Chapter 5

"My heroes have the heart, to the lose the life I'd want to live, And all I remember, is thinking 'I want to be like them', Ever since I was little, Ever since I was little it looked like fun" - Crazy by Gnarls Barkley

Yesterday was so exhausting, yet I was lucky that Cheren wasn't going to pressure me on taking me to school. Instead, he saw fit to challenge Chili. If Cheren noticed anything but Chili's crush on him, then he was oblivious to it. Either that or he was ignoring it. I know Cheren and as perceptive as he'd like to claim he is, he's the kind of person who has a one-track mind. Didn't mean I didn't love him any less as my best friend.

Meanwhile I figured I need to catch up and start grinding. Namely, Courage, who was still a bit nervous over battling and nervous in general. I'm nervous too, because I don't have the same instant rhythm with him as I do with Ganon. I find myself wandering over to the fountains and close to a building ahead. Upon closer sight, its actually two buildings. One of them have Pokémon outside, running around. The other has small children in hard hats doing the same.

There's identical twin girls standing in front of the buildings. "Ooh! Another trainer!" One of them says.

"Miss Trainer, we'd like to challenge you to a double battle!"

My first experience with a double battle goes surprisingly well, with Ganon curbstomping the little girls' pair of Purrloins. Courage doesn't do much but send some decent attacks and paralyzes the one on the left with his Lick.

"Wow Miss Trainer. You're really good!"

"Oh," I flick my hand. "I'm really not." I don't even have a single Gym Badge to my name. I notice I have attracted a small (literally!) crowd, including an adult or two.

A brunette woman wearing a yellow vest comes up to me. She looks only a couple of years older than myself. Early twenties? "I'd like to have a battle too. My name's Autumn. I'm one of the aides here."

"Well, uh sure! I'm Bianca, by the way."

I lead in with Courage and he barely manages to take down her Lillipup, but he manages. Second is a Munna and I send out Madge to go and get her. Madge gets a bit tired before taking out the Munna that wasn't mine, so I send out Munny, who finishes the job.

All of the kids around me cheer when I win, some asking me for autographs. I'm handed a pen seemingly out of nowhere and I begin signing notebooks with my name.

"Oh tell us a story, Miss Bianca!"

"If she does, can she do it indoors?" Autumn asks, touching her hair. I notice she's really pretty actually. Glowing, too. I wonder if its the environment of being around children. Truth be told, I love children. They're so young and sweet and innocent. I wonder what it could be like as a teacher.

"Of course!" I walk in and sit in a pink beanbag chair not too dissimilar to the one in my room in Nuvema. I don't know why, but I don't get a twinge of homesickness when I sit down.

"Read us this one!" one of the kids says, pulling a story with a Patrat on the cover named The Happy Patrat.

"No! Read us this one!" another kid pulls s considerably larger book with Unova's dragons on the cover. The look far too menacing to be on a children's book cover.

"This one!" a little girl furiously throws a book with a drawing of Victini. Then they all start arguing among each other. I freeze, not knowing how to handle this. If I choose the story with Patrat, a group of kids will be disappointed at me. The same with Victini or the one with Reshiram and Zekrom. I don't want to disappoint anyone!

"Children!" Autumn's loud, but stern voice rings in over the children's yelling. I'm amazed at how she manages to capture their attention without yelling. "I think that our guest Bianca should have a say in what we shall do."

I freeze once more and gulp. "Um. Um. I don't want to make anyone mad."

"We're sorry, Miss Bianca," one of them says. The others start murmuring the same thing.

I honestly don't know. Either I can read all three of the books or read none of them. I don't really want to read a story out loud. Mostly because I don't like hearing the sound of my voice and I don't know if I can pull off changing the tone of it. I mean, you never know until you try, but I don't want to displease anyone, too.

"Can we have playtime instead? You can all meet my Pokémon. I'm sure they'd love to meet you." Actually, I'm not completely sure, but they're all small enough for kids to adore, especially considering they're rather kid friendly. I saw a Tepig plushie in the toybox when I first walked in so why not?

I frisk inside my bag, not knowing which ball I've got a hold on. When I throw the ball to the ground, Ganon is the one who is summoned. He's stunned for a moment to see all of the children's faces but quickly gives a happy squeal, allowing himself to be touched by a little girl with blonde pigtails under her hard hat.

The second out is Madge and I think it's in a Lillipup's natural nature to take well to children because she's still as the children caress her.

"She's just like Miss Autumn's!" one of the children, a boy, I believe, says.

The third to be out is Munny, who is a bit overwhelmed at first, but takes well. Courage, of course decides to perch upon my shoulder for a few minutes, but when Ganon turns back and gives him a call, Courage comes down and joins him, eventually enjoying their petting.

"Miss Bianca!" a little girl says. He's holding Madge, who is as calm as ever. "If you're sharing your Pokémon, can I share my Blitzle with you?"

I look at Autumn, who is giving a radiant smile. "I'm glad you're using your sharing lessons. Is that okay Miss Bianca?"

"Yes! That's totally fine!" And in seconds, this mid-size zebra-like Pokémon is within sight.

"Blitz?" it says. "Zel?" I slowly bring my hand up to it and begin petting its mane. At first, I feel a slight shock, but that's to be expected in an electric type. It reacts well to the touch of my hand and when I move up from its mane to its head, it begins to move in a manner, as though directing me to pet it in a specific spot.

"Hey Miss Bianca," a little boy approaches me. "Will you be our new teacher?"

"Uhhh," is all I can muster. "I don't know. I'm currently trying my hand at training but maybe one day I might try my hand at teaching."

"It's good to see you're trying different perspectives. When you do that, your sense of reality changes and you grow as a person," he responds.

Before I can process that alarmingly deep statement he's made, he's given Ganon to hold and walks away from the group. Then a second kid shows up while I'm idly petting Blitzle.

"Miss Bianca...I have a question," a little pink haired girl asks me. "My favorite socks broke the other day and I was really sad so mommy decided to patch it. What I want to know if it's still the same sock."

"Well...yes? I think." These children!

"So if a sock keeps ripping and new patches are still being made except for a little bit, then is it the same sock? Or is it a new one?"

"Where do you get these thoughts?!"

"I don't know," the little girl shrugs. "They just happen."

So is this a gifted preschool? It would make sense if they were given Pokémon so early and had battles.

"Miss Bianca, can your Tepig use Hyper Beam?" a little boy asks me. I shake my head. That makes me wonder. They're unbelievably precocious. I wonder if I was that way when I was their age. Cheren was inquisitive and fussy while White was always active and dragging me into her troubles. I was always in time out due to association. Predictably so, I spent each time crying.

Then I hear a scream coming from outside. "NO! YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED HERE!" The class goes silent. Then the door violently bursts open and two redheaded men in knight's clothing come in, giving us all glares.

"Team Plasma," I gasp, barely reacting.

"Pokémon and people should be separated. It is important for Team Plasma's message for Pokémon liberation to be reached through the youngest of minds."

"No!" I stand up, not petting the Blitzle anymore. I can hear Ganon snarling and Munny performing similar actions while Courage is shaking. I can't see Madge among the kids.

"It is important for children to learn friendship and bonding," Autumn says, joining my side.

"Then we shall teach you the hard way, you disgusting trainer." The man on the left takes one giant step in front of me and Autumn. "Out of my way." And the next thing I know, a pair of hands are on my shoulders. Their push makes gravity pull on me, my left side falling straight into the ground. Before I can get up, I see the Blitzle I petted being whisked away.

Its owner lets out a piercing scream and I can see the other little kids grasping their hands on their ears. "BLITZY!" The little girl's first instinct is to run away from her classroom, not caring that she's not going to be chaperoned. I quickly get up and follow her.

The little girl is surprisingly fast, either that or I'm out of shape. Yet I catch up to her in the middle of the route before she collapses into sobs. "NOO! My Blitzy! He's gone forever!" Or at least I think she's saying that because she's screaming and sobbing all at once.

"Sweetie, it'll be all right. We can contact the police and-"

"BLITZY!" The girl is inconsolable and then my thoughts begin to formulate. This is my fault. Had I decided to read the stories, I wouldn't have prompted this and indirectly caused this traumatizing moment on this little girl. Tears begin to form on my face and they fall down violently. The little girl latches onto me and I to her and we share each other's pain.

"Bianca?" White's voice says. She's with Cheren standing at the beginning of the route. "Oh my gods! Bianca! What happened?"

I wipe off some of the tears. "This girl's Pokémon was stolen by Team Plasma."

"Them again?" Is White's first reaction.

"Wait, I thought they were weird but they're resorting to illegal activity?" Cheren says. "That not right."

"The hell it is!" White interjects.

"Little girl," Cheren begins, "did you see in which direction the bad guys went?"

The girl sniffles very loudly and weakly points straight towards the direction of a cave.

"Don't worry. We'll get your Pokémon," White tells her. "C'mon Cheren." And both of them disappear.

While we wait, Autumn and the little girl's classmates join us, both comforting the girl and anticipating White and Cheren's return. "Don't worry, you guys. White and Cheren are my best friends and really good trainers. They'll get the Pokémon back." They're all silent in a mixture of sadness and anticipation as they face the cave's direction. I take the time to recall my Pokémon one by one. Autumn tells me she called the police through her Xtransceiver.

Each minute feels extremely slow and the little girl's tears come back every other minute. It brings me to tears, too.

Then a fuzzy image comes from the cave's directions. I can't tell if its Cheren, White, or Team Plasma. There's some blue but it could be black. The little girl begins to scream again. "BLITZY!" The figure becomes progressively clearer and I notice that it is indeed Cheren, walking with a beleaguered Blitzle on his side. The little girl embraces it and the other little kids follow.

White shows up, with police forces behind her. "Hey everyone. The bad guys are going to be thrown in jail. I'm going to make sure that this won't happen again. I promise!" All of the little kids surround White and attack her with hugs. She reacts rather awkwardly. Cheren's just watching from afar, but the little kids get to him too, and he reacts in an even more hilarious manner. Then I realize I've overstayed my welcome.

"I think I should go train," I tell Autumn. I feel terrible for letting a children get scarred on my watch.

"Hey Bianca. Please don't blame yourself. Things happen all of the time. I don't think this is your fault. In fact, you reacted bravely and helped my students."

Some of the kids now approach me. "Thank you!" they say to me.

"You're welcome. I have to go back to my job and keep training my Pokémon!"

"We had fun, Bianca!"

"Yeah!"

"Please come back one day when your Pokémon are all grown up." I get some warm hugs, instantly feeling better. I don't think these children blame me for what happened. They've blamed Plasma. Someone needs to take them back a peg or two.

"Bye!" And I take my leave back to Striaton.

"Wait for me!" Cheren and White say and tag along with me.

"Wait so how did you end up in this situation?" Cheren asks.

"Well..." Was this successful? Maybe not. Did I have fun? Yes. I'm better with kids than White and Cheren from what I've seen but having to deal with them at once and facing something like that again was terrifying! I like it, but I don't think this is for me. Either way, I'm glad I was able to help and serve as a role model.

Please review! I'd love to hear your opinion on this!