I was in a "no crap or nonsense" attitude as I had Buizel and Poochyena scoot into my sweatshirt. Once done with that, I smiled at them as I made them happy.

"Okay, guys, be on your best behavior, okay?" I said, "We're gonna go to the schoolyard and talk to some of my friends about something. Here we go!"

With that, I locked the door once outside and made my way to the schoolyard. As I walked there, things just went off in my mind that made me upset. I mean, Mr. Pepperridge and I went way back in bashing heads against me going to the school or having Pokémon. He NEVER did this back then. W-why would he think about doing this? W-Was it because I stopped him in front of the school a month ago? Was it… revenge…?

And now I ran from the Police. Was I gonna get in trouble? Are they right now trying to find me? And if they did... would they... take Buizel and Poochyena away?

My thoughts were caught short when I realized I had got to the schoolyard. I looked up to see all of them; Old Man Fellows, Principal Vicar, Kaname, Jocinda, Tucker, Lyr, Molly, and Purgy. I nodded to them as Tucker waved me over. I walked over and sat down with them. I noticed that no other children were outside.

"Before you ask," Principal Vicar said, "I arranged lunch indoors today, so we could have this chat in privacy."

"Well, I've never heard you being so tense before, buddy boy," Tucker said with a confused face, "What's up?"

I took a deep breath as I got ready. They needed to know.

"All right, guys," I said, "this is very serious. It's something that came up of late that I needed help from."

"Thomas, are you okay?" Old Man Fellows said concerned.

"Not right now, I'm not," I replied with a frown, "I'll tell you what it is bugging me. First, I decided to let Principal Vicar know that I have caught and now own Buizel and Poochyena."

With that, I opened my sweatshirt and let Buizel and Poochyena sit with us politely. Kaname's uncle nodded as he approved.

"Now, I've been trying to keep these two into a low profile ever since the incident here at the school," I went on, "And everyone here, excluding the traveling trainers, know that Mr. Pepperridge and I haven't been on the best of terms ever since my dad and he met. It also didn't get any better when the incident of the school happened. Do you trainers need to hear it?"

"Nah, it's okay," Lyr said, waving it off, "Principal Vicar told us about it."

"Are you okay? I've had a Hyper Beam to the back before, and that attack kills," Molly said in a loving way.

"Yes, I'm fine, and thank you," I replied, "Anyways, this problem I'm having started about the day before yesterday. I was walking into the city to start my daily routine when I noticed this certain man was following me. Now, at that day, I didn't notice. Then, the next day, he followed me everywhere. I even went to ridiculous places that I'd never go to. Heck, I went to the women's clothing store!"

I could've sworn that Molly, Tucker, and Lyr hid a giggle, but I kept explaining.

"So, today, I tested it. I went into the city and he followed me again. I walked, jogged, even sprinted! And the guy was right behind me, running too! So, I ducked into an alleyway and collided into him. When we both fell, he dropped this."

With that, I took the Walkie-Talkie and placed it on the table. Everyone leaned in closer to look at it.

"Is that… a Walkie-Talkie?" Jocinda asked.

"How old fashioned," Purgy said unimpressed, "A mere children's plaything."

"That's what I thought too," I said, grabbing their attention, "but I thought if this guy was carrying it and following me, he must know what it does. So, I turned it on. I heard people talking on it. The man's name was Jenkins, but that's not important. What it said next was he lost his Walkie-Talkie to the "target" and they needed to inform this to Mr. Pepperridge!"

It was then that all of them made gasps and looked around at each other with disbelief.

"M-Mr. Pepperridge!?" Jocinda said in shock.

"You mean that snobby, clean, and neat gentleman you introduced to us this morning?" Purgy asked Principal Vicar.

"The same," the man sighed as he took it in.

"That poophead!" Tucker said angrily, "Picking on my buddy like that! Ooh, that burns me up! I outta kick him where it counts!"

"Behave," Principal Vicar ordered, causing Tucker to heel.

"I honestly can't believe it," Old Man Fellows said sadly, "In all my years of knowing him, to think he'd ever do this… I mean, why would he send people after Thomas?"

I noticed Buizel and Poochyena look at me in concern. They were worried about me. I could tell.

"Well, Thomas said the people referred to him as the target…" Lyr thought out loud.

Molly suddenly gasped and said, "Oh no! You don't think they're trying to kill Thomas, do you!?"

"Now, let me stop you right there," Principal Vicar said, preventing any panic or fear to rise up, "Although he can be easily flustered at times, deep down Mr. Pepperridge is a man of honor and dignity. He wouldn't stoop so low to get revenge."

"Plus," Kaname said, "He's been trying to get Thomas to come to the schoolyard for 8 years. I don't think he'd suddenly switch to bumping him off…"

"Oh, hold on; it gets better," I said sarcastically and then said seriously, "After I heard that and ran back to check on my Pokémon, five people chased after me, and I think one of them was Skyler."

Principal Vicar nodded in an angry way. I could tell this may not have been the first time he had dealt with that kid.

"SKYLER!?" Tucker yelled, "ARE YOU KIDDING ME?"

I shook my head and said, "Nope, and what's worse; the police showed up and tried to make peace. However, I panicked and ran from them. I don't know how, but I ran so fast, I lost their Pokémon behind me. I got home, phoned Kaname, and now we're here. So, now I don't know if I'm a criminal because of this."

Everyone took a huge sigh and looked among themselves.

"Great," Jocinda groaned, "What do we do now?"

"Hold on," Old Man Fellows said, "Maybe if we turned on the Walkie-Talkie…"

"Wait a second," Kaname said as he pulled out a tape recorder, "Turn it on now; I'm recording it, so we can hear what they say."

With that, he took it and turned it on. It was right there and then we heard voices talking.

"We still haven't found Jenkin's Walkie-Talkie yet?"

"Nope, the target must've took it."

"What's worse is we got a report from Hawkins' group. They almost caught him and got it back, but the police jumped in and then the target shot off like a rocket out of sight."

Then a familiar voice said, "Well, I never! This is outrageous! Find him and the Walkie-Talkie at once before he figures out what we're doing!"

All of us looked at each other with widened eyes; that was Mr. Pepperridge's voice! HE WAS BEHIND THIS! My heart felt angry again; was he after Buizel and Poochyena again? That jerk. Why can't he just leave me alone!?

Principal Vicar looked at me and said, "Thomas, I can have Mr. Pepperridge come down here right now and talk with us about this. Do you want me to?"

I looked at everyone, who was staring back at me, as they waited for my response. I glanced down at Poochyena and Buizel, who wondered what I was going to do. It was then I got the perfect idea. I smirked as I looked at them.

"I have an idea. Let me see the Walkie-Talkie," I said.

As Old Man Fellows handed me it, I hit the talk button and said this into it.

"Yeah, hey. This is Thomas AKA the target. Mr. Pepperridge, I did take Jenkins' Walkie-Talkie and I must say I'm not impressed. I want you to come have a little chat with me. No stalkers, no Walkie-Talkies, no nothing. Come down to the schoolyard like a man, confront me face-to-face, and tell me why you're doing this."

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