A/N: Oh, yes... Nozawa is most definitely about to torture his students! :D You'll understand once you read the chapter, dear readers. Enjoy!
Chapter Twelve
Emotional Outbursts Take More Than 1.6 Volts.
"So, Harry," George asked curiously. "What did the professor want you to go to his class for?"
"Yes, do tell us," Fred inquired, their Pokémon nibbling on the food before them.
As the group of Weasleys, intermingled with a single Potter and Granger, were sitting at breakfast on a Saturday morning to eat, Fred and George's Minun and Plusle were sitting by their trainers' plates and calmly nibbling on a piece of toast they split between them. Even as the two friendly creatures ate, they listened in, just as curious as their twin trainers.
"Something I never expected," Harry said, grinning to Riolu, who smiled back. "Should we show them?"
"Rio!" Riolu said, his smile widening as he nodded.
Harry, agreeing whole-heartedly, pulled out a second Pokéball and began to explain.
"You know that personality-reading Pokéball?" He asked, making sure they remembered it.
"Yeah," Ginny said, interested as to why, out of their entire class, Harry was the only one to have two Pokéballs. "Who did you take into the class with you, like he asked?"
"I went with him," Hermione said. "Ron was busy with training Caterpie."
"Yup!" Ron said, mouth stuffed. When Hermione and Harry told him to hush in that circumstance, he decided to keep quiet.
Harry's grin widened as he explained.
"Umm... Mr. Nozawa?" Harry asked, as he stepped into the classroom, Riolu at his side, just like always. The Emenation Pokémon rarely spent time in his official Pokéball, something he was grateful for.
The professor, caught off guard as he was busy with paperwork, jumped slightly. When he saw it was just Harry, the young man sighed at the large line that shouldn't be on the parchment. Thankfully a wave of his wand removed it, and he stood.
"I assume you're here for your tournament prize, Mr. Potter?" Aromi asked, and when he received a nod and noticed Hermione nearby, continued. "Excellent! Then come on over here."
Harry did as he was told, his friends standing back a ways, watching with intense curiosity. When the student held out his hand, as instructed, he found a familiar Pokéball in his hand.
"Umm... Professor?" Harry asked, confused as to why the personality Pokéball was out again. He looked to the young man to see a smile on his face.
"Just wait, Mr. Potter," Nozawa said, leaning on his desk, both he and Pidgeot watching calmly. "This is your tournament prize. This prize will present you with a challenge, but trust me when I say that it will be very rewarding in the end."
"B-But..." The young Gryffindor glanced at Riolu, who had come over. "What about Riolu?"
"He's not going anywhere, don't worry. The Pokéball knows you have a Riolu on your team; the question is, what else will end up on your team?"
With a quiet gulp, Harry waited and watched as the little device wiggled for quite some time – before finally halting and letting loose... a Pidgey. Recalling instructions from when he'd met Riolu, Harry met the bird at its eye-level, and soon had the confirmed-as-female Pokémon in her own Pokéball.
The group Harry had just told this story to stared at him, Hermione not included, as the Pidgey now stood on the table. She had been quickly introduced to the others, and then she had gone on to nibble on her trainer's bread, glad he didn't mind.
Pidgey – the young man had yet to give either of his Pokémon a nickname – was fairly docile, and quite kind to others, as Harry had quickly learned with Riolu's help. As all this happened, his mind returned to yesterday.
At the end of the Friday afternoon classes, the young professor had told them to be in the Great Hall by eight in the morning that Saturday, and to be prepared for anything. Hermione, being the brilliant witch she was, had set up an Undetectable Extension Charm and Weight Reducing Charm on her purse, filling it with necessary emergency items. Soon enough, with only a few seconds to spare, words suddenly appeared in the air of the hall.
All Care of Strange Creatures Students:
Please take your wand, Pokémon partner,
the Pokéball given to you yesterday,
and nothing else out to the field by Hagrid's hut.
With a large flurry of movement, everyone in the class quickly left the Great Hall for their new destination. Everyone was currently discussing with each other what they thought would be the big surprise. Their guesses went from the logical, such as the professor wishing to teach them special training techniques, all the way to the wild and crazy, like Malfoy's suggestion that he would be telling them he was faking all of this. None of them had any idea how wrong they were.
Well, here we are again.
It's always such a pleasure.
"Hello, students!" Professor Nozawa said, his wand to his throat and expanding his voice with the Sonorus spell. When the teenagers returned the greeting, his smirk widened a bit. "I suppose you're all wondering why you're out here."
There was a chorus of confirmation to this statement. The young man grinned.
"Good! Curiosity is great – but I suppose here it should be used with caution. Before we move on, would you all get into groups of three, please? Three trainers to a group!"
After some clarification of this statement, everyone had done as told. Malfoy was with Crabbe and Goyle, Harry with Hermione and Ron, Ginny with Fred and George... the groups went on and on.
"Remember your groups!" Nozawa exclaimed. "I certainly hope you all know each other's strengths and weaknesses, because you'll need them for this weekend-long assignment!"
Cue mass groans from the entire group of students.
"Don't worry, everyone," He continued. "My team and I have ensured that your other teachers know of what is going on, and with safety as the utmost priority, everything is set. Now I'm sure you all would like to know what you will be doing for such a long time."
Aromi took a moment to make sure everyone was listening, so he wouldn't have to repeat himself.
"You will all be spending the weekend in the Forbidden Forest with your group and your Pokémon partner."
To his surprise, it was silent for a time as several dozen jaws dropped. Then there was an outroar that made him roll his eyes.
"QUIET!" Aromi ordered sharply, silencing them all. "Stay calm, all of you! I told you that safety is first priority, and that it's all be set up for you to be safe, haven't I? Rest assured, no harm will come to you. The assignment is for you to rely on your group and your Pokémon partners. Your wands are for nothing more than emergencies, am I clear?"
With a unanimous nod – none of these students would like to face the young man's wrath, for fear of what it might contain – the young professor continued.
"Excellent. If you encounter such a circumstance, you are to use your wand to send up RED sparks. For now, please have one person in your group set up a clock of sorts, like so."
Using a spell he'd talked to Professor Flitwick, a little digital clock appeared by him, permanent until disspelled. After giving them the A-OK, the rest of the students did the same. Counting to make sure, Aromi was pleased to see they had all done as he'd told, including Malfoy.
"Good!" He said. "All of you have your Pokéballs from yesterday?"
Cue a large chorus of confirmation.
"Thank you. Now then, keep them with you. Remember what I said about red sparks? Well, on that note, whenever you and your group go to sleep, send up BLUE sparks. There are wild Pokémon released into this forest and once you capture a Pokémon, you are to send up GREEN sparks. You are allowed to capture one and ONLY one Pokémon right now; it is alright if you do not capture one."
With a large amount of nods and sounds of understanding, Nozawa made sure everyone was ready, then sent them into the forest and on their way. He knew what kind of Pokémon were in the forest, having personally talked to several dozen schools and safaris back home about his situation, and glad they'd helped him set this up. So once the entire group of students had gone, he took a seat and began the long, drawn-out duty of waiting and watching for the sparks.
Oh, how we laughed and laughed
Except I wasn't laughing.
"I cannot believe he's making us do this!" Hermione exclaimed, outraged at how Professor Nozawa was probably breaking at least half a dozen rules.
"Relax, 'Mione," Ron said, keeping an eye out for the one thing he hated most: spiders. "At least he isn't sending us to Aragog's nest..."
Both Harry and Ron shivered at the very thought. Hermione sighed and nodded, although she was still unhappy about the turn of events. As the three of them walked through the forest, with all of the Pokémon out and looking for a good place to spend the night, they also kept an eye out for any of the wild Pokémon their professor had mentioned. If all three of them captured one... that would be something quite nice to have. Which actually happened fairly quickly.
"Ah! Over there!" Ron exclaimed, turning and spotting a little creature of dark grey fur. "Umm..."
Having never memorized the Pokémon to the extent that Hermione had, he pulled out the Pokédex the students were required to keep on them at all times. When it stated the wild creature as a Poochyena, Ron was quick to have his partner, Caterpie, slow it down with string shot. With the dark-type trapped in the sticky stuff, the bug-type was quick – as ordered – to follow with a Tackle. However, equipped with very sharp claws and teeth, the Poochyena quickly returned the favor – but was brought to the edge with the next Tackle, hitting a weak point on its body.
Without a moment of hesitation, Ron threw the Pokéball just as he knew how. Turns out that the entire few days their teacher had spent making his students practice such a skill worked; the ball had hit its target head-on... and after a couple of rolls, the Poochyena was captured. With a sigh of immense relief, the redhead picked it up and decided to wait a while before letting it out.
"Good job, Ron!" Harry congratulated with a grin, before gaping. "Ron... look at Caterpie!"
The little bug-type was glowing bright white. As far as the golden trio knew, she was the only Pokémon to evolve of their class. However, right after it had become what their Pokédexes called a Metapod, it glowed a second time, leaving them confused when a Butterfree had been left behind where Caterpie recently was.
"I think I know what happened," Hermione said. "According to the Pokédex, Caterpie was at level twelve, and they usually evolve to Metapod at level seven and Butterfree at level ten. Perhaps the stone walls of Hogwarts or something kept her from evolving?"
Ron was remaining silent... before revealing that he had learned of the 'Cancel Evolution' button on the Pokédex and had been using it. Afraid that Butterfree would be mad, he refused to look her in the eye – until she convinced him that she understood why he'd done so, and that she'd known. Soon enough, everything was fine for the golden trio, as they continued their search for a good place to sleep.
Both of the flight-capable Pokémon were searching farther ahead, and very soon, Pidgey reported a good meadow nearby. Once they reached it, Hermione, in charge of keeping the time, told the group they had plenty of time before they had to rest. As a result, they decided to go ahead and set up camp, and have one person go get firewood while the other two set up the stuff they would need.
With Harry off to get flammable wood, Hermione and Ron started to set up camp. Thankfully, the young witch had foreseen this possibility – proving her Cyndaquil's decision to be proud of her wits – and packed more than enough stuff to help them with staying warm and dry for the night. By the time Harry returned, it was all set up, and they opted to leave one person in camp while the other two went on the prowl for wild Pokémon.
When Harry and Hermione had returned, they'd caught Pokémon and as a trio, they sent up blue sparks as directed. Soon, however, they also sent up green sparks. It seems that the day had gone by quite quickly with all of the things they'd done to set up camp and all; in fact, they were so tired from it all that they were very quickly asleep after eating the food Hermione had brought. Each of the young trainers were seen with their Pokémon close by, and each one of them very happy and content as they dreamed wonderful and cheerful dreams.
Under the circumstances,
I've been shockingly nice.
While the golden trio, along with all of the other groups of students, had been having quite a time in the safe zone of the forest, Aromi had spent the time watching carefully for the sparks he'd asked for. Once the green ones had started going up, he kept track... until he noticed that all groups had sent some up. Content with these results, the young professor smiled and stood, stretching.
"Aren't you going to watch for the rest of the night?" Espeon, at his side, asked.
"No," Nozawa said calmly. "Since each group has sent up green sparks, and I know that there are several dozen barriers set up and all of the magical creatures in there know what's going on, I'm confident the students are safe. Besides, I've got a spell ready to wake me if red sparks are sent up."
"...Oh. You know, this magic thing is very convenient."
Nozawa chuckled as he smiled and nodded. Then he grunted as Espeon leapt into his arms, purring and smiling. The young man rolled his eyes at her, smiling anyway. Then he sighed when he saw Professor Umbridge waiting just inside the doorway to the castle.
"Professor Nozawa," She said, her voice dangerously calm. "I do hope you're not just leaving the students in the forest to die?"
Aromi couldn't help it; the very suggestion made him laugh.
"Don't be ridiculous, Professor Umbridge," Aromi said, smiling. "I can guarantee you that there will be no problems."
"How can you be so sure?" The calmness hadn't left, and this was the trainer's clue that this wasn't just a two-person conversation.
"Well, first of all," Nozawa began, gently petting Espeon. She immediantly connected to his mind telepathically. "I made sure their safety came first. Don't worry about it."
What's up, Aromi? Espeon asked, curious. It was rare that he had to use the type of petting he just used. They had come up with it a while back when Team Galactic was at large, and it was a way for him to communicate to her without saying a word.
Would you search around nearby for an extra mind? He replied silently. I get the feeling there's a third person in on this conversation.
Hmm... After a moment, the psychic-type responded. You're right. From what I can see, it's another member of the ministry.
"Well, what are you going to do if one of them becomes hurt?" Umbridge asked smugly, sure that the fellow Ministry of Magic staffer was well hidden and would get him.
"Just as sure as I am about your friend not hurting me," Nozawa said, now pointing his wand at said person, Espeon standing on the ground before him.
Umbridge, quick to see that she had been wrong about her coworker being invisible, pulled out her own wand – but soon found it gone and in her fellow professor's hands again. Of course, so was the her coworker's, but that was beside the point. The young man sighed, as Espeon's eyes stopped glowing.
"I've told you time and again, Professor Umbridge," Nozawa said, his voice cold. "Let me put it this way if it will help: you are too weak and slow to catch me or my team members. So why don't you just shut up and leave us alone for once?"
With that, the young professor walked away, heading to the Headmaster's office. Umbridge slowly stood, knowing both her wand and her colleague's were going to be confiscated. Growling angrily, she stormed her way back to her office, hoping to get rid of the enigma that was Aromi Nozawa soon...
Credits: Quote spoken by GLaDOS in Portal 2. Song lyrics from "Want You Gone" by Jonathon Coulton, also featured in Portal 2.
A/N: Alright, that's it for this chapter! I hope you like it, readers! ^_^ If it seems rushed, I apologize, but that's how it is. Either way, reviews are well appreciated! :D