A/N: Well, another week or two, another chapter. Just as I said, my progress on this has slowed by quite a bit. That's okay, though; it'll get finished sooner or later. Patience, readers, is all that I ask for. Thank you!
Chapter Nine
People Learn English All the Time! It Aren't That Hard.
Several days have passed since the training regimes had been introduced. The students of Professor Nozawa's class did them twice a week, with Wednesday being their one and only weekday break. As the weeks went on, the students and their partners became stronger and they found it easier to deal with the strenous physical activities. During the weekends, his classes were required to memorize all the different species of Pokémon. They weren't required to know their abilities or anything, just the names. They would work on types and other things similar to that later in the school year. There was one time where they had been told to do a two-page essay on the legends surrounding some of the legendary Pokémon. Those stories had been discussed over series of days with Algida being the leader of the discussion, mostly because she was one of those creatures. Rather predictably, they were not allowed to do their essay on her; that would be too easy. The assignment was to explain the legend behind the Pokémon of their choice, and then to tell their beliefs about it.
"How are you all doing on your memorizations?" Kyashii, Nozawa's Luxray, asked the class. Algida was away from the castle for personal reasons. She was normally the one to help their trainer teach; however, ever since the man had found that awesome translator spell, it had made it so that the rest of the team could teach as well. Some of the team members enjoyed teaching; others merely tolerated it an awful lot.
"Good, Professor," The class responded.
"Excellent!" She exclaimed with a smile. Despite resembling a lioness so well, the students found it easy to be comfortable around her; her kindness and compassion was the main reason for this. "Don't forget, you'll be having a quiz on the last fifty Pokémon this Friday."
There were nods all around. Nozawa made sure from his desk, as he graded the essays, that everyone was paying attention. At that moment, a piece of balled up parchment went flying across the room – and smacked right into Malfoy's nose. Since it was only the castle's version of paper, it was painless; but it did get his attention.
"Professor, what was that for?" Malfoy demanded. Kyashii answered for her trainer; having been with him for so long, he didn't even need to say anything for her to understand why he'd done it.
"That, Mr. Malfoy," She began calmly. "Was for doodling while I'm talking. Do try to pay attention."
Afterwards, the class went on normally, the targeted student grumbling silently.
Even amongst grading all of the incredible amount of work the strange, foreign professor was placing upon his students, he still found time to break down Umbridge's defenses bit by bit. Upon meeting her, he had instantly known she would cause trouble at the school; hence the reasons he put forth so much effort into taking her defenses and abilities placed upon her due to her status as "Hogwarts High Inquisitor" – which he, along with his entire team, thought was absolute bullshit – and breaking them down. Piece by piece, bit by bit. No matter what little rule she came up with, he always found a way to destroy it, one way or another. However, that was of little to no matter, as right now, he was finally teaching the classes again. It was late in October, when the start of the Hogwarts Quidditch Games would begin soon – and he had an annoncement for it.
"Class, I know how excited you all are for the Quidditch match this weekend, being Slytherin versus Gryffindor," Nozawa began to say to his final class of that Friday, the quiz over and already graded and returned. "Therefore, your homework this weekend is to relax and enjoy the game."
Cue the cheers from the students. Nozawa smiled.
"But! Be prepared to work hard next Monday!"
Cue the mass groan – and another smile.
"Anyway. There's only a couple of minutes left for class, so go ahead and quietly clean up. I have a couple more things to say as you do so."
The class began to quietly put away their books.
"Those of you going to watch the match, take your partners with you. Fairly simple. However, this also applies to those of you that are going to be participating in the match! I must ask you that you not have your partners participate, but have them go through the preparations with you; let them experience with you what it's like. Other than that, students, have a great weekend!"
Right as he said that, the bell rang. Cue mass of students standing and leaving.
True American love
Is like a green-cooked bottle
They don't make it anymore
There was an endless amount of roaring throughout the stadium, as the two teams of red and gold versus green and black faced off in one of the early Quidditch matches of the season. As the boys and girls on their brooms zoomed around, Professor Nozawa was with Lucario in the staff's area. There, he watched calmly as their seeker of choice zoomed around the field, keeping an eye on the little dot of gold. Although he'd never admit it aloud, he was one of the many of the stadium to agree to the twins' bets. He had bet five galleons that it would be a Gryffindor victory, with a 210 lead to Slytherin's 180. As the students in green continued to beat the quaffle past Ron over and over, the points started to get to that point.
"Hmm..." Nozawa hummed, as he hoped for his bet to be accurate.
You really are hoping to get that extra five galleons, aren't you? Lucario asked his trainer, chuckling and rolling his eyes.
"Of course I am!" The trainer said defensively, noticing how Harry caught the Snitch at last... and, he had... failed his bet. By ten freaking points! "...Damn."
Ha! Lucario exclaimed softly to his trainer, as they stood and quickly left for the center of the field. They had both seen the start of the crowd, and didn't like the way it looked. Now you owe me three Sitrus Berries!
"Fine..."
When they finally got to the crowd, it was too late: the fight had broken out. They didn't bother to stop it – because it was already being stopped. They saw Harry Potter and the Weasley twins being dragged away to the side room by Professor McGonnagal – and they both noticed Umbridge being quick to follow. Nozawa and Lucario unanimously decided to do the same – and came upon an annoying situation.
"Hem hem," coughed the little witch again. McGonnagal looked ready to stun the damn woman.
"Yes, Professor?"
"I think they deserve more than a mere suspension... how about premanently removing them from the game?"
"How about not?" Nozawa cut in instantly. The three boys whirled around to see him; Harry was lucky enough to see him in action before, and now he got to see it again – this time with the twins. "There's no point in a permanent suspension for a mild brawl. In case you are unaware, Professor Umbridge, cruel and unusual punishment goes against the somewhat-universal law of human rights."
"How dare you! I am the High Inquisitor of Hogwarts, and I –"
"Professor, I will be honest with you: I do not care about your position. Until that message gets through to you, I will continue to break down each and every one of your attempts to usurp the power of each and every other professor within this castle."
The little witch, once more enraged by this foreigner's actions and words, went to pull out her wand – and faltered. She looked up at the man again, seeing him smirking. Not only did he have his own wand out, but he held hers in his other hand.
"Looking for this?" He asked calmly. "Professor, I have warned you before not to threaten me; it seems that message must also be repeated. For now, I will hold onto your wand and turn it in to the Headmaster. He will return it to you when he sees fit; until then, please be quiet and allow Professor McGonnagal and myself to deal with this."
"Actually, Professor Nozawa," McGonnagal said. "Why don't you allow me to take Professor Umbridge's wand to the Headmaster and explain, while you handle this?
"Alright, thank you."
The short witch's wand was quickly handed over, and the man took control of the situation immediantly. Lucario kept a close watch on the woman, making sure she didn't try anything.
"Okay, guys," Nozawa began calmly. "First and foremost, know that I am not angry. I merely wish to get the story straight and I will deal out the appropiate punishments. Am I clear?"
"Yes, Professor," was the reply from the trio.
"Good! First, Harry, tell me what happened from your point of view."
So it went on, and all three of the boys told the man as calmly as they could what they saw happen, as truthfully as they could remember it. Then, he asked them to recite what Malfoy had said – and when they finished, there was silence. It held for a while, then the man sighed. He grabbed a piece of parchment, wrote on it quickly, then used a quiet spell to send it on its way.
"Don't worry; Mr. Malfoy will also be punished," Nozawa said. The boys' faces brightened, and their Pokémon partners with them. The partners had easily overpowered Malfoy's Seviper, letting the boys get at their target more easily. "However! You three will also be punished. While Mr. Malfoy's behaviour is rude and will not be accepted, neither will your reactions."
Their faces fell instantly.
"You will be suspended from the next two games, all three of you – but you will be allowed to practice. I will brief my Pokémon team of your punishments, and they will assist me in making sure you do as you have been told. Am I clear?"
"Yes, Professor."
"Good!" Nozawa said, smiling. "Then get your stuff and head on back to the castle."
Part of me died back in '64
I wanna be a superhero
"Wait... repeat that," Angelina said slowly.
"We're... suspended from the next two games..." Harry said nervously, knowing of the upcoming storm.
"What!" The girl exclaimed loudly. The others in the common room winced and were quick to leave. "We need you for those games, and you'll fall out of practice!"
"Not really," Fred said, beaming about this part. He was identified by his Pokémon partner. "Professor Nozawa is allowing us to practice."
"...He is?" Angelina asked, blinking rapidly. She had started to get on a roll, too, and then Fred had cut her off. "Really?"
"Yeah, isn't that awesome?" George asked excitedly, his trademark grin on his face.
"That isn't so bad, I suppose... I saw Umbridge head in your direction, too. What do you think she would have done?"
Silence.
"...She would've permanently suspended you, right?"
The boys seemed to have suddenly lost the ability to speak. Angelina sighed, then waved the boys good night. She was just grateful that Umbridge had been stopped, and she wasn't alone in that prospect.
"So he really did save you from that?" Hermione asked, incredulous. Cyndaquil was in her arms, listening intently.
"Yeah, it was really cool!" George exclaimed excitedly. "He just kinda walked in and..."
"...When that witch was about to take over..." Fred continued. Just like normal.
"...He cut in..."
"...And totally took over instead!"
"Then he had us..."
"..Tell him what we saw..."
"...From our point of view..."
"...And what Malfoy said."
"So now..."
"...Malfoy's being punished along with us!"
There was a stunned silence from Hermione. She had only heard of this man's ability to cut through the short witch's despicable methods. No matter how many times she heard of it, they intriqued her. Even her Pokémon was put at awe. Soon after, however, they all went to bed. Harry, however, stayed up until the room was empty, and the fire pit came alive.
I've got a mask,
I've got a name
"Alright, class," Nozawa began to say, as they stayed inside for the first time in a couple of weeks. The board was frighteningly blank. "I've got a big surprise for you this week. And maybe for next week. We'll see."
"What's the surprise, professor?" Neville asked, once called upon after he raised his hand.
The man simply smiled and waved his wand. The stack of paper on his desk instantly distributed itself to the students, one per child. Sara, his Pidgeot that was watching the class today, watched with interest. After a couple of minutes, Hermione raised her hand. Cyndaquil smiled; he was proud of his trainer to always be so eager to learn. Unlike other humans (notice as he gives a pointed look at a certain redhead).
"Professor, what's with the brackets?" She asked, noticing her name was right by Parvati's. "Is this a tournament?"
"Indeed it is," Nozawa said calmly. "Excellent eye, Ms. Granger. I have already assigned you all to a particular bracket; this is a full-on tournament."
Mass groans. Pokémon included, this time, making both the man and Sara chuckle for a few moments.
"It won't be that terrible," He said. "The rules are included on the back of that paper."
Mass amount of paper shuffling ensued.
"The tournament will begin Wednesday. You all have today and tomorrow to plan. I will tell you now that we will be having several tournaments throughout the year. This is merely the first."
Another set of sighs and groans, but not nearly as many that time.
"You have the rest of the period to either come up with a plan, or train. Everyone move outside, please."
After a couple of minutes spent to move to the pitch, the class got right to work. Several began to write down ideas as they discussed it with their partners, others immediantly continued to work with their personal regime. If all went well for this tournament, some students would have a big surprise in store for them. With so much training under their belts, the Pokémon had gotten significantly stronger than when they had first met their trainers; now was for a test to see just how well that had worked out for the pairs...
Credits: Beginning quote from the ever-popular web series, RedVSBlue (Tuckerism). Song lyrics from the song "Superhero", made by the band Trocadero.
A/N: Well, that's all there is for this chapter! Please be kind enough to review, readers. After all, you wouldn't want Nozawa's entire team to attack you (which they will if you don't review)? :P Thanks for your patience, dear readers! ^-^