Okamib1ue: Thank you for the words of encouragement, I will keep working. I figured I am working from a fandom with a much larger pool of fans to deal with than MMZ where I did my first fic. Their interests are diverse, I just need to find the ones that would be interested in my story. I'll keep tweaking the settings until I find out what will make the most visibility, I will also rewrite the description, I suspect it is too ambiguous, and doesn't catch the eye just right. I will continue to write this story regardless of the traffic because I started writing again for the practice, and because I have faith this story has great potential. Each chapter, character, paragraph, and word is a part of me in some way or the other. As for typo's, I will have to wait till Nekosaru can give it a look.

Imperator Justinian: Hail Justinian of Byzantium, long may you reign! Thank you for your kind words, and pointing out my error, I never played Pokemon conquest so I thought it was a generic protagonist label. I hope that I may continue to entertain you your highness with the best of my ability. Please continue to review, I like hearing from my readers.

Everyone Else: The fun of writing to me is to get reactions. I want to hear your opinions, I will address you each chapter like I did with the above responses. I consider my readers much like friends, I'd like to hold a conversation while I work. Anyhow, enough with my rambling, I shall get on with the story, it's what you came for and I shall not disappoint.

-In some mansion elsewhere in the city-

Bonnie and Clyde enter the dimly lit study. Clyde taking care not to step on one of the opened books lying face down on the floor. By the fireplace a man sits in a luxurious chair facing perpendicular to the fire smoking a cigar, in his hands a Gameboy that he is playing. His features are hidden, silhouetted by the light of the fire.

"Sir, I am sorry to say, but the mission was a failure," said Clyde to the man in the chair.

"I have little patience for incompetence," the man replied setting his Gameboy down on his chair's arm, and shifting in his chair to bring his full attention to the two.

Bonnie interjected, "If it wasn't for that brat-"

"Brat? I equipped you with Pokemon from my former collection of rare animals, which should have been strong enough to deal with any problem. Much better than most people could scrounge up in a single morning to provide any such effective resistance. You are saying you were bested by some college kid with some random critter he found that morning in his back yard?" The man seethed.

"His Pokemon put up a fight, but we managed to deal with them," Clyde added quickly to try an stay his boss's wrath.

"Then what was the hold up?" the man asked.

"H-he WAS a Pokemon, I-I think, I am not sure because he looked quite human, yet he could use Pokemon moves," Clyde replied, somewhat shaken recalling the incident.

The man takes the cigar from his mouth, blowing the smoke from his mouth. His brow furrows, deep in thought. After what felt like a minute, "Bonnie, Clyde," he calls out.

"You are terrible liars," he says.

"But-" Bonnie starts but is silenced with the wave of the man's hand.

"That's how I know you two are telling the truth," the man said.

He continued, "Observe this person to ascertain what he really is. Do not act without my approval, we do not know this individuals loyalties and affiliations. If he's unaffiliated, the last thing we need is for him to side with our potential enemies. Once we learn his weaknesses and loyalties we can make a move. Ideally, we will try to recruit him, but capture is plenty acceptable."

"What about our other objectives?" asked Clyde.

The man holds up a hand to silence Clyde, "Who's leader of this organization? I have started recruitment and training, there is little need for worry. Speaking of recruits, I have one who will be joining you two. I think he will be quite enlightening, given the situation..."

-Back at Birmingham College-

"Hey, hey, HEY!" I am suddenly jolted awake, I blink my eyes in the brightness of the fluorescent lights.

"You sure you aren't narcoleptic?" Taylor asks.

"Huh?" I ask.

"This is the second time you have been unconscious today bro," he replied.

"Where am I?" I ask.

"You sure he alright?" a random lunch lady asks.

"You're at you're destination bub," Taylor replies with a laugh.

"F-FOOD!" I spring to my feet with excitement, my stomach suddenly seizing control of my motor function. My mind snaps back to attention to something a little more important.

"N-Nathaira, where is she?" I ask. I feel a tap on my leg.

"I'm fine! :D"

She looks up with a hint of a smile.

"She woke up before I managed to arrive, and believe me, when I got your text I booked it," said Taylor.

"You boys going to stand around, or will you come in and get something to eat?" The lunch lady at the cash register asks with a smile.

"I'm good, but these two are starved," said Taylor, motioning at me and Nathaira.

"We don't usually serve pets, but I think we can make an exception for the pair of heroes who ensured this cafeteria would be able to serve food today," the lunch lady said, eyeing Nathaira.

Nathaira approaches the lunch lady, phone in hand, "I'm not a pet!"

"Sorry, didn't mean to offend you. Anyhow, you two can just move right in. We are still serving breakfast, though it is a little past 10:30, I doubt anyone has gotten a chance to have some. No need to swipe student ID, it's on the house for you today," the lunch lady said.

All I could do is smile and nod as I pass the counter by. The allure of eggs and bacon was far too strong to resist. my legs moving on their own. I went to the serving area, and asked for everything they had, sausage, bacon, egg, biscuit with gravy poured on top, hashbrowns, hell they even brought out the cheese grits!

Nathaira piled her plate even higher than mine. Her red horn glowed slightly, she had so much food she needed assistance from her telekinetic powers to aid her tiny arms. I reach down and pick up my phone with one hand and expertly balancing the plate with the other.

We both find a table to sit at. I help Nathaira put her plate on the table and help her climb into her seat. She motions for the phone.

"By the way, I neglected to ask your name."

"Atticus Lee?" I hear an unfamiliar voice call out.

I am approached by a girl, she has long black hair tied up in a pony tail and tanned complexion. She wears a black T-shirt with a pink skull and crossbones on the front and jean shorts.

"这是你的宠物小精灵吗？(Zhè shì nǐ de chǒngwù xiǎo jīnglíng ma?) (Is this your Pokemon?)" she asks in Mandarin Chinese.

"对她是我的宠物小精灵. (Duì tā shì wǒ de chǒngwù xiǎo jīnglíng. (Yes, this is my Pokemon.)" I reply back.

"唉！太可爱吧！(Āi! Tài kě'ài ba!) (OMG! To cute!)" She says with excitedly pinching Nathaira's cheeks.

"Are you the new Teacher's Assistant?" I ask, this time in English.

"Yes! Are you surprised?" she asks.

"Not really, you saved my ass plenty of times, I probably would not have made it to intermediate without you," I reply.

"Oh, Nathaira, I have not introduced you yet. This is Xiaomei, she is a long time friend of mine, say hi!" I say, looking at Nathaira expectantly.

(Author note Xiaomei is pronounced Sheeow meh ee. Don't fret, I wont throw too much Chinese in y'all's faces just here I wanted to illustraite a bit of personal backstory. btw if you are curious about the Chinese character spelling it's 小美 not to be confused with 小妹. (Little sister same pronunciation different tones.) Pardon my Kool Aid manning the fourth wall.)

"Does Nathaira have to stab a bitch?" She holds up the phone with one hand and massages her reddened cheek with the other. Her red eyes smolder behind her bowl cut like embers in the core of a dying bonfire.

"Don't teach her such rude words Atticus!" said Xiaomei.

I see Nathaira angrily typing something into the phone shoot a look at her before she could show it to Xiaomei. She quickly erases the message and types something else.

"Sorry..." she shows Xiaomei the phone.

"Oh no harm no foul," she said giving Nathaira a hard pat on the back with a villainous smile. Xiaomei sits with us, setting down her plate. Before she could lift her fork, Nathaira and I began to tear into our food like lions into a wildebeest. She watched in astonishment a minute, before shrugging, "I've been there," then proceeded to have her food.

I eventually put down my fork to come up for some air, and have a sip of orange juice. Then it suddenly hit me to ask, "Do we have class today?"

Xiaomei looks up from her food, blinked as if she were having trouble processing the question.

She finally spoke up, "Yah, sure, we have class...why wouldn't we?"

"Well, shit I missed my morning class," I say as I skewer few pieces of scrambled egg with a fork.

"THE CITY IS IN ANARCHY AND YOU ARE WORRYING ABOUT CLASS! JEEZE MAN! GET YOUR PRIORITIES STRAIGHT!" Xiaomei finally burst out incredulous.

"Well excuse me for not checking the news, I was too busy liberating this here cafeteria from Team Rocket," I reply with a laugh.

"I know, I was just trolling you, class is cancelled, and the school president scheduled an emergency meeting in an hour and thirty minutes that we all must attend. By the way you've become the talk of the campus. Many people have come to regard Pokemon with fear, yet here you are fighting along side one and winning back the campus from armed aggressors," said Xiaobei.

I casually glance a pair of girls conversing, they seemed to be looking my way, but quickly averted their gaze when I looked up. I shovel the last bit of food into my mouth.

Nathaira holds up the phone, "I don't like the thought of having people's attention, I noticed their gaze boring into the back of my head for a while now. I thought it was just because I was a Pokemon in a generally humans only area, but I am starting to see why."

"It is annoying, but at least it is positive attention, heck, we're heroes now," I reply, trying to reassure her.

"Heroes...um..sure..."

"Once the hype dies down it won't be so bad," reassured Xiaomei.

"Hopefully..." I add.

"I have to do a few things before the emergency announcement, I will leave you two for now," said Xiaomei, getting up from the table. Soon Nathaira and I were alone.

"What do you think of Xiaomei?" I ask.

"meh :/"

"She will grow on you after a while. It's always awkward meeting new people for the first time," I reply.

Nathaira gives no response, looking down at her empty plate. I suddenly felt...almost...awkward... The "silence" was broken with Nathaira suddenly typing something into the phone.

"What is she to you?"

I was suddenly taken aback by the sudden personal question. Then again, if she is to be my Pokemon partner I should share this sort of information with her.

"We've been friends since I was a sophomore, she was a foreign student who directly enrolled here from China. I met her when she was a freshmen. We had similar interests and quickly became best friends. She is the coolest person I know. I can talk to her about anything, and not feel awkward," I said. Though I cringed at my inability to explain well how special she is to me.

"You like her?"

"Um...yes...I think you are right...I do like her," I managed to stutter. She's right, I think I am in love with her.

"I don't see it."

The words almost stabbed me like a knife. "So...brutal..." I caught myself saying aloud.

"Brutally honest that is! ba dum dum tss! XD"

I cringed at the terrible pun, which was somehow worse that anything else she said.

"In seriousness, I am supposed to be your partner, so we should be honest with each other."

"Naw I think you just don't like her," I said. She this time looked like the one who was to cringe now.

I bask in the schadenfreude for a moment before adding, "I'm right on the mark aren't I?"

"I can use my psychic powers to cause you to sh!t yourself"

"You wouldn't," I replied incredulously.

"Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned"

"Fine fine, I'm sorry," I replied.

"So how do you plan on passing the time until the meeting?"

"Not sure, goof off in the computer lab?" I replied.

"Sure, I got nothing better to do"

(To be continued)