Chapter 3: Period One and Three

It was pretty lucky that Caden and Nora were two feet, four inches, so they could walk to the next class whilst leaning on each other. No one cared to notice then, which was alright to the two Zorua. "Okay, today we have odd periods today…," Nora mumbled to him. "It starts with… Japanese for Beginners?"

"Well that's good." Caden chuckled, "But we both know how bad I am with learning a new language… I nearly failed Spanish in sixth grade."

"Yeah, but I think I should ask the obvious question…," She replied while softly nuzzling the male Zoura's neck. "Who would want to take Japanese? Everyone is a Pokémon." The bell was about to ring in thirty seconds.

"We would, unfortunately." He sighed, giving a soft nuzzle back. "...And everyone includes us. I mean… It's not safe to assume that all Pokémon speak English."

"Well…" Nora looked up at the elevated door knob next to them. It looked huge compared to when they were human "Well, moment of truth. You wanna knock?"

"Yeah, let's begin this weird school year." Caden smiled, "But no matter what, we have each other's backs, right?"

"Yup!" the female Zoura nodded. "Let's do this." As he was about to knock on the door, Cade could hear a whisper coming from Nora. "Please let there be someone in there. Please..."

"You okay?" The male Zoura turned to Nora, giving her a nuzzle. "Still nervous?"

"Little bit." She looked up at where the window was, even though it didn't give much of an angle. "I just hope someone minus the teacher is here… 'Cause that could get us in trouble."

"How would getting there before the rest of the class get us in trouble?" He tilted his head in confusion. "Isn't that a good thing?"

Nora sighed. "Just knock the door, the—." Suddenly a high pitched bell started echoing throughout the halls, startling the two. "Knock the door right now!" She yelled. The bell made her ears start piercing in pain.

"R-Right!" The male Zorua quickly knocked on the door in concern for his friend. "Hello?" As the door started rattling for about ten seconds, the bell finished ringing. Nora started taking deep breaths.

"How could you not hear that noise?" She asked him. The door slightly opened, and two yellow and black ears sprouted upon it.

"It just didn't hurt…" Caden looked at the female Zorua. "You okay? Need some earplugs or something?" The male Zorua didn't notice the Pokémon standing in the doorway.

"I'll be fine," The female Zoura replied. "Let's…" She looked ahead of them to see the two ears. "Umm…"

"Oh! Sorry." The door opened fully as a male Pikachu grunted softly. "I'm pretty sorry I made you late," He said while a cold sweat ran down to his grin.

"It was bound to happen." Caden waved his paw dismissively. "It's fine." The male Zorua tried his best to keep composure. "Oh my god, it's a Pikachu! And he's talking! Nora, are you seeing this?" Caden's eyes began to sparkle unconsciously.

"Of course I'm seeing it," She replied while keeping silent. "Since we're Pokémon, we can understand him."

"...Cade, you okay?" The Pikachu tilted his head while looking at the male Zorua. "It looks like you're about to have a heart attack."

"I just… I need a minute." Caden whimpered dramatically, putting his head on Nora's shoulder. "I never knew this was gonna happen… It's like a childhood dream come true…"

"I think that's overselling it, Cade," Nora said out loud. "Especially because he's a Pikachu and knows your…" She glanced at the Pikachu for a few times before setting his eyes on Cade.

"What?" The male Zorua lifted his head from her shoulder, looking into her eyes. "What's up?"

"C-Cade…" The female Zoura looked into his blue eyes. "He just said your name. We didn't even tell him your name."

"He probably was told that by the teacher, who has the student roster." Caden dismissively replied, putting a paw on her forehead. "And don't worry, if it's my name, that means you're safe." He gave a cheerful smile.

The Pikachu shook his head, disagreeing. "Oh, no. Headmaster G told me both your names when you were walking in. Me and Mr. Samurott know what's going on."

"Close enough." Caden remarked, looking away and taking his paw off of Nora's forehead. "But see? It's fine."

"You've gotta be this dumb right now," Nora mumbled to him. "I want you to think this while we're walking in. When was the last time we were outside?" She slowly started limping inside to notice the entire room being empty. "And no other student is here."

"...Right." The male Zorua looked away. "So they know that we're humans, obviously! Keep up, Cade! You can't act dumb like this, not now, not next to her. Focus!" Caden shook his head before heading over to the Pikachu without Nora.

The Pikachu nodded. "Yeah, I know who you are, Caden and Nora. There's a reason for why." He looked up at the teacher's desk confused. "Oh, great. Mr. Samurott is sleeping again." The three of them started hearing soft snores coming from the teacher, as he was laying on his chair and desk.

"So. You know who we are, but who are you?" The male Zorua asked. "And why are we the only students here?"

"Right, forgot about that." The Pikachu hopped on one of the desks. "My name's Sam. I come from the United States like you—although Pokémon here call it America, and hate Pokémon from there…" He quickly debated about something in his mind before shaking his head. "I'm also like you two."

"...So human?" Caden tilted his head confusedly. "How would he get here too, then?"

"I'm actually part human," Sam responded. "My dad was a human, my mom was a…" He looked at the two of them to see the awkwardness he was giving out. "Anyway, Headmaster G transferred me here to be your alibi!"

"Well that's good. Nice to meet you Sam." He grinned. "As you already know, I'm Cade, and over there is Nora." He pointed to the female Zorua, who was taking a look around the room.

Nora suddenly realized that Cade was mentioning her, so she turned around to the two of them. "I honestly thought you were gonna call me No-Yo… Why do we need an alibi, though?"

"I think I'll let Mr. Samurott explain." The Pikachu looked at their teacher, who started opening one of his eyes.

"What is it?" A masculine voice came from his mouth as he sPoké bluntly. "This better be important, Sam."

"Um, Sir?" Sam looked at the two Zorua. "They arrived a minute ago, and the bell has already rung.

"Right, right…" He sat up in his seat. "Nora and Caden. Headmaster G told me to specifically sit you two next to each other for some reason."

There were only five desks in this class, so the options were small. "Back or front?" Nora whispered to Cade. "Your choice."

"Maybe the back." He replied quietly. "You can eat in the back of the classroom. It's the better choice, No-Yo."

"Gotcha." The female Zoura nodded and proceeded to sit in the far back. "Mr. Samurott, what does Sam mean by him being an alibi?"

"His alibi is that you three were transferred to the school to give more diversity." He answered bluntly. "Sam's going to function as a guide to the school and Japan."

"Yup!" The Pikachu nodded in agreement. "And Mr. Samurott is gonna be our Japanese teacher, since your parents requested it."

"Cade's not my brother," Nora corrected. "I already have one that's annoying as is."

"Yeah, we're best friends…" Caden smiled, looking at Sam. "...We just live together. In the same house."

"Okay, my mistake," He responded. "Anyway, we have four classes together. This one, Study Hall, Gym which is battling, and…" He looked at a paper relative to his size. "Creative Writing. Huh, it's been three weeks and I still don't know what that is."

"Yes!" The male Zorua cheered childishly. "A writing class, finally!" Caden stood on his hind legs as he threw his paws in the air.

"Careful Cade!" Nora shouted at him. "You can't stand on two legs as a Zorua."

"Wanna bet?" Caden turned around, still on his hind legs. "Just watch me. I've been walking on two legs my whole life. It can't be so hard now."

"Okay… Go ahead." The female Zoura started leaning on her chair. "Don't make me say I told you so."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Whatever." Caden fanned his paw dismissively before beginning to walk. "I'll show you. Just watch and learn-Woah!" The male Zorua slipped forward and slammed the side of his head on a desk, before face-planting on the floor.

"Ooh… That was bad." Mr. Samurott remarked, looking down at Caden. "Is he still conscious? Hell… That was a head injury, is he alive?"

"Cade!" The only female jumped toward him and decided to roll him face-up. She placed a paw on his somewhat bloody nose."...He's breathing."

"And also unconscious." The teacher added. "Don't forget the bleeding part, either. And also the possible chance of a concussion or tumor…"

"Okay, that's enough." Sam looked at the Samurott with a blank stare. "Don't be negative about all of this."

"Just weighing possibilities." He replied, taking a sip of the coffee on his desk. "It's not like he took no damage…"

"Hmm…" Nora was ignoring the two other Pokémon to think. "Do you two mind keeping your distance for a second?"

"I'm already a distance." Mr. Samurott retorted calmly. "Sam, that means you, too."

The Pikachu groaned for a few seconds. "Alright, fine." Sam started walking away while keeping his eye on the two Zorua.

"Okay…" The female Zoura took a few deep breaths. "I know you meant this as a joke," She mumbled to herself, "But let's see if it works." Nora's muzzle leaned into Caden's, and started making contact. "Wake up, Cade…"

Caden's eyes twitched before opening slightly. When he saw what Nora was doing, his cheeks flushed red. The male Zorua mentally regrouped himself before putting a paw on her cheek, alerting her.

"There we go!" Nora moved out of the way, making the two gasp for air. "...I told you so." She simply gave a small smile to him. "You almost proved me wrong, though."

"You can say it." Caden looked away nervously, his cheeks reddened. "That you told me so. I know you wanna do it." The male Zorua began to look down. "I can't believe she kissed me… I mean I was knocked out for like sixty percent of it, but still awesome! Oh wait… I hope she didn't hear that…"

The female Zoura gave a wink to her counterpart and limped up to the other two. "Can we get started with class now?" She asked her teacher. "I think Cade's done making a fool of himself."

"...Did you just?" Sam looked at the two Zorua at the same time. "Man, I need to stop watching these secret romances by myself." He slowly started walking toward his seat, mumbling something about soap operas.

Caden smiled like an idiot at the wink before looking towards Sam. "What secret romances?" He tilted his head in inquisition.

"N-Nothing!" The Pikachu froze solid for a few seconds before sitting down. "It's nothing!"

"Yeah, that's perfectly believable." The male Zorua gave a deadpan expression. "We're all getting to know each other here, let's talk about this."

"Nope, not comfortable to talk about it now," Sam shook his head while looking at Mr. Samurott.

"Cade, I feel something's gonna go down." Nora was still limping without any help from Caden. The two were going along the outside hallway to get to their next class: Pokémon Biology.

"Well… In Biology, things tend to cartoonishly explode." The male Zorua remarked, looking away for a second. He was still secretly replaying what had happened in the previous class with a shaky smile.

The female Zoura exasperatedly sighed. "Well, to make things worse, this is gonna be the first time interacting with other Pokémon. They're gonna watch our every move." She suddenly stopped to give a solemn face. "So let's tell each other mentally when we're doing something human-like, okay?"

"No problem." Caden nodded. "I need to talk to Headmaster G about these shared thoughts, though."

The two quickly continued walking, hoping that they were gonna arrive before the bell rings. "Don't worry, if you need to 'lecture' yourself, I won't pay attention. Just be sure to do it if we have classwork."

"Oh my God Nora, stop!" Caden blushed brightly, walking forward. "Those are my own personal lectures!"

"Alright, fine." The female Zoura sighed. "Let's try not to be too obvious then." Thirty seconds away from the bell ringing, the two Pokémon found themselves in the classroom for Biology. "Here we go."

"We've survived one class already." The male Zorua told her, grabbing her paw and beginning to pull her in. "Let's rip the bandage off on this one, okay?" Caden gave a smile as he looked back to Nora.

"Alrightly." She mumbled while stumbling in. About half of the class was already there, each student their own different species. "Should we check in with the teacher?" Nora whispered to him.

"Why should we do that?" Caden remarked. "This is just a normal class. Like the 'regular' ones."

"'Regular' classes means assigned seats," the female Zoura responded. "I rather find out than be surprised." Nora moved a few steps before looking back at him.

"Assigned seats… Oh no…" Caden's eyes widened. "This is where I die. I'm gonna embarrass myself like I always do, huh? This is where my Pokémon social life ends where it begins…"

"Come on." She moved her head to look at the teacher. "I'm scared about it as well, but we gotta face it." The two Zoura found themselves looking at an Emboar, sitting in his chair silent for some reason. The bell rang for it's second period, making Nora uncomfortable with the piercing sound again.

"H-Hey, you okay?" The male Zorua looked over to Nora while his right eye visibly twitched, an action that the female Zorua took notice of.

"You should say that to yourself, Cade." She slowly limped towards the teacher's desk. "Hi sir, we're new here."

"Hm?" The Emboar looked down to find the two Zoura looking up. "Oh, that explains why I got two new desks today. What are your names?"

"C-Caden." He answered, trying to prevent his eye from twitching. "And that's Nora."

Nora started waving her right paw. "H-Hi there," she simply responded while making minimal eye contact.

"Okay, you two." The Emboar started looking down at the empty desks, both far apart. "Caden, you're gonna sit where that Luxio is behind you." He turned to the other desk on the other side. "Nora, you're gonna sit where that Eevee and Torracat are."

"...I'm gonna die." Caden smiled blankly as his eye twitched.

"You're gonna be fine, Cade," The female Zoura patted on her counterpart and started walking to her seat. "If you need to let something out or vent, just tell me."

"O-Okay…." He watched Nora walk off before shuffling over to his seat.

"Alright everyone, settle down," The teacher called out to every other student, who kept silent for a few seconds. "Let's get to attendance…"

As he started calling on Pokémon, a sense of uncomfortability came upon the female Zoura. "Cade, I think I already have a problem. These seats are so uncomfortable."

"The seats are uncomfortable to you? They're pretty cozy." Caden replied, lowering an eyebrow confusedly. "It's like we were built different as Pokémon. Like how your ears ring when the bell rings…"

She shrugged mentally. "I guess?" She responded while glancing at the male Zorua. "If I had to take a guess, it's because you were sleeping when it was happening."

"Hina the Eevee?" Mr. Emboar called on the next student on his list.

"Here!" A cheerful voice exclaimed, raising a paw. The two Zoura could hear her loudly since she was in the middle of the room.

"...I wonder why everyone else is rolling their eyes on her?" Nora tilted her head confused.

"She's kinda like me… Except that she doesn't care what others think." The male Zorua thought, resting a paw on his cheek.

"Well…" Nora's head tilted to look at the Eevee and Caden. "You two kinda look similar." Their teacher sighed at the sight of the next student name.

"Jiro?"

"Present." The Luxio behind Caden called out with a monotone.

"...Man, my jokes suck today." Nora replied to Caden's silence.

"It was a bit mean, too…" The male Zorua added. "You kind of reminded me that I'm still not myself…"

Mr. Emboar looked at his sheet again while standing up. "Kagu?" He shouted in Nora's direction. "You better not be doing something now."

"Whatever do you mean, Hog-Man?" A Torracat asked, a devilish smirk on his face. "I'm perfectly behaved, sir."

"J-Just…" He shook his head while sighing. "Don't do anything stupid."

"Whatever." Kagu rolled his eyes with a smirk.

"Oh, boy." The female Zoura sighed while closing her eyes, "I think this Torracat is giving me the creeps."

"And what'chu sighing about, wolfie?" The Torracat's eyes darted over to Nora. "You got somethin' to say?"

Her ears perked up, making her start shivering. "N-Nope," she responded while not turning around. "I just think this class is gonna be boring."

The Luxio leaned into Caden's area rudely. "New here or something?"

"Um… Yeah? What'd you think I was?" The male Zorua's right eye twitched. "...Reminds me of my old bullies… I don't really like this guy."

"Well, I don't like this guy right behind me."

The Emboar finally finished taking his attendance, and started writing down something on the chalkboard. "Alright class, take out your homework from Friday." There were successive groans from the class.

"You've gotta be kiddin' me, there was homework?" Kagu asked angrily. "This is the third week of school, Hog-Man. Give us a break!"

"I'll have you know that having this type of homework can help me and you later on…" He shrugged sarcastically after making that statement. "It's your loss."

"Homework is pretty much useless." The Torracat remarked. "It's like going to the bathroom and coming back with a plastic bag."

"Okay, he has a good point." Caden looked over to Nora. "Like him or not, you gotta admit that it was a decent analogy."

"I still think he's an a-hole," Nora stared at Caden as Jiro burst his personal bubble again.

"Mine me asking where you from?" The Luxio asked. "We haven't seen two Zoura since my brother was a Luxio."

"America." He replied, his glare fading as he began to let his guard down. "Why do you ask?"

"Nothing," He responded as some of the Pokémon around them listened in. "Just gonna mention that Pokémon really hate your home country."

"Yeah, we get that a lot." The Zorua gave a deadpan expression. "America can really suck sometimes. Trust me, I know." The Emboar called upon different Pokémon to answer the questions he gave to them.

"At least your side is being fine," Nora took deep breaths while staring at the board. "I think this Pokémon behind hates everyone's guts."

"Maybe he needs love or something." Caden joked, "I've seen people turn bitter out of loneliness."

"I highly doubt that," She mumbled out loud.

"Hina? What's the answer?" Emboar called upon the Eevee. It was a question about the number of chromosomes in a Pokémon's genes.

"Hm…" The Eevee put a paw on her chin. "It's on the tip of my tongue… Forty-six, right?"

"...Correct!" Mr. Emboar smiled at her. "Nice job, Hina." He called upon another student, making the two Zorua zone out for a few seconds.

"Oh yeah." Hina smirked enthusiastically.

"When's lunch?" The male Zorua whined to himself. "I miss Nora… I miss sleep. I need sleep. I need energy. I wanna go home…" Caden put his head on the desk.

"I'm right here you know," Nora responded while looking at him in the distance. "Calm down, I'll make sure you'll get your power nap."

"Nora!" Caden's head shot up from the desk, his face flushed red. "...I seriously need to know how to temporarily turn that off…"

A quick giggle came from the female Zoura. "Well, I do too. Sometimes I can't even think about how…" Nora paused herself to give a red tint back. "I can assume you know what I mean."

"I mean… I think I do." Caden looked away, his face turning redder. He then mumbled to himself. "She can't really feel the same, right? There's no way…"

Jiro immediately burst the bubble one last time. "Last question, do you and that Zoura over there know each other?" He looked at Nora, who was placing her head down sighing again. "You're looking at her weirdly."

"W-Well yes, we know each other." He answered honestly. "And I'm not looking at her weird, I've just got… A headache."

"Sure…" The Luxio turned back to Mr. Emboar. "I'll go with that for now."

"Kagu, could you please answer this question?" The teacher directed the Torracat. It was about comparing the differences between DNA and RNA.

"I'll answer that. After you answer my question." Kagu replied with a smirk. "Name three things you do every day."

Mr. Emboar crossed his arms while sighing. "Kagu, we've talked about this. I only ask the questions around here unless it makes sense with the topic we're reviewing."

"Trust me, it does." The Torracat smirked. "Just answer it, and I'll answer yours."

"...I only teach." He crossed his arms. "I don't have anything else I do."

"See, notice how you didn't say comparing DNA and RNA?" Kagu asked, stifling a laugh.

"Please answer the question, Kagu." Emboar's voice became stern for the first time.

"Nah dude, I have no clue." The Torracat smiled, resting his chin on the desk. "Sorry 'bout that, man."

Stiffles came across the room as the teacher groaned. "...Alright, does anyone know this answer?"

"...Cade, you know this answer, you took regular Biology before I did." Nora peeked at the Male Zorua's ears perking up.

"Fine… I'll answer it. But only because you wanted me to." Caden sighed with exasperation, his cheeks turning red. "Excuse me?" The male Zorua raised a paw. "I know some differences."

Everyone in the classroom looked at Caden—directly or indirectly. "Okay Caden," Mr. Emboar looked at the male Zorua. "What do you got? I just need two differences."

"Firstly, RNA is single-stranded while DNA is double-stranded." Caden began, "Next, RNA has the sugar ribose and DNA has the sugar deoxyribose. Lastly, RNA contains uracil while DNA contains thymine."

Everyone in the room kept silent towards Caden. Not a surprise, only Nora grinned at the Zoura. "I did not expect this type of reaction..."

"Neither did I, to be honest." He gave a deadpan expression. "I'm just glad I didn't embarrass myself."

"Um…" Mr. Emboar looked around the classroom to stop at Caden. "Does anyone wanna write that down, or something?"

"Phew…" Kagu sighed, wiping his forehead. "That other Zorua saved my butt. I never knew that smart people could actually be useful."

"I could write it down on a piece of paper…" Caden shrugged.

"Wait," Nora looked at the male Zorua confused as he got a pencil and paper to start writing. "How can you write stuff with paws?"

"I dunno… I just can." Caden replied before mumbling to himself. "You're welcome for answering the question…"

"Well, thank you Caden." The Emboar gave a neutral expression. "Okay, everyone, get your textbooks from under you, and turn to page fourty."

A/N: Sorry about the long chapter, everyone!