À la Vie, À la Mort
A/N: I actually realised that nobody was going to be able to understand where in Lumiose City the battles in Chapter 3 take place without a map, hence my choice of posting a map in the AO3 edition. However, due to formatting here, I've elected to put links on my profile allowing readers to click and read the resources at hand. – LLS
III: Cherchons la femme
While Le Papillon was busy plotting and planning again deep into the evening after the Marronaut siege of the Prism Tower, Plagg wondered if he ever had to deal with young boys. Given that the immortal Pokémon was definitely older than most – sans the Fossils or the Legendaries, who knew about them – it came to the black cat watching his newest trainer mooning over a crush.
"Ladybug... her name is Ladybug..."
Plagg would have left Adrien to his affairs, except that Adrien was currently talking to a truly excellent Camembert about his Lady du Cœur, and Plagg was currently trying to feel out the boy's moods and his attachments. Plagg did not repeat mistakes if he could, and after the mess with the Rais boy, the Purrloin had more reason than most to be wary.
"Her eyes are as blue as the sky-"
"Arceus save me from teenage boys, will you quit that!" Plagg complained. "Why would you want girls, when you can have this?" the Purrloin continued, stealing the cheese from Adrien's loose grip.
"Well, for your record, girls smell a million times better than stinky Camembert." Adrien snapped back. "They also look a million times better, come to think of it."
"Right," Plagg yawned, taking an idle bite of cheese and smiling at the texture of the toothsome rind on his incisor. "If you like."
"Do you think the Marronaut boy and his Pokémon that we recovered from the Tower are going to be alright?" Adrien asked the Kwami.
"They'll be fine, physically. No boo-boos," Plagg smirked. "I bet you that Chespin was the immature one who decided to rampage until it won a Gym challenge. Whatever that is."
"You've never fought in a Gym Challenge, Plagg?" Adrien blinked in surprise.
"When you've fought in the battlefield like moi," Plagg added a touch of asperity, "you tend not to be able to fight like other Pokémon."
Adrien shot a glare at him. "Tomorrow we're going to the Lumiose Gym, then."
"Yes- wait, what?" Plagg sat up. "You can't be serious?"
"Well, why not?" Adrien teased. "Since you're so good with unconventional fighting."
"A large part of my move-set is immune to Electric-types," Plagg pointed out. "in case you haven't noticed."
"Yes, so we need to figure out what's the best fit for you," Adrien argued.
"Aww, spare me the Trainer-starter relations," Purrloin yawned.
Adrien glared at the Purrloin. "We're going to the Gym and that's it, Plagg. Tomorrow I have-" Abruptly, Adrien cut off in realisation before he did a double-take at the calendar. "Oh, my homework! And there's a test tomorrow! Plagg, do you know a way to summon Uxie?"
"Not a chance," Plagg snorted. "I may be magical and give you superpowers, but there's a limit to how much destruction you can make without bringing a Judgement straight down on your empty head. We're not summoning the Pokémon of wisdom from Sinnoh just so you can ace that pre-year test coming up sometime this week."
Adrien let out a groan.
"Bonjour, Alya," Marinette grumbled as she slid into her seat. Chloé shot a nasty look in their direction, but since she was not a Pokémon, and her Meowth could not learn the move to begin with, Marinette judged it safe to ignore her.
"Man, what's with the both of you?" Nino commented as Alya touched Marinette's shoulder in concern. "Both of you came into class slower than Slowpokes, and that's plenty slow!"
"Test..." Adrien mumbled.
"It's not today," Alya supplied. "I heard the faculty talking about things with Monsieur Damocles on my way in. They won't start a test when new faculty members are entering in... I think."
The door opened. Mme Bustier walked in, a box of teaching materials and a tablet in hand, and stood at the platform, brushing a loose lock of her red hair away from her face.
"Class, from today onwards, we'll be having a teacher-in-training attached to our class." Mme Bustier started. "He will be teaching the history portion of our class, and assisting Mme Mendeleiev. I expect a modicum of good behaviour from all of you. Above all, do not sleep in class."
A babble broke out amongst the students, and a series of clicks indicated that some Pokémon were equally curious about Mme Bustier's last sentence. Their home-room teacher, to give her credit, let them ramble for a few seconds before she raised her voice:
"Come in."
Every student could not hold back their gasps as it came in. Black and shadow-like in statute, it had a small head, with a fog-like ghostly plume billowing from its head covering one of its bright blue eyes, much like hair. A red spiky growth around its neck indicated its collar, below which there was a squat torso fitted with skinny arms. Long black tatters hung from its shoulders, rippling like smoke or an old cloak filled with rips. Black, claw-like hands held a tablet just like Mme Bustier, but the Pokémon made it look perverse, standing there on stilt-like appendages that grew from its hourglass torso.
"This is Darkrai," Mme Bustier reluctantly admitted. "Now, as everyone knows, Pokémon and humans can co-exist in the economy. There are few jobs that cannot be done between humans and Pokémon co-operation. That includes teaching, a feat that admittedly very few Pokémon pursue. No matter the status of your teacher, you are to treat him with respect. Darkrai, some words for the class?"
« Merci beaucoup, Madame, » a deep voice echoed in Kalosian, not through the ears but through the minds of every human in the classroom. « Je suis un Darkrai, je viens de la région Sinnoh. Désormais, j'espère de bonnes relationsavec vous. Vous avez des questions ? »
"This is ridiculous!" Chloé stormed. "You cannot expect a- a Pokémon to teach history! My Papa will hear of this! As the mayor of Lumiose, surely he'll fix this!"
« Your points have been duly noted, Mademoiselle Bourgeois. Now please sit down so that we can call the roll. »
"Erm... Monsieur?" Marinette raised her hand. "Chloé sort of has a point... the signature ability of Bad Dreams hurts sleeping Pokémon and people alike."
The lone cyan eye of their newest history teacher turned on her. A clawed hand consulted the tablet. « Introduce yourself, please. »
"Marinette Dupain-Cheng."
« Your concern for your fellow classmates is touching, Mademoiselle Dupain-Cheng. However, this is a school for a reason. As long as you do not sleep in class, there is no reason that you should suffer from Bad Dreams. »
"History is no longer a snooze-fest," Nino muttered out loud, as Adrien's skull met the table in a decisive thunk.
Due to being unable to sleep in class, Marinette had to wait until the first break to talk to Alya. Unsurprisingly, the bespectacled girl was already talking to their bemused history teacher, her phone and notebook out.
"M. Darkrai, could you say what made you go into teaching?" Alya started. "How did you come here, and how did you learn Kalosian?"
« My home in the Sinnoh region was Newmoon Island, in the north-west corner of Sinnoh, » Darkrai started. « I came here by a very long way, over the sea and skies. A Kalosian professor took me in when I came here, and taught me Kalosian as I assisted her in her teaching. It was an accident of fate, I believe. I managed to take the examination for a diploma to entrance to higher education, and am now in the midst of a degree in anthro-Pokémon relations. As for teaching, I have always wanted to discuss the relationships between humans and Pokémon with fresh minds. I suppose debating history is one way to go about it as I settle into this new home. »
"Debating history? Wow, that sounded... a lot more ordinary than I thought," Alya said. In her pouch, Bougie shivered from such close proximity to the Pitch-Black Pokémon. "You could battle so many Pokémon, travel the world... you're a legendary Pokémon of nightmares! Why would you do this kind of boring stuff?"
Darkrai's lone visible eye curved. « If it be worth stooping for, there it lies in your eye. If not, be it his that finds it. »
Alya gaped.
« It's your break-time, my student. » Darkrai floated out of the classroom.
"I think he just quoted Twelfth Night at me," Alya shakily pointed. "God, that Darkrai is... all Pokémon are supposed to have human-level intelligence, right?"
"Except for Alakazam, Alya," Marinette corrected.
"This will make a great opinion piece! 'Kalos begins to embrace anthro-Pokémon equality, starting with the school system'," Alya gushed, right before her face spasmed. "Crap! I forgot to get his opinion on Ladybug! I even made a blog on the coolest of super-heroines!"
Marinette stared as Alya pulled out her Holo Caster and showed Marinette a pink web-page titled 'Le Ladyblog'. "Your number one source of information on Ladybug! Rocks, right?!" Alya explained. "Look at how many views I got thanks to this video!"
"Erm, that's nice," Marinette swallowed. "W- Why do you trust her so much? You saw those Marronauts... what if she's not cut out to be a superheroine?"
Alya stared at her, finally leaning over. "I see, you're scared! But don't worry, I saw her with my own eyes! She even saved my life! This girl is a real superheroine, she's going to protect us all! Believe me on this!"
Looking at Alya's excitement, Marinette had her doubts about that, but could not say them aloud.
Darkrai was also present in the next class, Life Sciences, despite the fact that the lecture was mostly conducted by Mme Mendeleiev.
"Evolution is a process in which a Pokémon changes into a different species of Pokémon. This change is not merely physical, however; Pokémon of a higher evolutionary stage usually have more powerful base stats than their predecessors, learned different moves, and sometimes change their types, though usually at least one type of the previous form is preserved."
The crabby teacher dressed in a purple shirt under a white lab coat paused to take a breath. "Some have argued that Pokémon Evolution is more similar to metamorphosis, than actual evolution over time. It is still being investigated if Pokémon evolution is mostly independent phenomena from the ageing process for most species, though Baby Pokémon need to evolve to their next stage in order to breed.
"Professor Elm in Johto, and Professor Rowan of Sinnoh, are the leading experts in conventional Pokémon Evolution. According to the latter's research, over ninety-percent of all conventional Pokémon are connected to at least one other through Evolution. Professor Rowan is thus currently investigating whether Evolution is a form of maturity in Pokémon, and their implications of this process on Legendary Pokémon, which don't evolve."
« Well, some Legendary Pokémon change forms, » Darkrai volunteered when the teacher started to glare at him. « And some normal Pokémon such as Dedenne and Hawlucha don't evolve at all, and there are also Mega-Evolution Pokémon. »
"Mega-Evolution, which is notably being studied by our own Professor Sycamore, is also considered an evolution, however temporary," Ms Mendeleiev agreed. "He theorises that the bond between Trainer and Pokémon is the key to Mega Evolution, besides the Key Stone and the Mega Stone. This proposes a single-flow model, where Pokémon follow the Trainer's wish. However, Professor Sycamore has further theorised that the converse situation may also happen; it could be the Pokémon who influences the Trainer. Pokémon studies is still a very misunderstood subject, and it is my greatest hope that some of you will grow up to become the next scientific standard bearers of Kalos. Before we do that, though, you have to get through collège, so let's have a look at the syllabus..."
The words flowed into one ear and out of the other end of Adrien's head. It was class-time, Plagg was nowhere around, and-
"Hey!"
A soft thump on his head indicated that Plagg had somehow got out of his Pokéball, and the Purrloin's resultant grin made Adrien look around into Marinette's uneasy expression, followed by her holding up her notebook, where a paw-print made him groan right before Mme Mendeleiev started yelling.
"That was literally the most boring hour of my life," Alya told Marinette once the last bell had resounded and they were thankfully freed. "What do you think?"
"I think he's got a point that nobody's going to be sleeping in class," Marinette yawned lightly, stretching her shoulders as she followed Alya to their lockers to put their books. "He's a pretty good teacher."
"Papa? Papa!" Chloé's strident tones echoed, clearly speaking on her phone. "There's a Darkrai at my school, and he's teaching history!"
"Let's hope the Legendary Pokémon doesn't get pissed off by Chloé this early into the school year..." Alya sighed as she slammed her locker closed. "I need to rush off, got a Ladybug scoop. You'll be alright?"
"Sure, Alya. See you tomorrow..." Marinette mumbled.
The pitter-patter of rain caused Marinette to sigh. It covered everything in Jaune Plaza, including the aureate obelisk of the plaza, in a faint haze.
"Hi, Marinette!" Adrien was already preparing to leave, a black umbrella in hand. "I am so sorry about today, Marinette. Next time I'll keep Plagg's Pokéball in my locker."
"I- it's alright," Marinette nodded. "I totally understand. Pokémon having to be stuck in a tiny Pokéball all day can't be good for them."
Adrien fidgeted, opening his umbrella. "I... I never went to school before. Never had any friends. Before I met you in the Santalune Forest... before I had Plagg... It's all a bit new for me. I can totally understand Plagg's feelings."
Adrien smiled, the umbrella proffered in his hand under Marinette;'s surprised gaze. A roll of thunder rumbled over the skies of Lumiose City, rain falling over the shadow of the umbrella that sheltered both of them from the elements. She reached across the space between them, ever so close yet so far. The umbrella handle slid into her hand, its arms spread in a spidery protection over the pair.
It snapped closed, encapsulating Marinette's head in its grasp.
The rain fell down with a vengeance onto Adrien, the frost of January causing him to gasp. Adrien started laughing, with Marinette nervously joining in as she struggled free from it. It was a shared moment between them that passed sadly all too soon, as the noise of the surrounding Lumiose City began to intrude in that one moment of their peace.
"Well, then." Adrien started to walk out into the rain. "See you tomorrow!"
"See you motorrow, I mean tomorrow, why am I stuttering..." Marinette made a tiny wave.
Standing just out of sight of the school front, an old man smiled under his own umbrella. His Turtwig nodded in approval. "Excellent choice, Maître."
"I hope so," the old man reflected, watching two talking Pokémon start to tease their trainers. He traced his goatee. "These two, though... I have a good feeling about them. They are made for each other."
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