-Chapter Two-

[One year later]

Despite fears of corvanha lurking in the depths, I'd eventually learned how to swim in the family's new pool. It made for a much more relaxing summer than some of the previous ones, the water a welcome balm for the heat. I couldn't manage much more than a slow paddle but that was enough to relax with the aid of a pool noodle. If not for the hours I spent getting my fur back in order afterwards I'd call swimming the perfect hobby.

It seemed odd that right in the middle of such a wonderful season that school would call Paul away, but apparently his evil, villainous teachers had no sense of timing. It meant no swimming until he got home, too. I wasn't actually sure whether his mother's warnings about not swimming without supervision were meant to apply to me, but it paid to be careful. Fluffiness worked against me in the water after all, and I didn't have a big snout like some pokemon did that I could stick out of the water for air either.

I wasn't sure how I felt about Paul going off to first grade. There was a lot more boredom and bad daytime television to suffer through with him gone, but on the other hand I didn't have to dodge foam darts or water guns. Honestly, the boy could be as bad as a squirtle at times.

I wondered if I'd have to do his coloring homework again, or if he'd decide to do it for himself for once. I wasn't sure which I'd prefer. I didn't like coloring every day, not with the way it cramped up my back and paw, but it could be fun on occasion. It was like I was bringing a creature to life on the page. I'd gotten good at it too, eventually learning that by making some parts dark with shadows it would make the drawing look more lifelike. I wouldn't mind getting another golden sticker to confirm my abilities after so long without.

I hoped my work would turn out well. I'd tried coloring on my own over the summer to keep from getting rusty but drawing freehand just wasn't the same. Without lines to help me everything kept coming out blobby and malformed. I hadn't dared show them to anyone else, even going so far as to bury them in the backyard to keep them out of sight. The only one I couldn't bear to bury was a self-portrait that was just too cute to destroy. I hid it under the bed instead.

[The next evening]

"Math is stupid. Like, what's the point of it? It's just like, stupid numbers. So whatever."

I tilted my head questioningly, then my body tilted after it until I was upside down. Something about the path of this rant felt familiar but I couldn't quite place it. I had a feeling though that he'd soon me handing another piece of coloring homework to do. I had to be careful not to look eager. I didn't mind coloring some of his stuff but I hoped he'd at least do half of the work this year.

"I just got a new Zelda game so you do it."

I flexed my paw in preparation for coloring. A familiar movement brought me up on my hind legs to look at his homework on the low coffee table. It wasn't a drawing.

"Eevee?" He knew I was a pokemon, didn't he? This was math homework, and pokemon didn't do math. That was like a thing. Or at least… I thought it was. I didn't actually talk to other pokemon. And I'd done coloring homework for him which already seemed outside the norm, so maybe doing math homework for him next wasn't such a big step. Annnnd he was already walking away. There was no saying no now, not without at least trying and failing first.

I started by grabbing a pencil. The length and thinner width made it trickier to handle than a crayon but the fundamentals were the same. It helped that my paws had picked up some dexterity from all the practice I'd put in.

I took a look at the paper, fully prepared to be stumped and forced to give up. In TV shows it was always the nerdy guy who did math. As a pokemon and a girl pokemon at that, I had two points against me. Maybe three since naturally I also wasn't a nerd — I didn't wear glasses.

1 + 1 =

1 + 2 =

1 + 3 =

1 + 0 =

2 + 2 =

3 + 1 =

"Ee," I hummed, not sure what to think. It wasn't totally foreign to me like I'd expected it to be. I recognized the numbers from Sesame Street and I was pretty sure the '+' meant to add them. I just wasn't quite sure how to go about doing that.

"Ee e eev ve eev," I said, remembering something someone said once. Maybe I did know how to do this. One apple and one more apple was two apples. If I just took away the apples bit then, '1 + 1 = 2'. This worked just like like counting, sort of. If I was right about +2 meaning to count twice, I could do this. Just as soon as I figured out how to write numbers.

I teased out a piece of fresh paper from the stack with my teeth. I had a feeling this was going to take a lot of practice. If only I had hands so that I could play Zelda instead of doing math too.

[Next day, after school]

I cringed as I saw it, tail going limp as life drained out of me. It was a frowny face sticker. I'd never gotten a frowny face before. Neither had Paul, and he looked awfully peeved about it. Worse was that his parents had noticed as well.

"Hmm, what's this," said his father. "Ah, you'll have to do some more handwriting practice. Mrs. Young couldn't read some of your numbers." I slumped further as Paul glared at me for my mistake. I'd known some of the numbers I'd written were a little shaky but I hadn't thought they were that bad. "And don't forget, any number plus zero is the same number."

'Oh. Not ten then.' That one was tricky. And math wasn't like coloring, where I could just look up what something looked like in a book.

"I'll go practice now," grumbled Paul. Though from his glare my way I knew what he really meant. I followed behind him meekly to the living room, head hanging low.

He thrust a pencil and paper at me. "Practice. And keep doing it until you do it right."

I settled in for the long haul, but he hadn't finished reprimanding me yet.

"And what kind of stupid pokemon are you. Everyone knows how zero works." He plopped down his next sheet of math homework beside me. "Make sure when you do this one you don't mess up again.

Was I really that dumb? Did even caterpie know how to add zero? I really couldn't say for sure, but a glance at his next sheet of homework had my distress reaching new limits.

I couldn't take it anymore. "EEv EEVee veevee eev eeeeeeee!" My cries were punctuated by no small amount of actual crying and paw gestures. Surprisingly something seemed to get through to Paul because his glare softened.

"I get it. You can't do it because you didn't listen to the stupid teacher. I'll bring you with me tomorrow."

I very slowly rolled myself under the table to hide from the world. Just what had I gotten myself into.