatever was desperate enough to try that!"
"I know. Zeke and I just treated one with a gaping wound in it's side," said Sora.
"ARE YOU NUTS?! Touching unicorn blood from a wounded unicorn is suicide!"
"I think the unicorn removed the curse for me, since I captured it with my styler before I treated it," said Sora.
"I don't like this. We've never had anything attack the unicorns before..." said Brent.
"Attention all Rangers! Starting next week all excursions into the Forbidden Forest are to be accompanied by a Senior Ranger at least Rank 7 with a high battle grade. There is something in the woods attacking unicorns, which are the less fiery equivalent to a Rapidash. Anything able to hurt them might be able to hurt your partners! If you see anything out of the ordinary, find Hagrid."
The younger rangers were understandably nervous.
"Now, since there is a chance you may encounter an injured unicorn in the forest, we'll be having our basic healing lessons a bit early this year until everyone knows how to treat simple wounds. If nothing else, find your senior ranger to help you. If you find the one responsible, either get a teacher or start hexing like no tomorrow. Just to be sure, we'll also be teaching you basic defense spells and the shield charm...but nothing beats a physical shield. If the culprit starts throwing around green spells. Duck, or better yet get out of the way. Green spells are 100 percent lethal if you get hit!" said Ranger Cindy.
With the junior rangers warned about the woods, the higher Ranked ones would be patrolling with Hagrid and the Centaurs to find the culprit.
They wouldn't let anyone attack the unicorns without a fight.
"So we going to investigate this mystery third corridor or what?" asked Sora out of boredom.
"Don't bother. All that we've found up there is a Cerberus," said one of the older rangers.
Sora blinked.
"How do you know what's up there?"
"Hagrid asked us to help him put the damn thing in there, and rangers who prove they can handle the shock of seeing a massive dog the size of an Onix, only much bigger, are allowed to help feed him."
Sora looked interested.
"So how does one prove they can handle meeting a big dog?" he asked with a grin.
The older ranger, a boy named Rick, grinned back.
"You can join me tonight while we go to feed Fluffy. If you can keep quiet or if Fluffy takes a liking to you, you can help us feed him later."
The second Sora met Fluffy, the two of them got along like a building on fire. Zeke seemed to delight in letting the bigger dog chase him around the room with his sneaky giggles, and Fluffy even let him scratch his ears. After that Sora came up once a week with treats for the dog while hiding under Zeke's illusions.
He was getting quite good at them...enough so that they had pranked the infamous Weasly twins with it.