Okay, so I know that it has been a fair amount of time since I put out an update for this story, especially compared to my other stories, which have been updated multiple times since the last update for this, and I apologize about it. The reason, or should I say, reasons, for this are writer's block on this story, and bullshit with Critic's United. They've been on me recently, so I've been trying to keep my stories safe, while also porting them over to Archive Of Our Own, under the same name. Granted, you already know that if you have followed or favorited any of my stories, although some of you guys actually have PMs turned off, so I wasn't able to contact you about it. Oh, well.

Wow

I was standing in line in the front yard of the school, awaiting my turn to get on the bus. My biology teacher had decided to take us on a field trip during the fourth week of school, and we were going to a farm owned by one of her friends. Yeah, I'm not quite sure if she thought that we were all in elementary school, or what, but it apparently had to do with Pokemon biology. I'm not quite sure how, but I didn't really have any issue with it, as the AC was broken in the school, and September was extremely hot here, for some reason, and it was a full school day field trip, so that meant a chance to get away from work and to be partially away from all of the assholes. Really though, the whole heat thing could also be helped if I didn't wear a jacket all the time, with my hood up. But, I didn't exactly want to flaunt my weirdness, and no one seemed to care that I was technically breaking school rules, so I kept it up. Granted, had this been any other teacher, I probably would have feigned sickness immediately, but I had decided not to. My biology teacher was one of the few people in existence that didn't hate me, and she instead actually treated me nicely. Slightly too nicely, to be honest. Sometimes, she honestly seemed to worship me, as she saw morphs as some badass cross breed of Pokemon and humans, so I was pretty much a god to her, or some shit. I don't know. I didn't really question it, as it seemed to get me good grades for free sometimes, so I just rolled with it.

I was snapped out of my stupor by a voice saying, "Hey, kid."

I looked up from under my hood, as I always kept my hood up, to see the school resource officer in front of me.

"C'mon, kid," he said, a hint of annoyance in his voice, "I need to see your I.D. before you leave."

I reached into my pocket and pulled out my school I.D., before handing it to him. He looked at it for a second, before handing it back to me.

"Alright, get on." He said, pushing me to the bus.

I sighed as I pocketed the card, and started for the bus. As soon as I got on, it was as if everyone else had been waiting for the specific moment of my arrival. As my foot hit the top step, and my head rose up above the front seat, I was pelted with wads of paper. Ignoring them, along with the racial slurs and jeers that I received as I went down the aisle, I started for the back, eventually finding an empty seat. I sat down and scooted over to the window, before putting my head down. As everyone else got on, the chatter on the bus grew, but, unsurprisingly, as the amount of people grew, the population of my seat stayed at a constant one. That is, until I heard a slightly familiar voice.

"Hey," the voice said, "mind if I sit here?"

I looked up to see Skyler standing there, looking at me. Realizing that he was talking to me, I just gave him a thumb up, before returning my gaze to the floor. After a second or two, I felt his weight join mine on the seat. We just sat there, an awkward silence on the seat, as more people filed past us, some starting to send insults Skyler's way, until the bus finally started moving.

"Hey, kid." He started. I looked up, and he said, "So, how are you?"

Well, that felt extremely awkward. I just shrugged in response.

"Okay then." He replied. After a few seconds, he said, "So, how are you enjoying all the people here?" I just shook my head, and he said, "Yeah, the people here really fucking suck. I've gone to the same school as most of them for all of my life, so I've mostly just grown to live with them. Granted, you have it much worse off, with the whole morph shit." I didn't respond, so he said, sounding slightly worried, "Oh, did that offend you? I apologize if it did." I just shook my head again, and he said, "Oh. Okay then." After a few more minutes, he said, "So, what's with your attire?" I looked at him, questioningly, and he said, "Y'know, the ears and tail. Why do you always hide them?"

Deciding that it would be difficult to convey my response without using words, I pulled my phone from my pocket. I opened up a notepad app, and typed in my reply. When I was done, I held the phone in front of his face.

"Really?" He asked, as he finished reading the text. "Why do you not like people seeing them?" I typed another message, showed it to him, and he replied, "Why the hell would you be ashamed of them?" I replied, and he said, "So what? Everyone is different, you just happen to be extremely different. But, that doesn't mean that you should hide it."

With that, he took my hood off of my head. I looked up at him, confused.

"What?" He replied. "There's no reason to hide them."

I just sighed, and put my hood back up.

He sighed in return, and said, "Whatever, kid. It's your choice."

For the rest of the bus ride, we just sat in silence, as everyone around us was speaking to each other loudly. We eventually reached the farm, and I could see pretty much every kind of Pokemon that you'd expect a farm to have, with the most numerous one being Miltank. As we got off of the bus, Skyler ran off to join Mei and Mackenzie, who had apparently been stuck sitting at the front of the bus. I just went over to the side, and stood out of the way. Arceus, this will suck. And, of course, it couldn't possibly be cloudy today or anything. Sometimes, I truly hate my odd adoration for the color black. As everyone poured off of the bus, I saw a man of about fifty wearing overalls and a flannel shirt walk towards the bus, a straw hat covering his head. He went up to our teacher, Ms. Fitz, and started talking to her.

When the bus was empty, she addressed us, "Okay, class. Mr. Stevens here has been nice enough to give us a tour of his farm and allow us to interact with Pokemon up close. A fair warning, he will also be teaching us some things about them, and not all of the knowledge will be PG-13, so I expect everyone to be mature about it. Understood?"

"Yes, Ms. Fitz." The class responded.

She nodded, and we began walking around the property, fences holding in Pokemon on all sides. We eventually stopped in front of a paddock that held a few Tauros and Miltank, and I stood at the back of the group.

"Okay," the man said, "now, we all know what these Pokemon are, correct? Well, it is a little known fact that-"

Almost as soon as he started speaking, I just tuned him out, as I honestly didn't care. I didn't want to be rude, but I just truly didn't care. After a few minutes of him talking, I heard another conversation going on, the voices coming from behind me. I turned slightly to see a pair Rapidash standing behind a fence.

"Hey," one of them, a male, said, "looks like we have another group of school kids."

"I wouldn't exactly call them kids," the other one, a female, said, "I mean, they look to be in high school."

"Yeah, I guess." The male said. "I wonder why they're here. I mean, normally we only get immature little kids."

"Well, are you complaining?" The female asked. "Because I'm sure as hell not. This just means that I don't have to get candy or some shit out of my mane for the next week."

"No, I'm absolutely not complaining." He replied. "But, I am still curious. I think I'll ask them."

The female sighed, before saying, "Riley, you know that they can't understand us."

"I don't care, it will just make me feel like I did something to find out." He said, before turning his attention back to us. "Hey, kids!" He yelled. "What are you guys doing here? Aren't you guys old enough to know what a damn Miltank is?"

At this, I just shrugged, even though they weren't technically speaking to me.

The gesture didn't go unnoticed, most likely due to my close distance, and the female said, "Wait a minute. Did that kid just shrug at us?"

I nodded, my back still to them.

"Wait, you can understand us?" The male asked.

Nod.

"How?" The female asked.

I turned around, raising my head. They both let out gasps of shock.

"Holy shit!" The male said. "A morph."

I nodded and walked towards them slightly.

"Cool." The female said. "I've never met a morph before."

I just shrugged, and the male asked, "What's up, kid? You antisocial, or something?"

I pointed at my mouth, then my throat, and followed it up by shaking my head.

"Oh, are you a mute?" The female asked.

I nodded, and the male said, "That's interesting. So, kid, can you find some way to tell us your name?"

Hoping that they can read English, I pulled my phone from my pocket. I tapped my name into it, and showed it to them.

"Well then," the male said, as I pocketed my phone, "it's nice to meet you, Cloud. My name is Riley, and this is my mate, Abigail."

I waved, and they nodded in response.

"So," Riley asked me, "what brings you guys here today, anyway?"

I just shrugged.

"Seriously?" Abigail said. "Your teacher just decided to take you guys here?" I nodded, and she said, "That just seems like a waste of time. Especially with Jesse being due to calf soon." I looked at her questioningly, and she explained, "Jesse is one of the Miltanks on this property. She's actually a few days overdue, and she really should be watched whenever possible right now."

"Calm down," Riley said, nuzzling his mate's neck, "Stevens has his son watching her. She'll be fine."

Abigail sighed, before saying, "Yeah, I know. I'm just worried. I mean, she's my friend, and this is her first time having a kid. I just want everything to go well."

"Trust me, it will." Riley reassured. "Both Stevens and his son are extremely capable farmers."

"Right." She said, shaking her head. Turning to me, she said, "Sorry about that. I just really care for Abigail. She's like a sister to me."

I stuck my hand out and gave her a quick reassuring pat on her snout, showing that it was alright. I quickly discovered that that was a mistake.

As soon as I took my hand away, I heard Stevens say, "Ahh, it looks as if Riley and Abigail have taken a liking to one of your students."

Shit. I turned around, staring at my boots, and Stevens came up to me.

"So," he said, "what's your name, kid?"

I didn't respond, so Fitz, came to my rescue, saying, "His name is Cloud. He's a mute."

"Oh." He said, awkwardly. Brushing it off, he said, "Well, as I said, Riley and Abigail here seemed to have taken a liking to him. Granted, that is something special, as they normally hate any strangers that I bring here."

"Figures." I heard someone say. "The freak can understand them, so why wouldn't they love him?"

Apparently, Fitz heard the remark, as she scolded, "Dawson, if you say something like that again, I'll put you in detention."

I heard a scoff, followed by a quiet, "It's true, though."

I just rolled my eyes under my hood. Insignificant fuck. I sighed lightly, resisting the urge to launch a Shadow Ball his way. At that, the class started moving away, Stevens and Fitz leading the pack. As they were walking away, a small Flamethrower was shot from above my shoulder, hitting Dawson on the back of his shirt. He immediately flipped out, starting to smack at his clothes, while the others looked on, shocked. I just smirked slightly. When Dawson finally smacked the fire out, Stevens glared at the Rapidash behind me, but said nothing. With that, they continued walking. I turned around, and Riley and Abigail burst out laughing.

"Holy shit." Riley said, recomposing himself. "That was fucking hilarious."

"Absolutely." Abigail agreed. "Mean, but funny."

I pulled my phone out and showed them another message.

"Yeah, the little fuck did deserve it." Riley agreed. "Anyway, you should probably keep up with them. You may get in trouble."

I nodded and started after the class, waving back at the couple. I caught up to the group as they were looking at a group of Flaffy, who were grazing lazily in a field. Just as I arrived, a man in his twenties came running up to Stevens. They exchanged a short whispered conversation, and the man took off again.

"Okay," Stevens addressed up, "it appears that I am actually needed for one of my animals." Jesse, possibly? "So, that means that I won't be able to teach you. So, while I am gone, you kids can just roam around the farm. Just don't go into any of the fields, as I don't know how the animals will act around you."

With that, he followed the younger man. When he left, everyone broke apart into groups, and began roaming around, talking. Having nothing better to do, I just began walking around alone. After walking around for what felt like an hour or so, I heard voices coming from a barn nearby. Curious, I started for the building, the voices getting louder. I peeked into the barn to see Mei, Skyler, and Mackenzie in there, talking.

"I don't know, Mei." Mackenzie was saying. "I just don't feel like we should be in here."

"Why not?" Mei asked. "I mean, he said that we can wander."

"Still," Skyler replied, "this just doesn't seem right."

Mei just shrugged, and went over to a stall door. She tried to look over it, but she wasn't quite tall enough, so she opened the door. As soon as the latch clicked back, the door flew open, and a large Grumpig leapt out, knocking Mei down. The Grumpig locked eyes with Mei and began slowly stalking around her, while Skyler and Mackenzie stood there, shocked.

I heard the Grumpig snarl out, "Well, isn't this a nice surprise. I've been freed from my prison, and by my next mate, no less."

What? The Grumpig went over to Mei, but she pushed it off.

"What are you doing?" She asked. "Please, I don't want you getting on me."

The Grumpig obviously took offense to this, as it backed up and cocked its head back, preparing a Psybeam. As soon as the attack was launched, I threw myself in front of Mei, using Protect to form a shield. The attack hit my shield and exploded into smoke. Before the smoke had a chance to clear, I dropped the Protect and launched myself at the pig, hitting it in the chest with a kick. The force of the blow sent the Pokemon flying to the back wall, where it landed in a heap. I was about to turn around, when the pig picked itself up from the floor. It glared at me, before launching itself in my direction. I reached out and easily grabbed it by its neck. I quickly threw it back into its stall, where it landed in a pile, seemingly unconscious. I went over to the door and closed it, latching it back. When that was done, I turned to see that the others hadn't moved. I went over to Mei and stuck my hand out, offering to help her up. She just looked at my hand blankly for a second, before shaking herself out of her daze.

"Oh," she said, accepting my hand, "thanks."

I pulled her up, nodding. When she was on her feet, she dusted herself off. At that point, I heard Fitz yelling for everyone to get back together. I gave Mei a quick nod of departure, before heading out of the barn, past Skyler and Mackenzie, who stood there, dumbstruck. I returned to the group, with the others behind me by a few feet.

"Okay, class." Fitz said, as we all grouped together. "It's almost time for the school's dismissal, so we are going to head back now."

At her words, the bus pulled up to us. We all filed onto it, and I sat in the same seat as before. After a few minutes, Skyler joined me once again. As he sat down, I could feel his eyes burning into me, even with my head down and hood up. We set out, our seat in silence. When we finally returned to the school, I got off of the bus and immediately went to my dorm.

I looked out of my window and saw that rain was pouring down in sheets. Well, it's not like I wasn't going to where my hood, anyway. I put my jacket on and threw my hood up, before grabbing my backpack and leaving my dorm. As left the room, I saw that my door was covered in messages written on paper. I sighed, before beginning to take them down. By now, I should have grown accustomed to these papers, as there has yet to be a time that I leave my room or come back to it that there isn't any paper on the door. I finished removing the paper and balled them up, before throwing them into the small trashcan that I kept near my front door, specifically for this purpose. I closed my door and left the building, stepping out into the pelting rain. As I was walking, I heard someone yell my name. I stopped momentarily to find the source, just to be hit in the back of my head by a basketball. The force caused me to be knocked down, and I fell into a puddle of rain and mud. As I heard laughter from somewhere, I stood up, growling. I looked down at my clothes to see that they were soaked, with mud already caked onto my knees and my arms. Holy shit, today is not my day. At least it's Friday, and we have a week of Fall break tomorrow. Deciding to just get over it, I resumed walking to the school. When I entered, I shook my hood of, not wanting to keep the soaked head covering on. I shook my head, removing any water that had somehow gotten on my head, and entered the cafeteria. As I went through it, I could feel people watching me, which was only confirmed even further by the small laughs that I heard as I passed, which I assumed were about me being covered in mud. I just sighed and continued walking, trying to find a seat.

"Hey, freak!" I heard a voice, one I recognized as Austin's yell behind me.

I ignored him, and continued walking. I was suddenly interrupted by something hitting the back of my head, and bursting on contact. As the room was filled with laughter, I looked over slightly, and I could see a liquid dripping from my fur. I sniffed the air slightly and could smell citrus emanating from my head. I just sighed, before putting my hood up and turning around. I went towards the door, pushing past everyone in my way, and left the building, before starting back to the dorms.

P.O.V Change: Mei

As I watched Cloud get hit with the orange, followed by him putting his head up and stalking out of the room, I felt a large pang of sadness. Why do people have to suck so much? I mean, he doesn't deserve anything that they do to him. All he's ever done to anyone here is save me, yet everyone gives him shit. I just let out a sigh, as Skyler, Mackenzie, and I watched him pass us, the room exploding in laughter. He really needs a friend right now.

P.O.V Change: Cloud

I stepped out of the shower for the fifth time since this morning. It's a little known fact, but it is extremely difficult to get strong scents out of Umbreon fur, and citrus is no exception. Granted, I was also pretty sure that I was just imagining it, but I truly didn't care. After walking out of the school, I didn't really have anything to do, anyway. I spent all day wondering if anyone was actually going to come after me, but it had yet to happen, and it was almost six by now, so I just accepted it as a solid no. I had no issue with it, though, as it just allowed me to sit in my room, blaring music through my speakers. Which was nice. I finished drying myself out, before putting on a pair of jeans. As I was leaving the bathroom, I heard a knock on my door. Maybe my acceptance was too early. I went over to the door, hitting a button on my laptop as I passed it, stopping the music, and opened it. While I had been expecting Mr. Fawkes, or someone there wanting to mock me, I was extremely surprised to find Mei standing there, shifting awkwardly on her heels. She had droplets of water dripping from her hair, and her clothes appeared to be slightly damp.

"Hey." She said, when I opened it.

I just waved. She continued standing there awkwardly, so I backed up and opened the door wider, inviting her in. She looked at me, curious, before nodding and accepting my offer. She stepped in, and I closed the door behind her.

"So," she said, "I noticed what happened this morning."

I just nodded in response.

"And, well," she continued, looking down at her feet, "I've been thinking about you." Umm, okay. "And about what you've done here and I sort of came up with an odd thought in my head."

She seemed to freeze for a second, so I motioned for her to continue.

"Sorry." She said. "This is just really awkward. I mean, not trying to be offensive, but I've never really had a conversation with a morph before, especially involving what this conversation is."

Curious, I motioned for her to go on.

"Well," she said, "I don't really know how to say this." Sighing, she said, "Oh, fuck it."

As the words left her mouth, she leaned in close to me, and pulled my head towards hers, until we were locked in a kiss. I was shocked at first, but, on impulse, I wrapped my arms around her and leaned into the kiss, tilting my head down to her. After a few minutes, we broke apart, breathing slightly heavily. Mei just stared up at me, eyes wide.

"Wow." I panted out.

"What?" She said, shocked. "You can speak?"

"Um, yes." I said, shyly.

"Then why don't you?" She inquired.

"I just don't." I said. "I mean, there wasn't ever a real point to. I've been hated unconditionally for my whole life, so after a few years of it, I just stopped talking in general. This allowed me to get people to believe that I was a mute, and it worked well enough."

"Oh." She said. "Well, that sucks."

"To an extent, I guess." I replied. "So, I assume that that was why you're here."

"Um, yeah." She said, nervously. "I'm sorry if it was stupid and rude. I'll leave."

She turned to leave, but I stopped her, sticking my arm out. She looked at me, confused.

"Don't worry." I reassured. "You have nothing to be sorry about. I actually enjoyed it."

"Really?" She asked, hopefully, her eyes focused on mine.

I chuckled, before saying, "Of course. It was nice."

"Oh, thank Arceus." She said, wrapping me into a hug, burying her face in my chest fur. "I thought that it'd be way too awkward and that you'd hate me for it or something."

I chuckled again, before saying, "Why would I ever hate you? You and your friends are some of the only people here that don't hate me." Lifting her head from my chest, I asked, "So, you hungry?"

She laughed, before saying, "Sure."

We turned and went into the kitchen, and I started cooking, with us talking the whole time.

Aww, Cloud's got himself a little girlfriend. How cute. Anyway, I'll try and get a new chapter out soon, but I don't really know when, as I do get writer's block for it. Oh well, just know that I'm trying. See you guys later.