I'm late. Like super late. I know, I know, I'm sorry! But I went on vacation...and then I got lazy...and now I'm back at school (likecobaltlol) and blah blah more excuses... The important things is that I'm finally done with chapter 9! Yay!

Also I want to give a shout out and say happy birthday to one of my buddies on this site. I don't know if they wants their birthday publicly known, so I'll leave out their name and just say Happy Birthday! I hope you're actually reading this today (8/25) eventhoughyoureprobablynotgonnaseethisforawhilelol

Anyway! To the story! Sorry for any grammar or spelling mistakes, but I'm tired and just want to go to bed now...

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon!


"Cobalt! *Knock knock* Are you awake dear?" No…I'm sleeping…

"I'm coming in!" No, go away…

"You're still asleep? C'mon rise and shine!" I don't want to get u—hey why is it so much colder all of the sudden?!

"Uuhhhggg give me back my blanket…" I groggily open one of my eyes to see Cream in front of me with my fiery blue blanket in her hands.

"No! It's morning, time to get up!"

"F-five more minutes…" I rolled over and covered my head with my pillows.

"Cobalt, c'mon get up! I made breakfast and everything! You don't want to be late on your first day, do you?"

"I'm…not hungry…" I whined with my voice muffled by the pillow. It took a moment for my brain to completely process what Cream just said, and suddenly my eyes widened and I got up instantly. The pillows that were covering my head flew across the room and Cream flinched back at my sudden movement.

"Wait, it's my first day of school! Cream! Why didn't you say so earlier?!"

Cream smiled and chuckled. "Hehe, I wanted to see your reaction! Sorry!" I responded by giving her a pouty face. This must be what Auburn means by Cream teasing all the time… "Oh but don't worry, you aren't actually late. You could honestly go back to bed for another five minutes and be fine if you wanted to." She shrugged.

"Well I'm already up and…yaaawn…awake…" I yawned loudly, one hand covering my mouth and the other stretched upwards.

Cream gave me a glare with her hands on her waist. "That yawn doesn't convince me." She said sternly. "Why are you so tired anyway? Too tired from playing yesterday?"

"Yaaawn…N-no…I was so excited for school that I couldn't sleep last night. So I ended up reading and got too into it I guess…" I rubbed my eyes to get rid any drowsiness left.

"Oh Cobalt…" Cream sighed but smiled. "Well go on and shower. That'll wake you up! Breakfast will be ready when you get out!"

"You lied about that too?"

"Hee hee!" She winked as she tossed my blanket on my bed. Then she left the room, leaving me alone with my pillows on the floor. I sighed as I picked them up and made my bed, then made my way to the bathroom next door. After turning the knob on the shower, I stood there half-asleep waiting for the water to get warm enough to enter.

Once it was warm enough, I entered, feeling the warm water hitting my body. "Yaawwwnn…Showers never wake me up…" I yawned, staring up at the shower so that the water would wake me up, which it didn't.

I stepped out of the shower after standing there for who-knows-how-long and dried myself up. When I got out of the bathroom I saw Cream at the dining table with my backpack, the same one Mother gave me that was once filled with my emergency kit. I actually haven't seen it since I moved in here.

"I hope you don't mind using this..." Cream asked nervously. "It was a little roughed up, but I washed it and sewed up some of the holes…" She held it up to show that it was in fact clean. It even looked brand new! I shook my head as in response and joined her at the dining table.

"No, not at all! I'd rather use it than have you buy me a new one! Thanks for fixing it up! It looks like it's never been used!"

"Oh thank goodness, I thought you were going to be angry at me!" Cream placed her hand on her chest and let out a sigh of relief. "I went ahead and put everything that was in it in your closet, including your album."

"I could never be angry at you! You do so much for me! Thanks for everything you do!" I thanked her and looked down at the plate in front of me, "And I'm especially thankful for the food! It looks delicious!" I smiled and began to chow down.

"Cobalt…" Cream said quietly. "Heh, you really are something!" She smiled and joined me in enjoying our breakfast.

We spent our breakfast talking about small things, mostly about what it's like to go to a real school (Not that Mother's school wasn't real!) We went over most of it yesterday during dinner, and it mostly consisted of Cream telling me that I was going to be fine. She said as long as I'm myself, then the other kids will naturally become friends with me. I can only hope that's true…

"Oh, I heard the door! That's probably Auburn!"

"How can y—"

"COBAAAAALLLLTTT! YOU READY?!" Surely enough it was Auburn. No one else would scream my name out like that.

"Hehe, don't underestimate my hearing abilities!" Cream winked. I give her a shocked expression, impressed that she really can hear such faint sounds. She responded with a smile and handed me my backpack. "You better get going before Auburn gets too angry! Make sure you head to the front office when you get there. Your teacher should be waiting for you there."

"Thanks Cream!" I hugged her. She jumped a little and gave a small gasp, not expecting me to hug her so suddenly. I looked up at her, her eyes filled with love and happiness, and she hugged me back tightly.

"Heh, have a good first day at school!" She broke the hug and patted me on the head.

"I will! See you later!" I waved good-bye and headed downstairs and outside the hospital. When I reached outside, I was greeted by an impatient Vulpix and calm Ralts waiting for me.

"Good morning Cobalt!" Mint bowed.

"Took you long enough!" Auburn pouted with her eyes closed angrily. She then turned towards me and opened her eyes, revealing her burning red eyes, and smiled, "You ready to go?! Are you pumped up for school?! Because I am! I've never been so excited for school before!"

"Yeah me too!" Mint agreed.

"Same here! I'm so excited, but also so nervous!" I added.

Auburn looked at me with an expression that was a mixture of shocked and slightly annoyed. "Still? C'mon you'll be fine!"

"I-I know that, but still…it's a new school! And there's going to be more than two students in this class! It's a huge step for me!" I retorted with my voice raised. Auburn flinched back slightly at my louder voice, but Mint seemed to remain calm. "S-sorry, I didn't mean to yell like that…"

Mint slowly stepped towards me and placed her hand on my shoulder. "No, I know it's nerve-racking. Auburn's hot-headedness doesn't exactly make it any better…" Mint turned around and glared at the overly excited princess.

"Hey!" Auburn said offended.

"Hehe," Mint chuckled, "It's only natural to be nervous, and it really is a big step for you, but you can count on Auburn and I to take that step with you!" She said proudly and confidently.

"Mint…" I said slowly, somewhat shocked to hear Mint say something so motivational. My first impressions of her definitely didn't make her seem like the confident type. I glanced over at Auburn to see a warm smile on her face. I looked back at Mint and nodded, "Thanks Mint! That means a lot to me!" I smiled happily at her. For a split second, I could've sworn I saw her eyes widen and her face grow red, but she quickly turned away before I could really tell.

"N-no problem Cobalt…"

"Well, now that that's out of the way, let's go!" Auburn marched ahead.

"Right!" I followed after her, walking past Mint who was still standing there. "You coming?" I turned around.

Mint jumped slightly and looked at me, her face slightly red and flustered. "O-oh! Yeah, sorry!" She headed towards me. I smiled and together we picked up our pace to catch up to Auburn, who didn't seem to notice that we weren't right behind her.

The three of us walked together on the brick path, heading towards the same direction of the shopping district. Cream told me that the school is located in the heart of the city, and that all levels of schools are in the same area, with there being only one school of each level. Seeing as how elementary school starts the latest, the streets were filled with kids all heading to school with no teens in sight. Like always, many Pokémon stopped and greeted the princess, with none of them actually getting in way, most likely because they know we're on our way to school.

"Oh? Is that it right there?" I pointed out to a large brick building up ahead that many kid Pokémon like us were entering into.

"That's right! Homura Elementary is just up ahead! And not too far after that is Homura Middle School and Homura High School!" Mint confirmed.

"With Homura Middle School being in the middle of the two schools. They definitely had to of done that on purpose." Auburn snickered.

When we reached the school, we stopped in front of it so I could look around. It was red from the brick and had a tall flag pole in the front with a red flag blowing in the wind. Next to the flag pole was a sign that read "Homura Elementary School."

I stood in awe, again surprised out how much bigger things are in the city. "So this is what a real school looks like!"

"Hey, come over here!" Auburn motioned us to follow her to the side of the building. Mint and I followed her and we were led to the biggest playground I've ever seen!

"Whoa!" I exclaimed. The playground was filled with all sorts of different things to play on! It had a huge swing set, a straight slide and a twisting slide, monkey bars, see saws, and the biggest jungle gym I've ever seen! There was also a large grass field for running around and even a basketball court! Several Pokémon were playing on the main playset, using the most of their extra time before school starts.

"I've never seen such a grand playground before!" I shouted excitedly.

"Really? This is pretty normal for schools and parks." Mint said, shocked.

"Is it? Huh. Well I guess a town filled with miners and workers would have no need for such a big playground." I said sheepishly. "Either way, recess must be tons of fun with so many things to do!"

"You got that right!" Auburn shouted.

"Indeed." Mint nodded. "Anyway, shall we head to class now?" Auburn and I nodded and together the three of us went back to the main entrance.

We entered the school, and I again was amazed at how different it was compared to my school at home. The entrance lobby was a spacious room with several hallways in all directions, reminiscent of the castle. The walls were decorated with bulletin boards and posters promoting things like reading and staying active. I noticed that there were also works of art from students, ranging from drawings that were drawn well by older students, to finger paintings from kindergarteners.

"Wow, so this is what the inside of an actual school looks like!"

"What did your school look like?" Mint asked.

"It was just a small, wooden building. Once you entered inside you were already in the classroom. No halls or offices."

"Wow really?" Mint said with her mouth over her hand, shocked at how different it was. I nodded to confirm my claim. Auburn's reaction, however, was more on the rude side.

"Sounds boring!" She said with a somewhat disgusted look. I decided to ignore her rude comment on Mother's school and looked around some more before remembering what Cream told me.

"Oh yeah, Cream told me that I'm supposed to go to the front office first. She said the teacher will be waiting for me there."

"She did? Ms. Luna is waiting for you there?" Auburn asked.

"Ms. Luna?"

"She's our teacher, a Braixen. She's apparently young for a teacher, my mother says. And she's very self-conscious about not being fully evolved." Mint explained.

"But she's super nice and super fun! It's fun to make fun of her not being a Delphox yet! Or just teasing her about anything is always guaranteed a giggle!" Auburn laughed. Mint rolled her eyes (or at least it looked like she did. It's hard to tell with what I think is her hair covering most of her face) and sighed.

"The office is right over there." Mint pointed to a door nearby us. "I guess we'll head on to class without you then."

"O-oh." I said quietly and in a monotone voice, "A-alright then, I'll s-see you soon…" I said slowly and looked down at the floor as I nervously shifted my feet. It remained silent for a moment, and since my head was down I couldn't see their reactions.

"Hmmmmmmm?" I looked up to see Auburn up close to my face. I jumped back and gasped at her appearing in front of me all of the sudden.

"A-Ah! W-w-what?" I asked, flustered. Auburn chuckled at my reaction then sighed.

"If you want us to go with you, just say so! Don't act so sad!" Auburn grinned.

"O-oh, sorry…" I coughed to clear my throat. "Um…can you guys come with me?"

"Of course we will, right Mint?"

"Yes!" Mint nodded.

I smiled warmly; knowing that I have my friends with me definitely makes things more endurable! "Thanks!"

The two of them smiled back and together we headed to the office. When we reached the door, I stood there nervously, but looked back at Auburn and Mint. They both gave me a confident nod, telling me to go on and open the door. I nodded back and placed my hand on the door knob, and as I'm about to turn it the door suddenly opened itself! The force I was going to use to open the door caused me to fall flat on my face.

"O-oof!" I grunted with my face on the floor. I heard Auburn and Mint gasp behind me.

"Oh dear! I'm so sorry! Are you okay?" A white paw appeared in front of my face. I looked up to see a worried Braixen looking down at me.

"Y-yeah I'm fine." I took her paw and got up with her assistance.

She lifted me up, smiled, and apologized again. "I'm so sorry!" The Braixen bowed. She was holding some books in one of her arms. She seemed young, appearing to look like she was still in high school.

"Ms. Luna!" Auburn and Mint said at the same time. Wait, did they say Ms. Luna?

"Oh, Mint and Princ—" The Braixen was cut off by Auburn clearing her throat loudly, "Err, I mean Auburn! What are you two doing here? Shouldn't you be waiting for me in class?"

"We were showing Cobalt here where the office was." Mint explained.

"Oh! So this Riolu is Cobalt! That makes sense, as there aren't any other Riolu in this school…hehe." Ms. Luna laughed sheepishly. She then bent down so that we were at face level. "Hi there, I'm the third grade teacher here. You can call me Ms. Luna!"

"Nice to meet you, my name is Cobalt." I bowed. I looked at her, expected the "you're so polite" response, but instead I got silent glare that looked like she was observing me.

"Hmm…" Ms. Luna said to herself and nodded with her eyes closed, "Interesting… Yup! You are definitely not your typical third grader! This makes my job easier!"

I titled my head. I wasn't sure if that was a compliment or not. I turned to look at Mint and Auburn, but they looked just as confused as I was. "Um, is that a good thing?"

"Hm?" She opened her eyes, then gasped, "O-oh, did I say that out loud? Uh…"

Before Ms. Luna could a proper answer, a bell starting ringing, resounding through the hallways.

"Oh my, would you look at that? It's time to head to class now! C'mon kids, let's head to the classroom!" Ms. Luna turned around and hastily walked through one of the hallways. I couldn't help but think the bell saved her from an awkward situation. The three of us shared confused looks and shrugged.

"That was weird." Auburn commented, "What do you think that was about?"

"She probably meant Cobalt is a mature student so she won't have to deal with another hyper kid like you!" Mint teased.

"Hey!" Auburn gave out her usual response when someone teases her in front of her face.

"Now, now, I'm just kidding! Let's head to class now." Auburn and I agreed and the three of us went our way through the same hall Ms. Luna went through.

"Ah, there you are!" Ms. Luna said to us when we finally caught up to her. She was standing in front of a door, which had a sign next to it that said "Ms. Luna: 3rd Grade." "Auburn, Mint, you two go on ahead. Cobalt, wait with me here for a second."

"Okay." Mint and Auburn complied and went in the classroom. When they opened the door, I could hear the voices of many other kids.

Just how many are in there…? I thought to myself nervously and gulped.

Ms. Luna must've noticed my nervousness. "Hey, it's going to be alright!" I respond to her attempt to reassure me with a nervous smile. "When we walk in, I'm going to have you introduce yourself to the class."

"W-what?!"

"Don't worry! You just have to tell them your name, no need to make a speech or anything."

"U-um..a-alright…"

"No need to be nervous! I'll be by your side, you can trust me!" Ms. Luna looked at me with a very gentle smile. It definitely was reassuring, but I was still a bit nervous. "Do you want me to hold your hand as we walk in?"

"Oh! N-no, I-I'll be fine…"

"Alright then, you ready?" I took a deep breath to calm myself down and nodded to my teacher. "Okay then, let's go!" She opened the door and entered. I slowly and nervously followed her in. I gasped as I turned my head to see what was waiting for me. There were so many kids in here! There had to be at least 20 of them! Some of them were playing with toys and socializing, while others were just sitting at their desks with books or crayons in hand.

"Alright everyone, settle down!" Ms. Luna clapped her hands together to get their attention. "Clean up your messes, class is starting!" The kids that were playing around all complained and reluctantly put away the toys and took their seats. Everyone then noticed something different and suddenly the room was filled with whispers.

"Hey who's that?"

"Do we have a new student?"

"Oh is that who I think it is?"

"Yeah, the one the princess rescued!"

"Good morning class! We have a new student joining us today! Why don't you introduce yourself?" Ms. Luna turned to look at me and gestured for me to talk.

"U-ummm…" I gulped. I could feel my entire body shaking. Sweat started to fall down my head, and I've never felt so nervous before in my life. Being attacked by that Zoroark was less scary than this! …Okay maybe not, but this was still incredibly nerve-racking! "H-h-h-h-he…" I looked around the class, and everyone's attention was set on me. I could feel their glares stabbing into my chest. Breathing suddenly became a lot more difficult. I can't do this…

"Go ahead, they won't bite! Don't be scared!" I felt Ms. Luna put her paw on my shoulder. I looked at her and she gave me another gentle smile. I glanced around the class again and I saw Auburn. She looked like she was trying to tell me to go on. Mint was next to her, and her mouth looked like it said to calm down. I also saw Tangelo, sitting at a different table on the other side of the room. I saw him give a wink at me, trying to tell me that I got this.

I took a deep breath and restarted me introduction. "H-hello, m-my name is C-Cobalt…I'm a R-RIolu from the I-Iron Kingdom, 8 years o-old. I-it's n-nice to meet you all. I-I h-hope we c-c-can be f-f-f-friends…" I stuttered and bowed. That has got to be one of the toughest things I've done in my life…

"Hello Cobalt!" I widened my eyes and looked up from my bow. Everyone in the class was smiling.

"Oh wow, a Riolu! I've never seen one before!"

"Nice to meet you!"

"The Iron Kingdom? Cool!"

"I hope we can be friends too!"

W-wow…they want to be my friends too? I felt my nervousness start to wash away.

"Hey, are you the one that Auburn rescued?!" One of my classmates asked.

"Y-yes! I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for her. She saved my life!" I answered confidently.

"Wooooooow!" The class shouted together. I looked at Auburn and she had a cheeky grin on her face.

"Yup! I saved his life! I told you guys, I really am a hero!" Auburn said proudly, puffing up her chest like she always does. I could only giggle at Auburn's silliness. The room was suddenly filled with shouts of amazement and chatter.

Ms. Luna clapped her hands together regain everyone's attention. "Alright everyone, settle down! We can all talk about the Prin—err I mean Auburn's heroic act during later! For now we need to start class! Now then," She put her paw on her chin and scanned the classroom, "Where should Cobalt sit…?"

"Oh! Ooooh! Ms. Luna! Can he sit here?!" I saw Auburn raising her paw frantically and pointing at the empty seat at her group of desks with the other paw. I noticed that everyone was sitting at their own desk, with four desks forming one big table. Auburn's group had Mint and a female Litwick sitting there.

"Auburn, that's Aika's desk. Cobalt can't take that one."

"Yeah, but she's almost never here! Can't we just kick her out?!"

"Auburn, that's rude! We can't just kick Aika out, even if she's absent most of the time." Ms. Luna explained. I saw Auburn fall back to her seat in defeat, pouting that Ms. Luna wouldn't let me sit there. Aw, I would've liked to sit with Auburn and Mint…but who is Aika? Why is she absent all the time?

"Ms. Luna, what about here? This desk is vacant." I looked and saw Tangelo raising his paw. There was an empty seat next to him. Across from him were two other seats, occupied by a male Numel and female Fennekin.

"Yeah Sis, can he sit here with us?" The Fennekin added. Sis?

"I say, I would enjoy his presence at our table." The Numel said with some strange accent. What an interesting accent! I wonder where he's from.

"Maple, how many times do I have to tell you not to call me that in class? You have to call me Ms. Luna here!" Ms. Luna sighed, putting a paw on her head.

"But it's just so weird calling you that! Can't I just call you Sis? Or even Luna will do!" The Fennekin, who I learned is Maple and Ms. Luna's sister, tried compromising with her older sister. I could hear some of my classmates giggling at the sibling's argument.

"Maple, now is not the time for this. We need to go on with class! Cobalt, go ahead and take that empty seat next to Tangelo."

"A-alright." I complied and walked to my seat. I looked at Auburn and she looked very annoyed that her cousin got me and she didn't. Tangelo taunted at her by sticking his tongue out at her, making Auburn even more annoyed. They really don't get along…maybe by sitting next to Tangelo I could fix their relationship!

"Yo, Cobalt! Isn't this cool? We get to sit next to each other!" Tangelo greeted me.

"Yes, I hope we can become better friends!" I nodded and took my seat. I turned my head to see Maple and the Numel staring at me with excited expressions on their faces.

"Let me introduce you to them." Tangelo said, "The Numel is my best friend, Masello. He transferred here last year. He and his father moved here from some far away land."

"Pleased to make your acquaintance, my name is Masello." The Numel with the accent greeted, bowing his head. He was quite polite; it sort of reminded me of myself.

"H-hello, nice to meet you too." I bowed my head as well.

"And the Fennekin is Maple. She's alright I guess…for a girl…" Tangelo said quietly in a somewhat annoyed tone.

"Hey now, that's not very nice to say."

The Fennekin smiled, "Don't mind Tangelo. He's mean to all the girls! It's why the princess hates him!" She giggled.

"That is so not true! And Auburn doesn't hate me!" Tangelo argued.

"Yeah, if you say so!" She rolled her eyes, "Anyway, the name's Maple! In case you didn't notice from that little argument, I'm Ms. Luna's little sister."

I tilted my head. "I thought you said you don't like calling her that?"

Maple responded with a giggle, "Hehe, I just like to tease her! That's what little sisters are for!"

"Or girls in general." Tangelo added while rolling his eyes.

Maple ignored Tangelo's rude comment and continued. "I hope we can be friends!"

"I too hope that we can become closer, chap!" Masello added.

My eyes widened and a large smile began to form on my face after hearing their words. "Y-yes! I would love that very much!" I decided to look at Auburn and give her a smile to tell her that things are going great, but she still looked annoyed that I have to sit with Tangelo instead. I feel bad that I don't get to spend time with her. She looks really bummed out. Maybe I can join her at lunch and recess!

I must've been having fun learning and being in school again, because all of the sudden it was lunch time! We all formed a line, going in order of our tables, and made our way to the cafeteria. When we made it there, we stayed in our formation, waiting for our turns to get our lunch from the servers. I finally got my tray of food, and I scanned the cafeteria. There were many tables scatter around the large room, all filled with young Pokémon, kids that seemed to be around my age. I continued to look for a certain Vulpix.

"Where is sh—oh!" I see the princess waving her paw at me at a table nearby, Mint and the Litwick also with her. I started making my way towards her table before someone poked my shoulder. "H-huh?" I looked back to see Tangelo and Masello.

"Hey Cobalt, why don't you just us and the other guys?" Tangelo said, turning his head at a table across the room, filled with other kids from our class, all male.

"Oh, u-um that's okay, I think I'll join Aub—"

I felt something bump on my back all of the sudden. I turned around to see Masello's head on my back. "Now, now chap, don't be like that! Come! Let us enjoy this delicious food with our other chaps!" He started pushing me, away from Auburn and closer to their table.

Tangelo joined Masello in pushing me. "Yeah, don't you want to make other friends?"

He does have a point… "B-but…" I stuttered, trying to resist their pushing.

"Tangelo!" I looked back to see an angry Vulpix.

"Auburn!" I shouted, shocked.

"If Cobalt doesn't want to sit with you stupid boys, then don't force him!" Auburn yelled at her cousin.

"Aw c'mon Auburn! Don't hog him! He needs to meet other kids anyway!" Tangelo argued.

"Then let him sit with us! He hasn't met Tea yet!" Auburn argued back, her voice rising in volume. At this point Auburn moved to my front and started pushing me back towards her table.

Tangelo and Masello both start to push me towards their table. Things are starting to escalate pretty badly. "He doesn't need any more dumb girl friends! He needs to meet all the other cool guys!" Tangelo yelled back at an even louder voice.

"Forgive me, Your Highness, but I do agree with Tangelo. He simply must meet the other chaps!" Masello butted in, in a much quieter voice than the arguing cousins.

"Umm…g-guys? Y-you're hurting me…" I can feel everyone in the cafeteria staring at the four of us. Their pushing was starting to hurt, and I struggled to keep my tray of food balanced. "And I'm going to drop my food!"

"Dumb girls?! You boys are the dumb ones!" Auburn yelled, ignoring my pleas for them to stop.

"No, you girls are the stupid ones!"

"While I don't think you girls are exactly stupid, I simply must support Tangelo in this case!"

Where are the adults when you need them?! I need to do something before they start attacking each other! "S-stop it!" I shouted loudly. I seemed to have finally got through to them, as Auburn and Tangelo both stopped pushing me. However, I wish I could say the same for Masello…

"H-huh?!" The Numel jumped, startled from my sudden shouting and fell on his side. Something red started to spew out of the hole on his hump. It resembled lava, but is it really lava? "Oh no, not aga—err I mean…AHEM!" Masello helped himself back up, trying to ignore the fact that he fell on the ground and spilled lava.

"Pffft! Haha! Seriously Masello?" Tangelo laughed at his best friend. Many of the other Pokémon that were watching also started laughing and soon the room was filled with laughter. Even Auburn was laughing at what just happened.

"I-I don't see what's so f-funny! There's nothing to laugh about! I-it's not l-like this is embarrassing or anything!" Masello tried playing it off cool, but the bright red cheeks on his face made it hard to believe.

"W-whatever! I'm starving and my food is getting cold, so get out of my way!" His voice and tone suddenly changed as the Numel walked past us and straight to the table he and Tangelo were forcing me to a moment ago. Some of the kids at that table continued to laugh at him, but he ignored them and starting digging into his lunch quite…wildly.

"Um, is he okay? He seemed really upset. It's not very nice to laugh at him like that…" I asked with worry in my voice.

Tangelo suddenly put one of his fore legs around my neck, almost causing me to drop my tray. "Aw, don't worry about him! He always gets like that when he falls. Masello is pretty clumsy, and when he falls lava starts to pour out of his hump. He always tries to play it cool, but he's always so obviously embarrassed, so it makes it that more funny!"

"And he's a total glutton! He always has lots of food and he never shares! And as you saw, his attitude totally changes when he's hungry! He gets hungry when he gets embarrassed!" Auburn added.

"If you say so…" I'm still worried even if they both say it's not a big deal. "Anyway, sorry Tangelo, but I want to eat lunch with Auburn. I haven't talked to her at all since class started."

Tangelo lowered his head, disappointed by my decision. "Aw, lame! Alright then, I suppose that's fair enough…"

"Ha! Go back to you're stupid friends!" Auburn stuck her tongue out, rubbing in her mini victory against her cousin.

"If I wanted to go to my stupid friends, I'd go sit with you!" Tangelo said angrily.

"Guys!" I shouted, getting fed up by their arguing, "Why are you so mean to each other?"

"Hmph! It's his fault! Let's go Cobalt!" Auburn, ignoring my question, turned her head haughtily and walked back to her table. Tangelo did the same as his cousin and walked back to his table. I sighed and followed Auburn. I noticed that everyone else was back to their own business, except for Maple. She looked at me with concern, and when our eyes met, she shrugged and went back to eating her lunch with her friends.

I joined Auburn at her table, which only consisted of two other Pokémon: Mint and a Litwick, which I think Auburn mentioned earlier during her argument as Tea. Mint waved at me, with me waving back. I tried waving at the Litwick too, but she gasped quietly and looked away. Is she scared of me…?

"Sorry that took so long, things got a little nasty there." Auburn said.

"A little?! You got in a huge argument with Tangelo! Again! If a responsible adult was around, you two could've gotten in huge trouble! You're lucky the lunch lady doesn't really care what we do!" Mint yelled at her the princess. "Why can you two just get along?"

"Whatever!" Auburn shouted, obviously frustrated. "Anyway, Cobalt this Litwick is Tea. She's extremely shy and pretty much only talks to Mint. She can barely talk to me without stuttering!"

"S-s-sorry, Y-Your H-Highness… R-royalty j-j-just m-makes me s-super nervous!" Tea stuttered nervously, barely making eye contact with Auburn.

Auburn rolled her eyes in annoyance. "First of all, I told you to just call me Auburn. We're friends aren't we? And second, you're nervous around everyone!"

Tea jumped at Auburn's annoyance and tightly grabbed onto Mint's arm. "I-I g-guess… S-sorry!" Tea squealed. It's kind of strange to see a Ghost-type be so nervous and scared.

"Ahaha…sorry guys." Mint apologized. "Tea just has a fear of other Pokémon. She's grown attached to me though because we used to be next door neighbors when we were younger."

"And it made me really sad when you moved away too!" Tea whined, still gripping onto Mint. It looks like she doesn't stutter when she talks to Mint…

Mint nervously chuckled, "Yeah, I know, I know…"

"Mint actually used to live close to Cream's! But her family moved when her mom's hospital was built." Auburn added.

"Oh? That's interesting…" So Ms. Sana used to live near the hospital, but moved away when she got her own hospital? I feel like there's more behind that… "Anyway, it's nice to meet you Tea! I hope we can be friends too!"

"I-I'll try…" She said, letting go of Mint's arm. She tried to look at me and forced a small smile on her face, but I could tell she was still extremely nervous.

Lunch continued on with mostly Auburn and Mint's small talk which mostly consisted of asking me how I was doing, with Tea listening quietly. Auburn mostly asked questions on how sitting with Tangelo was, and whenever I said something nice about him, she would give me her stubborn "hmph!" and not believe me.

When lunch was over, the bell rang signaling everyone that it was time for recess. The adults on duty to watch us had us all form straight lines, and we all headed towards the door, keeping our perfect formation… at least until we all took our first step outside. The moment their feet met with the grass, the majority of the kids were out and about all over the playground. I wanted to be one of those kids out and about, but a certain pair of cousins were at it again, putting a halt on my time on the playground. Tangelo and Auburn both wanted to play with me, and they were not willing to compromise.

"You already had your time with him at lunch, let him hang with us!"

"What, no! You already have him all day at your table in class!"

"Pfft, don't be jealous! It's not my fault our table had an empty seat! C'mon, you got to play with him this entire time! I want to hang with him too!"

"Now who's the one being jealous?! You're such a hypocrite!"

This is getting out of hand. Is this how things are going to be every day? Their relationship is a lot worse than I initially thought. I tried butting in and saying we should all just play together, but the two gave me a big, loud "NO!" at the same time. I gave out a sigh of defeat. I wanted my first day of school to be fun with my new friends, but it seems my new friends have been split into two groups...

With my head down in defeat, I failed to notice someone walk up to me. "Psst, hey!" I turned around to see Maple tapping on my shoulder.

"Maple?"

"Follow me! And hurry before they notice you're gone!" Maple whispered quietly, looking behind me to make sure Auburn and Tangelo were still busy arguing.

"Um, okay." I nodded and followed the Fennekin to the playground.

What could this be about…?


Sorry! I wanted to keep going but I'm already super late on uploading this so I stopped it here. Plus I wanted to try something new and end it with a cliffhanger! HA! CURSE YOU CLIFFHANGERS!

So! New friends! Masello, Maple, and Tea! Also Ms. Luna! I'll start off by saying Masello is OC from my friend Starry's Light! His name sort of follows the pattern, as Masello was taken from the Munsell color wheel thing. Tea is also sort of OC, this time from Shadow Snivy! She just came up with the idea of a friend for Mint named Tea because Mint Tea is delicious LOL, I'm making up her personality as I go haha. Same with Maple, I have no idea what I'm going to do with her :P Ms. Luna's name was taken from Braixen's Japanese name, Tairenar, or Teerunaa...Runna...Luna...yeeeaaahhh...

Oh, and now that I'm back in school, I have no idea how the upload schedule will be. I'll try to keep it to once every two weeks as best as I can...

Thanks for reading!