I'm about to have a load of exams, so there may be a delay in the next chapter. But we'll see…

I don't own Pokèmon.

The canteen was a relatively small, well-kept room with a kitchen attached. As they cooked for a maximum of around fifty pupils and staff every day, there was no need for the crowded, noisy, stinking halls that would be needed to accommodate a thousand pupils.

The first-years were spread over two different tables. Aria, Ebony, Wraith, Rhiannon, Tegeirian, Pasqua and Rydia sat together on one table, and the boys went to another. Everyone seemed to be quite awkward with each other – after all, they didn't know each other that well – except Pasqua, who was chatting quickly and animatedly to anyone and everyone.

"So…how did your fight go?" Aria asked Rhiannon slowly.

"We beat him easily – but Latto knew he wasn't going to win…"

Aria frowned, the way Nannon was talking, it seemed like she already knew Latto quite well. Speaking of which, the boy in question grabbed a chair and sat on the end of the table.

"Did I hear you talking about me?" he asked Rhiannon.

"Just saying how easily we beat you…"

Latto sighed. "You're not going to let me forget this, are you? I can see this now – you're going to tell Aunty Magic and she'll tell the whole family…"

"You're related?" Aria wondered.

"Yeah…we're cousins. Notice any family resemblance?"

Nannon had sparkling violet eyes, and had one of those faces that was impossible to forget – it seemed to shout mystery and magic. Latto on the other hand, while not looking ugly, just seemed average – green-brown eyes and light brown, neatly kept hair. He could blend easily into any crowd, while his cousin would not be forgotten in a hurry.

"Uh…not really," Aria honestly answered.

"I take after my father mostly, but she takes after her mother," Latto explained. "We're related on our fathers' side."

Aria quickly worked this out – she was never good with working out family members, as hers was so small – and came up with the fact that both their fathers were brothers.

"Okay…I get that. So, what happened in the battle?"

"Don't go there," Latto sighed. "Bandit ended up so badly poisoned that he couldn't see straight – both of Nannon's team mates had poison types…"

"Yep, me, Tegg and Rydia were in a team together. Oi, mush!" she called to Tegeirian. "We're talking about you!"

Aria got the impression that Nannon and Tegg must have known each other a long time, as Tegg hardly reacted, just adding a puzzled, "Wha-?" Aria would later find out that Nannon treated just about everyone like this.

"Never mind. Do we have lessons tonight?"

"Yeah, I need to go to yours tonight," Tegg said.

Aria was curious, but decided it would be too rude to ask. Besides, the next second, Latto had already distracted her.

"The Communications lesson is tonight, too, after school. Are you going?"

"I don't know. What exactly do you do?"

"It's basically learning to be able to understand Pokèmon when they're talking. It's really useful, but hardly anyone stays, because it's after school. I've been going for the last year, and I love it," Latto enthusiastically told Aria.

"Can you understand Pokèmon now, then?"

"I can understand Bandit really clearly, and if I try really hard, I can get the gist of what others are saying. I'm going to keep going, though. It's not just being able to understand Pokèmon, there are loads of bonding exercises we do, which are fun and because we're such small groups, you get to know everyone else really quickly."

"I'd like to stay…sounds alright, anyway…but I haven't told Mum. And she'll really worry about me…"

"Why don't you call her now? You know, on your Pokètech?"

"Oh, good idea!"

Aria mentally cursed herself as she cycled through the options on the watch-like device on her wrist. Pressing the buttons skilfully, with the ease of much use, she heard the dial tone as it rung home. Finally, her mother's voice appeared on the other end.

"Hello?"

"Hi, Mum, it's me! I was wondering: there's a class on after school and I'd like to stay, so can I? Please?"

"Getting to school early and staying behind after school…you're really working hard, aren't you? Well, I don't see why not – just be careful, and we'll see you a bit later, then."

"Thanks, Mum! Bye!"

"Bye!"

After she hung up, Aria smiled at her victory. "I can stay," she told Latto.

"Good! You can always try it this week, and if you don't like it, you can always give it up – Mr. Reese wouldn't mind. He's pretty good like that."

"He doesn't seem to like Haru, though," Aria pointed out.

"Well, he's just sore…once, when Haru was answering back in class – he blatantly told Mr. Reese that he wasn't listening – Mr. Reese did the usual teacher trick of 'if-you-think-you're-too-good-for-this-class-then-prove-it', except he wasn't expecting Haru to win. Haru's boasted about it ever since, and Mr. Reese…hasn't forgiven him."

"That explains it, then…oh, did I tell you that my group beat him?"

"Really?" there was a look of utmost disbelief on Latto's face.

"Yeah, we won all of the five matches, and after that, he forfeited. Two of his Pokèmon refused to fight, though…"

"But, still…that's a real achievement…"

"We were lucky, and we had the type advantage mostly…it wasn't that much of an achievement…" Aria said modestly. "Besides, it was six on one."

Draigas crooned at her trainer, telling her to accept the praise and not to be too modest.

"So," Latto started, changing the subject, "Do you bring lunch or get it in school?"

"I was going to get something while here."

"Was?"

"I forgot my money," Aria realised.

"Here," Latto threw a sandwich wrapped in cellophane to Aria.

"I can't take this – it's your lunch…"

"My parents always pack too much. So does Nannon's, so she gives it to Tegg, or anyone else. Anyway, enjoy that, and I'll see you later – I have someone I need to talk to."

"Um…Okay, bye!"

Latto stalked off to a table with other second year pupils. Aria, now feeling slightly abandoned, turned to her fellow first years.

"Uh…hi, Wraith," Aria attempted, to start a conversation.

"Hi."

"So…are you thinking about going to this Communications lesson after school?"

"Not really. My brother's visiting – I don't normally get many chances to see him – so I want to get home as soon as school finishes."

"Cool, so what's your brother like?"

"He is awesome. He's so tall, and has longer hair than me…"

Seeing as Wraith's hair reached a few inches past her shoulders, her brother must have had very long hair.

"And he is a really good swordsman – I've seen him and mum sparring…"

"Really? I know my dad's good with a sword, but I've never seen him use it…mum's taught me a little bit of unarmed self-defence, though."

"Nice…so, did you see Watching Trainers last night?"

"No, sorry…we don't watch a lot of television, and I had a big discussion with mum and dad last night."

"Discussion? About…other worlds?"

Aria nodded, stunned. How did Wraith know?

"My mum told me – you met her, didn't you?"

"Yeah, she looks like you…she speaks a foreign language, doesn't she?"

"Like Cymraeg? Mum doesn't just speak it – she practically invented it," Wraith said, surprising Aria.

Wraith had just named the language Aria had learnt as a little child.

"Ydy ti'n siarad e?" Aria asked – Do you speak it?

"Rydw i'n meddwl bod gallu i'n siarad e…" Wraith answered – I think that I can speak it…

Aria laughed slightly. Somehow, she knew they were going to be friends already. After a few minutes of talking in Welsh, Aria noticed the cat-eared and –tailed Ebony not talking to anyone bar the small red fox in her arms.

"Are you okay?" Aria asked in a language that everyone could understand.

"Yeah," she responded cheerfully enough.

"Are you going to the Communications lesson tonight?" Aria wondered – making a mental note that this question was a good icebreaker.

"Yeah, there's no reason not to."

"Me too! Do you know anyone else in our year who's staying?"

"I think Pasqua might have said something…"

"No…she's just…too cheerful…and annoying..." Aria moaned.

"And Seig."

"Okay, I don't have a problem with him."

"Well, he seems nice enough, but didn't you get the feeling he was hiding something?"

Aria nodded sombrely. "It was almost as if he was afraid…but of what?"

Wraith butted in here. "And his Espeon evolving so quickly…"

Sirius gave a disappointed whine from Wraith's shoulder.

"Don't worry, Sirius. You'll evolve when it's right…" Wraith reassured him.

"Here's a novel idea – if we think he's hiding something, why don't we just ask about it?" Aria suggested dryly – by now, she was sick of gossiping and getting nowhere.

Yet, when it came to it, all three of them were too shy to ask Seig outright, so that topic was soon dropped. In a couple of minutes, Rhiannon asked if anyone wanted an orange, as she had two going spare. Ebony took one, with a bit of asking whether it was really all right, and Tegg took the other.

Rydia also offered some food – a sandwich and a banana. Wraith ate the sandwich, while Ebony ate the banana…

It was a few hours before anyone truly realised the significance of this event…

It was midway through their only formal lesson of the day, to be precise. The whole school was in the small lecture hall, listening to Mr. Harrier making pathetically unfunny jokes about everyone's names, and eventually getting round to teaching the assembled students about myths, legends and general history. Ebony, sat between Aria and Tegeirian, had whispered complaints of feeling sick all lesson, but now she was swaying unsteadily in her seat, and her eyes were unfocused.

Understandably, Aria was concerned. "Ebony? Are you all right?"

"No…" she moaned quietly.

"Shall we tell Mr. Harrier?" Tegg asked.

Ebony evidently didn't trust herself to speak, nodding instead – yet even this seemed to hurt, as she clutched her head immediately afterwards.

"Mr. Harrier…sir…" Aria called to get the bearded teacher's attention.

"What is it, little Arianrhod?" he asked, as was his way. He'd given everyone a groan-inducing nickname within the first ten minutes of the lesson. Aria had escaped pretty lightly compared to some of the pupils here.

"Ebony looks very ill, sir."

He made his way up to out tier of benches, and took one look at the pale, swaying girl. It was only now that Aria noticed that Ebony's tail, rather than making its usual fluid movements was twitching uncontrollably.

"Take her to sick bay," Mr. Harrier commanded. "If she gets worse, she can phone home."

Aria helped Ebony stagger to her feet. It was perfectly clear that she couldn't stand on her own, and almost knocked Aria off balance until she adjusted to the weight leaning on her shoulder. However, Ebony was quite light, and it wasn't too difficult to guide the cat-person to the pure white room.

The sick bay was very small, with barely enough room to fit a single bed and a few, small cabinets for storing medicines, bandages and the like. However, it was clean, had a plastic bowl (for use in the event that someone threw up - an event which seemed more and more likely every second), a place where someone could lie down if they needed to and running water.

Ebony all but collapsed on the bed. "Sorry," she apologised.

"What for?"

"Causing trouble," she explained.

"Don't be ridiculous. You shouldn't be apologising while you're sick. It's not your fault," Aria said. "Maybe it was something you ate…"

"The banana. It didn't taste right…"

Suddenly, Ebony grabbed the bowl, believing that she was about to throw up. Thankfully, though, she didn't.

"Do you want to phone home?"

"No," she said overly quickly.

"Huh? Why not?"

"I don't feel that bad…" she protested – but she was proved false by the shivers that spread across her body. Even her tail shook, and it was quite warm inside the sick bay.

"I think you need to go home."

"I…can't."

"Why?" Aria asked quietly.

"...I haven't got a home…I've lived alone for as long as I can remember. I've never known my parents, either."

"But…where do you sleep? What do you eat? What on earth are you going to do?"

"I don't know…"

Aria thought a second, before coming up with an answer. "You can stay at my house, if you want."

"Your parents would have a fit…"

"Not really. If I explained that you don't have anywhere to stay…"

"They wouldn't want me there. No one in their right mind would."

"No, you're wrong. My parents aren't like that. Besides, what have you got to lose? If they do say you can't stay, well, at least you've tried, right?"

Ebony stayed quiet, as she thought for a moment. Phoenix delicately made her way over to me and licked my hand in gratitude. Draigas, nicely settled around my neck, practically purred. The human felt a short stream of conversation flow between the two Pokèmon, and while Aria couldn't understand it, it felt happy, somehow, so she knew that they weren't arguing or anything like that.

The melodic bell rang, signalling the end of the school day.

"Well?"

"…I'll see you tomorrow," the Neko-jin said, lurching unsteadily to her feet.

She couldn't walk straight, and Aria was about to help and insist they go to her house, but Draigas stopped her. This time, Aria really strained to understand her partner's reasons.

'Pride.'

"You mean, this way…she still has her pride in herself? That's a stupid thing to suffer for. Out there, she could die if it rains again!"

Draigas nodded – she understood her trainer's point of view, but knew there was nothing she could do.

"I suppose we can't force her, though, can we? And, the offer's still open, if she changes her mind… Hmm...alright, Draigas, let's get to this Communications lesson."

It turned out that there were only six in the lesson – Aria, Seig, Pasqua, Latto, a girl in the third year called Corrine, and a boy in the fourth year called David.

Aria was surprised by how easy the lesson was – it taught the children to sense emotions from their Pokèmon – which Aria could already do with ease. They were taught outside. Out in the open air, even Pasqua didn't seem as annoying, and Aria found it easy to forget her worries. Mr. Reese was a friendly and engaging teacher by nature - it was difficult to think of anything else except the lesson. One of Aria's favourite exercises was a simple game of reverse charades; the Pokemon were allowed to talk, and not allowed to move unless it was completely neccessary.

To finish the lesson, they had a game of Chinese whispers – where one Pokèmon thought of a word and told it to their trainer, the trainer told it to the next Pokèmon, who told it to their trainer…and so on. Of course, they ended up with completely different answers to the starting word, but slowly, they could see similarities between the two words - they were improving.

Aria thought it was weird, how much she enjoyed the after school lesson. As she made her way home through the steadily darkening night, though, with nothing to distract her, she thought about the Neko-jin again.

'…Wherever you are, Ebony…please be safe…please be alright…' Aria thought to herself.

Well, either way, tomorrow would tell…

Okay, I was writing this when I was supposed to be doing a million and one other things…one of them being preparing a first draft of my 'To Kill A Mockingbird' coursework for my English open book exam…which I know a few of my readers can sympathise with (but choose not to, because they're evil…)

Anyway - Rydia's banana? Based on a real life story. As is the 'Communications' lesson (I'm mad enough to do a lesson after school) Some of these 'based-on-real-life' events will pop up quite frequently - then others will be completely made up...

Oh, good luck to anyone with exams coming up soon, (I feel your pain!) and leave a review, please!