Author's Note: I can't thank all of you enough for the sheer amount of love this story has gotten. I just wanted to let you all know that I am so appreciative of you all, I hope you all continue to enjoy it as much as I have been.
The next evening Guzma sat in his classroom alone, with his feet up on his desk typing on his laptop. It was just after 6:00pm and the school was peacefully silent aside from the cries of nocturnal Pokémon; despite it being an hour until the sun fully sets. He had recently gotten permission from Asuka to stay behind late as long as he locked up the school. She had handed him a set of spare keys, but not before sternly warning him that if he stole anything she would make him lick the halls clean and pay her back for the items with interest. Knowing her, she probably wasn't joking. But regardless she handed the keys over, at least she trusted him that much.
Guzma glanced at the clock and decided that it was time to head off. He preferred staying behind at the school to do work; he found that he could concentrate far better and the place had great wifi. He packed away his things and shoved them messily into his bag, slinging it over his shoulder as he left the room, locking the door on the way out.
As he strolled casually through the halls he reflected on the day. In his eyes, it had been quite uneventful, but important nevertheless. He went over different types of held items with his students and their effects, while bringing in two of his favourite items as examples; a quick claw and a life orb. Keahi was also quite eager to show off her focus sash, while Kavika learned that the good luck charm he always carried with him was a razor fang. The rest of them just had to bring an item in tomorrow, easy enough, everyone who owns Pokémon has at least one hanging around their house somewhere.
What was a lot more interesting though, was that Jon did indeed visit him during lunch that same day. Guzma had taken him seriously yesterday, but was still doubtful that he would actually want to spend any time remotely near him, especially after that incident with Pinsir. But despite that, the boy did show. He was a very bright kid, more interested in technology than anything else. Guzma barely understood half of the things he went on about and spent most of the time listening and nodding in response. Damned boy was way smarter than him; he was clearly going places, unlike his drop-kick of a teacher.
Much to Guzma's pleasure though, Jon kept his promise. He had indeed spoken to Minnie before coming to see him. She had told him that she was alright. That she was just clumsy and had a tendency to bump herself and fall over. Apparently, according to him, she was fine. Guzma didn't believe that answer at all. Guzma had used that very same excuse when he was her age, along with being rough while catching Pokémon. Her response had only caused more alarm bells to sound in his head, he wasn't about to fall for his own old tricks.
He stepped outside of the building, inhaling deeply; the cool, crisp evening air felt refreshing. He strolled up to the front gate, it was still wide open. He moved to close it, but then spotted something in his peripheral vision. Guzma had spied a faint glow coming from right down the end of the cement wall, tucked away in the corner behind the bushes. He raised an eyebrow, concluding that having a quick look wouldn't hurt, and slowly began to creep over to the source of the light. Hopefully it was just some odd glowing Pokémon, maybe even a Volbeat? Though he couldn't remember any such creatures residing in the Alola Region, if they did he would have one by now.
As he got closer he craned his head over the bushes to get a better look. He just managed to spot a copper coloured bird's nest of a hairstyle, sharply illuminated by the light. A sick feeling stabbed him straight through the gut, causing him to choke on his breath. She was still here, at this hour?
As he moved through the bushes the young girl gasped and shined a torch at his face. "Oh my gosh! You- you scared me! Don't sneak up on me like that again!"
He squinted before she lowered the light from his face. Her momentarily fearful look had been replaced with relief. She had schoolbooks strewn around her and was currently reading a novel, illuminating the pages with the torchlight. Guzma attempted to mask the concern in his eyes with a serious look and asked, "what the hell are you still doing here?"
"Me? What are YOU still doing here?" she replied before remarking, "I thought you would've been the first to leave, honestly."
"Don't change the damn subject! It's nearly dark out, why are you still here Minnie?"
The girl looked downwards and answered, "Keep your voice down… I just lost track of time ok? I like doing my homework outside, it's really peaceful and quiet out here after everyone else leaves."
Guzma then slowly crouched down in front of her, she looked up at him and to her surprise there was a worried expression on his face. He then spoke quietly, "you and me both know that what you just told me is bullcrap. You're hiding here, aren't you?"
She remained silent, but her eyes drifted to the wall beside her.
He shuffled closer to her. "Minnie, what's going on? You can tell me. If there's anyone in this entire region that you can tell, it's me."
Minnie scrunched up her face a little. "Why are you being so empathetic? That's really unlike you, teacher."
"Because I give a shit about you. So what's going on? Who gave you those bruises Minnie?"
"What does that have to do with this? And why are you assuming someone gave them to me? I'm just clumsy ok? I trip over a lot and-"
He quickly cut her off, "don't feed me the same bullshit you fed Jon! I know that's a lie missy!"
She was clearly annoyed now. "Watch your tongue. And you made him ask that?! Seriously?! You couldn't even go up to me yourself?!"
"I have my reasons. And stop. Changing. The. Subject. Who gave you those bruises?"
"Nobody!"
"Did your parents give them to you?"
Minnie gaped at him, horrified. "No! Why would they do that to me?! That's horrible! How could you even think that?!"
Guzma looked at her, puzzled. "Then… Why are you still out here if you're not scared to go home?"
She was silent for a moment, before groaning and appearing defeated. "I'm not scared to go home, ok? I'm scared to walk home…"
"Why?"
She slowly ran her fingers through her hair, frustrated, and explained, "ok so, this has been going on for a while now. There's these two - now please pardon me for this because there's no better word to describe them - assholes that wait nearby after school and follow me on the way home! I live right on the outskirts of the city where there are barely any houses, so when I get close to home they corner me and beat me up…" She was gripping her knees and gritting her teeth in anger. "I used to battle them with Igglybuff to try and defend myself but it's a two on one battle and I can't get him to sing fast enough. They just knock him out with one hit. I don't even bring him out anymore because then we both just end up getting hurt. They then take anything valuable I have and leave; I always take a little bit of pocket money to school now these days to get them to go away faster."
Guzma was now feeling even more enraged than she was. He asked in a serious tone, "do they have blue hair? Dark clothes? Necklace?"
Minnie now looked confused. "What? No? Why?"
"I was askin' if they were Team Skull."
She then snorted and smirked. "You mean those two dorks? Honestly I WISH it was them. They'd just stop after winning the battle and poke fun. Funny story, I actually ran into them once. One of them smashed me in a battle. Then they got all inflated and bragged to each other, so I just ran and hid, before they knew it they'd lost me! These two that I'm talking about, they're worse than anything I've ever seen Team Skull do."
Guzma facepalmed after hearing that. His grunts were THAT pathetic? No wonder barely anyone took them seriously. They couldn't even steal a baby Pokémon from a ten year old? Really? That's one of the easiest things somebody could do. In fact, he could've done it right now if he wanted to; there was literally nothing Minnie could do about it. Wait. What was he thinking? He shouldn't even be considering that in the slightest, especially towards one of his own damn students! On the bright side, at least those grunts weren't going around misrepresenting the team by kicking the shit out of children. He snapped out of his momentary silence and looked back at her, asking, "so who actually did this to you then?"
"Two punk trainers named Peggy and Caesar. They never fail to turn up too. It's like, don't they have anything better to do?!"
Those were some stand out names there. So stand out that they actually sounded familiar to Guzma, but he couldn't put his finger on where he'd heard them right now. Nevertheless just hearing them caused him to grow angrier. "Why are they doing this to you? Any reason?"
Minnie huffed and crossed her arms, she sounded bitter now, "I caught them harassing a Pikipek. By harassing I mean they were kicking the poor thing! It was screeching and trying to get away but Peggy's Raticate was holding it down! So I tried to step in and told them to stop. I gave the Pikipek just enough time to get away back into the forest… But now they've set their sights on me instead! I guess it's because they can actually get something out of me… And it just makes me so angry! More than anything else! I'm angry about being scared to walk home. I hate that I'm too weak to do anything about it by myself…"
"Do you think they're still around here now? Waiting?"
"Yeah, somewhere along the path. They're always there."
"Ever tried taking a different route home?"
"I get lost every time."
"Then how about you let big bad Guzma walk you home? I'll personally make sure they never go near ya again."
Minnie snorted then chuckled. "Did you seriously just refer to yourself as 'big bad Guzma?'"
He smirked at her amused grin. "Just one of my many catchphrases."
"You have catchphrases? Oh my gosh… That's just rich."
He stood up, then spoke in an irritated tone, "just shut up and pack your stuff up already. I wanna get ya home before dark."
"Ooo you're snappy tonight huh?" she observed as she began to pack her books away.
"I'm pissed off. Not at you though. Isn't that obvious?"
Minnie frowned. "I'm just trying to lighten the mood alright? I'm actually really scared… I just don't like showing it. I don't want anyone to think I'm a coward."
Guzma shifted where he stood. 'Me and you both, kid' was what he wanted to say. Instead he settled on, "that's real brave of you. Most people walk on eggshells around me."
She stood up, holding onto the straps of her bag. "It's not you I'm afraid of. Sure you're a weird teacher, a bit of a delinquent honestly, but you're friendly enough."
"Wow. Thanks."
The girl smirked. "I'm just stating the truth."
He began to walk with her following beside him. "You get real cocky when you come out of your shell huh?"
"I've never had anybody put it that way, but I guess? Confident is what I get mostly."
He pulled the gate shut behind them and locked it. "It's just funny considerin' how much you stuttered when I first met'cha. Just shows how mature you are. I'd watch yourself though, cuz one day you might get beat down by someone for it."
"That's already happening, teacher."
"My point exactly."
Minnie began to lead the way, heading towards Hau'oli city. "So it takes about twenty minutes to get home. When I leave really late they hang around later along the route near the suburban area."
Guzma nodded. "Trust me, after tonight they probably won't wanna set foot on Melemele ever again," he assured in a sinister tone.
Minnie glanced up at him. "Don't do anything too rash, alright?" She sounded nervous.
"Can't promise nothin', kid," he stated, clearly making no effort to hide his anger anymore. But to her surprise, he began making an effort to hide his face. Guzma pulled his hood up and moved his glasses over his eyes. He then reached into his pocket and took out a bandanna, covering the bottom half of his face with it; the pattern on it resembled the realistic jaw of a human skull.
Minnie stared up at him. "Uh, why are you doing that?"
"Cuz I don't want nobody to recognize me," he stated in a matter-of-fact tone.
Her tone became slightly anxious. "Why do you carry a bandanna around with you? You look like you're out for blood…"
"Minnie. I just found out that one of my kids is getting their ass beat daily by a couple of jerkoffs for laughs. I wanna give 'em hell, but I don't wanna lose my job doin' it. Is that too damn hard for you to understand or somethin'?" She could hear him gritting his teeth; she noticed he had began to subconsciously clench and unclench his fist.
Minnie swallowed and focused on the route ahead of them, quietly muttering, "you really need to calm down, teacher."
He stopped walking, stunned, then followed after her. He started shouting, "I need to calm down?! Sounds like you're the one who's WAY too damn calm! Hell, you're the one gettin' beat up! Actually, wait one fucking second! Where the hell 're your parents?! Why've they done jack shit about this?! They should be here right now! Not me!"
Minnie put her face in her hands and groaned loudly before turning to him. She poked him hard in the stomach as she snapped, "don't you DARE yell at me! I've had enough of this! I am WAY too frustrated to go into that tonight and I don't need you pushing me on it! And YOU need to calm right down before we end up sending each other into a frenzy, alright?! You've been so darn WEIRD tonight and I need you to start actually thinking straight about all this! Otherwise you can just go!"
Guzma paused for a moment then gripped the side of his hood with his hand before shoving his fists into his pockets. She heard him exhale shakily before clarifying, "Minnie… I'm just worried about you…"
The girl looked away and ran her fingers through her curly hair. She quietly told him, "I know… But, that's not an excuse for any of this and if you want to help me I really need you to calm down… Kids are supposed to feel safe around their teachers. All you're doing right now is scaring me… You look like you want to hurt someone…"
He then pushed his sunglasses back onto his forehead and took the bandanna off, keeping his hood up. There was shame written all over his face. "Look… I just… I'm sorry… Just don't poke me like that again."
"I'm sorry for that too..." She took a deep breath and looked towards the path in front of them. "Let's just keep walking, ok?" asked Minnie as she offered her hand to him.
Guzma raised an eyebrow. "What are you doing?"
"Asking if I can hold your hand…"
"That's just weird," he stated before resuming walking.
She frowned and moved beside him. "You're weird…"
In her peripheral vision, however, Minnie noticed his right hand move towards slightly too far outwards to be accidental. She gently took hold of a few of his large fingers and gave a small smile. Now she was feeling just that little bit safer.
Minnie proceeded to lead him through the backstreets Hau'oli City, towards the developing part of the suburban area. Houses became fewer and further between as the road they were walking on gradually turned to dirt. About five minutes earlier, Guzma noticed two figures starting to tail them about fifty meters back. A quick whisper to Minnie confirmed his suspicions; those two were the ones he was here for. It seemed like they were ballsy enough to tail her even when it was obvious she wasn't alone. Minnie was right. They clearly didn't have anything better to do. How pathetic.
Guzma stopped walking just before they finished passing under the light of a streetlamp. "What are you doing?!" whispered Minnie angrily, "they're going to catch up!"
"That's the plan, kid." He looked down at her; his back was still facing the two figures, which were drawing closer.
"I thought you said you were walking me home! Not confronting them!"
"We can't do this every damn day, Minnie. So I'm gonna teach 'em a lesson. This way they'll back off for good," he explained before leaning down towards her with his hands on his hips. He then assured, "don't worry, I ain't gonna go off the rails, but I'm still gonna give 'em hell for this and there's nothin' you can do about that. Go on home if you want, I'll be fine."
Minnie was clearly frustrated; she puffed her cheeks up at him and then crossed her arms. "You said you'd walk me home, but fine. However, I'm staying so I can make sure you don't hurt them!"
The man grinned a little, there was a little bit of excitement in his eyes. "Fair enough. But seriously? You're lookin' out for those assholes? Man, you're one messed up kid."
She gritted her teeth and grumbled, "sounds like you're the messed up one, teacher."
He was about to protest, but then her expression became one of pure terror as she looked past him. The two punk trainers had stopped at the opposite end of the light.
He heard a young woman's voice behind him. "Aww would'ja look at that? Looks like you got yourself a bodyguard, didn't ya honey? Not that it'll do ya much good, right Caesar?"
"Yeah! Looks like we're gonna get double the goods tonight. Maybe we'll even pull somethin' valuable for once!"
Guzma's eyes were wide as he stared at Minnie. Those voices. Those god damn infuriating voices. He knew exactly who he was dealing with and it aggravated him beyond belief. His expression contorted into one of pure malice as he turned and faced them, pulling his hood off.
Shock spread across the punks' faces, Peggy took a step back at the sight of him. She wore her mid length blonde hair in a different style under her cap now, the last time Guzma saw her it was dead straight. Caesar was attempting to mask the fear in his eyes with a look of anger. His dark hair was far messier than hers and there was a new scar across his right eyebrow. His skin a few shades darker than hers, but nevertheless, their light brown eyes were identical to each other.
"The last damn thing I expected was havin' to deal with you two fuckers again…" growled Guzma sinisterly.
Fear flashed across their faces before Caesar snapped, "just what the hell are YOU doin' here?!"
Peggy then regained her confidence, crossed her arms and added, "yeah! We thought you lived on Ula'ula, never expected to see your stupid mug 'round these parts."
"Well news-fuckin'-flash, y'all were dead wrong!" roared Guzma, "and this is what you're doin'?! Bashin' up lil' kids for fun?! Y'all are the most pathetic sons 'a bitches I've ever had the displeasure of seein'!"
Peggy then smirked. "Never mind what we've been doing. I wonder… What has the 'Big Bad Boss' been up to? We already heard some rumours that you were hangin' around little girls. Guess they were true! What a fucking creep!"
Caesar bellowed with laughter at that remark. Guzma was absolutely fuming. "You're gonna fuckin' get it for that!" He began to storm forward but then felt a strong tug on his arm.
He stopped to see Minnie pulling on him, she gaped up at him and shouted, " wait wait wait! You know these two?!"
Guzma looked back towards the punks; they had taken a few more steps back. But before he could answer Caesar spoke, "yeah we've got a little history going! We worked for him back in our Team Skull days!"
Peggy grinned at Minnie's appalled expression. "Didn't know that your new playmate was the boss of Team Skull didn'cha honey? Couple of ex grunts right here, reportin' for duty!"
Guzma then snapped, "stop makin' up bullshit! Y'all never worked for me! You fuckers didn't even make it past the intro week! Don't you dare think I forgot what you did to that Yungoos!"
Caeser then growled and pointed to his scar, "and don't think I forgot what you did to me! To the both of us!"
Peggy chimed in, "yeah you asshole! You still owe me my Haunter and his Muk back!"
"Y'all cracked that Pokémon's back across a tree and you're complainin' as if I was unfair?! All this is tellin' me is that I didn't beat your asses hard enough!" He shoved his hand in his pocket and took out two ultra balls; the punks produced a ball each in response.
Minnie's gaze snapped back and forth between the two sides. All that talk about not going off the rails clearly meant nothing now. In a flash of light Guzma's Golisopod and Ariados were released in front of him, facing Peggy's Alolan Raticate and Caesar's Croagunk. Minnie gasped as Guzma yanked her behind him. The poor girl was shaking now; there was nothing she could do. Questions spun through her head but there was no time to think. Right now, all she could do was watch.
Before anybody else could react, Peggy pointed to Guzma and commanded, "Quick attack!"
Her Raticate shot towards the gap between his two Pokémon, dashing side to side. Guzma's eyes widened and he shouted to his Golisopod, "block it with First Impression!" The goliath bug intercepted the Raticate at an unnatural speed for its size. It slammed its large claws into the Pokémon's stomach, sending it flying back past its trainer. So they wanted to play dirty, huh? Guzma wasn't going to let them.
Peggy returned her fainted Raticate to its ball and looked to Caesar, panic written across her face.
Guzma then pointed to the Croagunk. "Ariados, Sucker Punch!"
"Dodge and counter with Feint Attack!" cried Caesar. But it was too late, the spider Pokémon was already upon the frog, landing a hard punch to its face. It was knocked to the ground, but miraculously hadn't fainted; it suddenly jumped above the Ariados and slammed it back with a Feint Attack. Its efforts were all for naught, however, as with one more command from Guzma the Croagunk was sent flying with a Sucker Punch from Golisopod.
Peggy broke into a sprint as Caesar returned his fainted Pokémon, following after her post haste.
Guzma called out after them, "we ain't done yet! Ariados, get 'em!"
The spider Pokémon shot sticky webbing from its jaws, tying Caesar's knees together. Peggy stopped running as he crashed to the ground. She frantically looked between him and the path ahead of her, giving Ariados just enough time to do the same to her.
Guzma nodded to Ariados, who gave him a look of understanding before rushing up to the fallen punks. Minnie watched from behind him, it began to wrap Peggy's body in webbing as she struggled. The young girl rushed out in front of him, turning to face him, eyes wide with worry and apprehension. "What are you doing?! You said you wouldn't hurt them! Why are you-"
He quickly cut in. "Shhh!" Guzma then leaned in and lowered his voice, "I ain't gonna hurt 'em, I'm gonna at least keep true to that. But those two need to think I at least might. It's the only way they'll learn." There was a smug smirk on his face as he watched them struggle against the Pokémon's webbing; they were only getting themselves stuck tighter.
Minnie then put a hand on the side of her head; she looked so confused and mentally exhausted. "You… You have no idea how many questions I have… You're… How the hell you're a teacher in the first place is now BEYOND me…" She then looked up at him and demanded, "tomorrow, you meet me where I usually sit, you know where that is. We need to talk."
Guzma just shrugged and agreed, "sure, I get that. I'll be there."
"Remember, don't you dare-"
He swiftly interrupted, "oh for the love of… Minnie you sound like a broken record. Go home."
Minnie crossed her arms and puffed out her cheeks as the man turned and strolled up to the punks with a nasty grin on his face. Golispod towered over the now restrained duo; Ariados had done a great job.
Peggy shrieked at him in panic, "don't you dare! If you take our Pokémon again we'll make sure you'll never be able to show your face around here again! Nobody'll believe you if you tell them what happened! Nobody!"
Guzma's confident grin only widened. "I ain't stupid. Y'all are real lucky tonight, I'm not takin' your Pokémon. Beating you both down was enough fun. I hope y'all like sleepin' rough though, cuz you're not in for a very good night," he then crouched beside the two of them and threatened in a low voice, "but if I ever see you two on Melemele Island again I'll string your asses up, upside down, where no one'll ever find you. Hell, I might even get Ariados to use his toxic thread for extra flare."
Fear spread across their faces, Peggy's breath hitched as she yelled, "you wouldn't!"
He leaned in close to her, "you wanna fuckin' test me on that?"
The girl held her breath as he gestured to his Ariados. It spat webbing over her mouth, silencing her.
When he stood up and looked to Caesar, the look on the restrained man's face turned to rage. He spat, "you stupid bastard! We were too good for your pussy-ass team anyway! Y'all were nothin' but a bunch of pathetic failures! No wonder nobody in Alola wanted any of you idiots!"
Guzma slowly placed his foot on Caesar's throat, pressing down slightly. He leered down at him coldly. "You may be right, but y'all weren't even wanted by Alola's rejects. I wonder what that says about you."
Caesar gritted his teeth as Guzma gestured Ariados, who spat webbing over his mouth. He turned to Golisopod and said, "grab 'em." The bug complied without hesitation as Guzma looked back, Minnie was still watching from under the street lamp. He smirked, giving her a short wave before turning and disappearing into the darkness.
Author's Note: The canon appearances for Peggy and Caesar can be found here: supersquiddle . tumblr post / 156829272438 / peggy-and-caesar
