Ch.5: Back to school, Part 2.

1:10 p.m.

I couldn't really do anything football related in my football class, so I decided to just train my aura sense some more. I didn't want to show anyone that I could use moves yet, and people would assume I'm taking a nap or something while I was actually training.

I went over to the bleachers and sat down at the very bottom seats to get started on training. I started out by trying to force the vision into a cone so that I can push the distance further. Most of the period, I failed to force my vision into a different shape. I guess that's just impossible. I dropped the idea entirely and decided to train with my oldest method, focusing a certain distance out of my range until the image is clear. I pressed on for about five more minutes, boosting my range another 5 feet, until I noticed something mildly concerning.

The same kid from first period, the one with the note pad and quick glances, was on the bleachers taking notes of me again. I knew It was me he was writing about because I could see where he's looking via aura sense. He didn't know that I was also watching him, since I didn't physically turn my head to look at him. Now, some would say that I'm technically stalking him... But he started it, so who cares.

Feeling his aura, I saw he was the lonely kind of guy, though he seemed to get angry at something while I checked it. Opening my eyes again, then I noticed that he only got angry when he was looking at groups of students. I put two and two together and an Idea came up in my head. Does he have trouble making friends? He seems bothered by students that hang around others. He turned away from them and continued watching me.

I looked at the phone I had in my back pack. I still had some time before the next class. Should I talk to him about it? I turned to look at him. He reacted by immediately looking away, then back to his notebook. I sensed a lot of nervousness coming from him. I could ask him what's bothering him. Maybe I can also ask him why he's writing notes about me. Ah well, Here goes nothing.

I started walking up the stairs. I could feel surprise and fear hit him hard, and I could see him visibly pale. Thankfully, he didn't run away, but he decided to push a textbook into his face to hide both the notes and his nervousness. He certainly wouldn't be starting any conversation between us, so I took the initiative. "Hey man, Is something bothering you? You look like you saw death" I didn't want to rush into things or make assumptions. Well, I did make an assumption, but it was more of an educated guess than anything else.

My response was a familiar shocked expression. That's got to be the 100th time I've seen that this week. He shook a little while he answered. "N-no I'm fine, Mr. Lucario." He never brought the book down from his face. He looked kind of stupid like that. "Y-You just scared me, is all."

I wasn't too surprised at that. I mean, A two-legged dog thing that can mop the floor with you without a sweat? I'd be scared too If I weren't one of them. I felt that he wasn't telling me everything, so I pressed the subject. "I noticed that you felt resentment when you looked at groups of students. I don't know what's going on in your life, but I felt that you need someone to talk to"

He went wide eyed and dropped his book at what I said. "Wait, what?!" I winced as he shouted. Are my senses really that heightened? Fortunately, he noticed that and lowered his voice. "Sorry... You felt my anger?"

I shook my head to get my thoughts together again "Yeah, your resentment. You want to talk about it, man? I've got a time" I sat down as I said this. I had dropped my aura sense to have a normal conversation with him. I didn't want to know everything about him, so I thought he should be able to lie to me If he felt he needed to. I could still feel some of his heavier emotions, but not everything.

All of that worry and anger I felt from him was gone and replaced with sadness. He gives a long sigh before starting. "It's just... I can't make any friends right now. And... Seeing everyone else together just kind of hurts" He looks down, for what, I don't know.

I tilted my head at this "You can't make friends? How so?"

I get a nice pause before another sigh and an answer. "It's just... my parents kept moving around when I was young, so I couldn't keep in touch with any friends I did make. They really want to travel around the world with their wealth, so eventually left me with an allowance and a friend to act as a guardian. Not only do I not have any friends, but their friend is more of a parent then those two will ever be. I had asked them before to stick around some more, but they stopped coming back home a few years back. Now that It's high school, where everyone has already made friends from the year prior, It's gotten hard for me to get any friends".

I stopped to think. Damn, A life full of travel. Kind of sounds like my own childhood, except his problems came from his parents' wealth and neglect for him. That'd sound nice if it weren't for the fact that they left their kid in the dust. I decided to voice some of my thoughts. "Now... That's just stupid" He looked at me and I could tell there was surprise in his face just by what I saw. "I mean, they're your parents... But they're not raising you. That's what's stupid to me. They should've been taking care of you instead of running away from their responsibilities. No offense, but even if they weren't trying for a kid, they should have still lived with the consequence".

He seemed to really take in what I was saying, then waved off the last bit. "None taken".

"Look," I turn to him. "What I'm trying to say is that you shouldn't give them the reigns If they're leaving you in the dust like that. You don't have to take my advice, but I say you should make to start living without depending on them. Make more of your own decisions, get a job. Maybe even cut your parents out of your life. They're more strangers to you than anything else at this point".

Another minute came by. I guess he was really thinking about It. I started to grow a bit concerned about It. I decided that I waited for a response long enough, and started again. "Oh yeah, another thing. You said you didn't have friends?" He nodded "Then how about I become your friend? You'd definitely be a lot less awkward and bitter towards other people"

He was, again, surprised at what I proposed. It wasn't anything too big, and he's definitely super lonely... Wait... Ugh, I'm doing it again. I didn't always act like this, straightforward and naturally kind I mean. I was always analytic about things, I wanted to pick the best option. The whole "Think before you leap" thing really stayed with me as I grew up. Though because of this, I feel that I need to have a whole other personality or mindset when I talk to different people so that they can open up faster. Even when I moved away from old friends, I still kept up my different facades. I talk to a therapist sometimes about It, though I never got any real solution or answer. All they ever do Is prescribe me some fucking medicine to stop me from thinking about it. I hated when they did that. The thought of drugs messing with my head sickened me.

"That actually sounds great. Thanks, uhh..." He trailed off.

I snapped out of my thoughts and answered with... more thoughts. "Lux. And your name? Can't really call you kid all the time, can I? We're, like, the same age".

"...I'm Allen" We shook on it and decided to hang out at lunch tomorrow. Now that the bell's rung, I head to my last period for the day

1:40 p.m

I had been walking over to the other end of the school to my Spanish class when I had started reviewing what I already knew. There are Five other Pokémon I haven't met yet. Are they all going to be in this last class? God, I hope not. That'd be a disaster. My thoughts shifted to Allen. He seemed pretty lonely. Had I made the right decision? Was It the best decision I could have made? I think so. There's no way I cou-. I had stopped in my tracks, thoughts and all, as realization struck me. Agh! I forgot to ask him about the notes! Damn It!. I wanted to punch the wall closest to me, but I stopped myself since I had seen a boulder reduced to rubble from one of my attacks back at the cliffside. Still frustrated of my stupidity, I let out a sigh before walking up to my Spanish class and opening the door for yet another hour of neurological stimulation.

Upon walking In, I ignored more stares from human students and focused on Penny and two new Pokémon in the classroom. Both were quadrupeds so they shared a large table and sat on the floor. There was a large dog like Pokémon at a whopping 6' something". Orange fur, jagged black stripes, ruffled beige fur on its head and neck region, and the same kind fur on the elbows, forelegs, and tail. If memory serves me well, that's an arcanine.

The other had Midnight blue skin and snow white fur covering everything but their claws, tail, face, and horn. On that note, a crescent shaped horn protruded out of the creature's head. A scythe like tail poked out of their rear. Tail, Horn, and claws. They all looked really sharp. An absol, I think.

I walk over to them and set my things down at the desk in front of Penny's. As I did this, the acranine cleared his throat. 'Hey there, man. I'm Charlie and the absol's name is Abigail, Ironically' He said that last part under his breath. Even then, we could all hear it with our heightened senses. After she jabbed Charlie with her shoulder, he continued while rubbing the leg she hit. 'Ow... ' She smiled at that. 'Anyways, I thought we should get to know each other. What with us all turning into Pokémon'.

For the most part, I agreed with him. It sounded nice to know I wasn't alone in this experience, and the more friends the better. "Nice to meet you two. I'm Lux"

They both went wide eyed at what I said... Scratch that. It wasn't what I said, but how I said It. Shit, forgot they could understand me normally. 'Sorry about that, had a long conversation with a bunch of other students'.

'...You could speak to people?' They said simultaneously. Abigail continued, 'Do you think you could teach us how to do that?'

'Yeah, though it's something that Involves the aura sense we use. I don't know If I can teach you guys how to talk with aura, so don't give yourself hope... but I can at least try'. I started to formulate a schedule I can take this week, taking out a pencil and notebook to sloppily copy it down onto some paper. It wasn't anything too detailed, just the different days with a subject under them. I decided to try aura training other Pokémon on the weekend. 'Does Saturday sound good?'

'Yeah, we've got nothing going on' Charlie said.

'Alrighty then'

We continued our conversation for another ten minutes. It seemed that the teacher would never show up, so we kept at it. I thought it was a bit weird, but then I heard that there was an email explaining that she had some business to take care of and forgot to get a sub.

Penny and I had given them the gist of our stories. They seemed to be mortified at our stories, more specifically the part about my rampage against the shooters. Eventually, they told their story to us as well.

Turns out, they were part of the same class when they both got turned. All they could do was hide because their room had no windows to escape out of. Eventually, a rogue forced their way into the room and started dowsing the students on the other side of the classroom with bullets. He had stopped there for a good two minutes, letting the smell of blood flood the room. He guarded the door and aimed his gun at anyone who came close.

'I swear, He was playing some sick game with us. Staying in a room filled with our friends' corpses or rushing to the rogue while he shot us down' Charlie added. He seemed disgusted at the idea. Looking into his aura, I saw a courageous and honest character. It definitely wouldn't blend well with sick stunts like that.

They continued with the story. The standstill ended with a call from the radio. Turns out, that was rogue 4 communicating with the deceased rogue 6. In that moment, a group of kids rushed the man. All of them were killed, but they had managed to yank his rifle out of his hands and throw it across the room before they died. Others rushed the gun, but were shot down by the rogue's pistol. Abigail had took that next opportunity to rush the man and push him to the ground, knocking his pistol out of his hands as well before backing away again. She immediately regretted her decisions, since she saw the man charging her with a glowing red vial and a syringe sort of thing. Before she could get away, the rogue had lunged at her... but the syringe had met the chest of Charlie. He had shielded her from an injection and tried to beat the man down, but he soon lost consciousness after the pain flowed throughout his body. Abigail, unfortunately, fell victim to the other vial in the rogue's jacket as she tried to drag Charlie away from the man. She was Injected by a black fluid in the shoulder after the man pinned her down. She soon passed out as well, but she managed to see the man walk away with only his pistol in his hands.

'We found out later that we had distracted him long enough to let the other students get away' Abigail said. She looked down at her paws before continuing. 'I wish we could have done something sooner. I might have been able to stop Jessie and Peyton from dying'

Jessie? Peyton? I thought. Looking into her aura, I saw a kind person haunted with a heavy regret. I didn't really need her to tell me who the two were. I guess they were her friends. No wonder she's filled with that kind of guilt.

I noticed a strong emotion coming from someone. I looked over to Charlie. I felt heavy concern and a similar regret coming from him. Regret and concern? I guess he regrets not acting sooner, but concern? Is he that worried about Abigail? Charlie let the concern show on his face as he looked to the absol. That's when I got another Idea in my head. Wait. Does he... like her? It made sense. He had dove in to protect Abigail but hadn't done anything prior to that.

I really didn't want to ask that, I wasn't 100% about it and I could still feel Abigail mourning the loss of her friend. Instead, I just sat there like an idiot. I didn't know how to handle these situations. I was never the counseling kind of person.

Eventually, Abigail started tearing up. She sobbed into a textbook before continuing with her face covered. 'And now look at what happened' the disaster Pokémon said in an unsteady voice. 'I'm a freak. An animal at best' She looked at her paws and tried to grab a pencil, but it had slipped from her grasp. 'Can't grab things anymore. I can't walk on two legs anymore. Hell, I can't even talk to people anymore!' Tears streamed down her face throughout her rant. I felt her start to get angry, really angry. I can only imagine what she could do with those claws and horn of hers, and I really didn't want to find out.

Deciding now's the right time to at least try to calm her down, I spoke up. 'You're a freak? Look at who you're talking to'. She looked at me, teary eyed. 'You're saying that you have all these problems, but you forget that other people are going through the same thing' I gesture over Penny and Charlie, 'Calling yourself a freak is like calling us freaks, so keep your head up and say it to our faces if you think we're animals. Or freaks, or monsters, or whatever'.

Charlie got closer to her and started to pat her back. 'Lux has a point, even If he's an asshole about it' I glare at him after he said this, which was met by a small smirk from the Legendary Pokémon before he continued. 'You shouldn't call yourself those kinds of things. It isn't good to belittle yourself like that'.

'S-Sorry' She sniffed out between sobs.

'Don't be. Just... know that you have us to talk to, okay?'

'Okay' She went to thank Charlie for comforting her with a hug. I could see the blush on Charlie's face appear through his fur before he returned the hug.

At this point, I noticed that the whole class was watching us. Some were fucking recording us again. I was disgusted. Could they not see that this was a bit important to them? Turning over to the other students, I broadcasted my message. "Can you guys please not record this? They're having a moment".

I got some more shocked expressions, and most of them actually put their phones away and returned to their work. The kids that didn't stop recording us were in a little group in the other side of the room. The trio walked up to us, more specifically me, and a pink haired girl put the camera to my face. "You can speak? Can you do things just like in the movies? Can you use aura sphere? Do you think..." She kept up the questions for a few minutes, didn't even give me a chance to answer. Is she trying to interview me? Dear god, at least let me answer or something.

It was then that I realized something: She just fucking ignored my request from earlier. I sensed that she was currently exited and happy, meaning she couldn't read the obvious atmosphere from my group.

It seemed she had given up on the other Pokémon and focused on me. I guess this is what I get for using telepathy all the time. I was grateful that she turned her attention from the others, but I was also irritated that I was being recorded recorded again. I focused on her so that only she can hear me. "Yeah, I can talk. I'm not answering anymore of those questions". I was about to continue but she started asking more questions that she wouldn't let me answer. Stuff like hobbies, favorite food, my opinions on matters, and she even asked for my address. Naturally, I didn't give her anything. Instead, I dropped the nice guy act. "Listen," I had interrupted her while she asked about my goals "I'm done trying to be nice. Leave me alone. Now."

She seemed a bit shaken at my attitude, but stood her ground. "I-Is that a request or a threat?".

"It's a demand, and a justified demand at that. I've already got a headache from just listening to you, I've gotten sick of it. And from the looks of it, so have your other classmates". She turned over to the rest of the room. Everyone, Including my group, was glaring at her. Seems everyone here has already had enough of the reporter business outside of school. I guess every student, or at least most of them, had been targeted by the media at some point during their week long break. I was glad me and the other people-turned-Pokémon weren't the only ones who had to put up with the media.

The pink haired girl visibly winced at being the hated center of attention, then walked back to her desk along with her two friends. The bell rung about ten minutes later. I waved goodbye at the other Pokémon before dashing off from the eyes of the public, then using [Extreme Speed] to get back home.

3:00 p.m.

POV: Rogue 5 (Allen)

School had ended about 15 minutes ago. I looked down at my notebook with a huge smile on my face. I was rightfully happy. I got to fill in tons about the Lucario, Lux, that I was assigned to study. I panicked when I saw him walk towards me during 5th period, then panicked some more when he thought to me that he felt my emotions. All of this information was scribbled into the notebook that I use mostly for stuff relating to crime, which is mostly stuff involving the scientist.

So far, I had gotten some detailed notes on the Lucario, Arcanine, and Nidoking. Lux, because he literally told me what he can do. The Arcanine was pretty oblivious to my presence, so I could watch him without having to worry about being caught. The Nidoking? Spent my first week getting information on him. So far, I had him noted as a total douchebag. I had learnt that he was the school's jock/bully before he was turned. Last week, he had been letting his frustrations out on trees a little distance from a highway that connected with the city. He had been kicked off his track team on account of his transformation. He wasn't training or doing anything efficient, he just beat down trees until they came down. This week, it seemed that he had blown off most of his steam on those poor trees and had been going around classes with a grin on his face when he saw students cower at his new form.

As I walked back to the "home" I was given by the Scientist, I thought about todays events. I had been lonelier than I ever thought I was. The only friend I had right now was Lux, and that's only because he approached me first and listened to the lie that I made up then and there. Talk about pathetic...

I had actually taken his advice to heart. Even If I made the story up, he had given me answers to the problem that I thought would be unsolvable. Cut them off? But... they're parents. Wouldn't you need them? The more I thought about it, the more I realized that Lux was right. You wouldn't need parents like that If they just left you in the dust.

I shook my head before thinking about my primary goal. Damn it, Rogue 5! Or should I just take the name Allen from now on? My biological parents never gave me a name, and I wouldn't be caught dead using the name that creep gave me when I lived with him. Anyways, the notes first. Getting friends can come later.

I still needed to fill in more about the other five that have transformed. I had their species, but nothing else. A raichu, pachirisu, absol, dragonite, and a beartic. I had caught a glimpse of the raichu and pachirisu at some lunch tables with Lux. If he's acquainted with them, then maybe he can introduce me to them. I then realized something. I sigh. Not even a day and I'm already relying on my first friend for this to work.

I had walked over to the average 2 story house that I now called home. I waved at Tim, the man that's been assigned as my guardian, before heading into my room. Dropping my backpack onto the floor of my room, I went to lie down on my bed to focus on my thoughts. I guess having a friend isn't so bad. I can just use Lux to get closer to the other Pokémon. I just stared at the ceiling while that first thought replayed in my head. I guess having a friend isn't so bad...

I shook my head and got out of bed. Stop that, Allen. He's the Lucario, you're not really friends. You never had friends, nor did you ever need them. You're just using him... I turned to start on some homework so that I can somewhat take my mind off of all of this. ...Right?