A Friendly Dinner and A Late-Night Stroll
After a filling lunch and a twenty-minute resting period it was time for recess. Getting fresh air for both students and teachers alike is much needed to keep them from going stir crazy. The kindergarten playground provided enough space for at least three classes at a time and a few pokemon to be out.
During this time, Ms. Norton alongside with Zoelle decided to use this time for their students. Ms. Norton did not hold hostility towards the new teacher anymore but that didn't mean she cut her any slack. If anything, Hazel Norton was even more curious about the young woman since the dinner. First the director gives her a job, then comes to find out she's semi- homeless. How exactly did Zoelle mange to survive this long in her current situation?
Knocking out of her thoughts, a student tugged on Hazel's skirt asking her to release a couple a few of her pokemon. Smiling she let out Vileplume, Venusaur, and Golduck. Satisfied the kid thanked their teacher. Venusaur used its vines to take the student to the nearest slide. Hearing the child's laughter brought an even bigger smile on the blonde teacher's face.
"How come you're not taking out any pokemon Ms. Morris?" Hazel asked turning her attention to the brown skinned woman.
"I'm not sure if my current team can be trusted with kids yet. Well maybe Romeo he's the friendliest." Zoelle responded.
"You could just switch out your teams."
"I know but I feel like since this is my first-time teaching, why not use my team that I used when I first became a trainer."
Hazel sighed. "When you put it that way, I guess its noble. So, are you going to send them out or what?"
"I'll send out Romeo and Rosco."
It seemed like forever since the punching pokemon was freed from his ball. As he is getting a good stretch a stream of water hit his face. Rosco. He wondered why he was being released with his friend. It wasn't time to eat, nor does it look like they were about to train. What could it be?
"Romeo, Rosco. Since you two are the nicest out of your friends you get to play with my students. Your job is to help me make sure they are not hurt got it?" Zoelle instructed. Nodding the two pokemon went on their way to the playground.
"Wow a hitmonchan!" Sammy exclaimed. "My daddy has one too! Can you use fire punch!?"
Smirking, Romeo heated up its right hand to show off to the young boy without punching anything. His trainer warned him not to damage anything but with the contest training he had showing off was no problem. True to his species nature he even performed a quick viewing on how fast he can punch too. The boys and both classes seemed amazed and tried to mimic the humanoid punching machine.
Rosco on the other hand decided to perform tricks for the kids to keep them entertained. He flipped a ball with his tail to the top of his nose. Once balanced, the ball was tossed slightly in the air and pushed further up with a hydro pump. This kept Aoki, Nora, and a few of the girl students in Hazel's class entertained.
Golduck looking at the sea lion pokemon was upset. Upset that they couldn't finish their match. That was her first match in many seasons, and she wanted to win. However, she knew this wasn't the place to do it. Not without her trainer's orders or with so many little humans around to get hurt. Nay she must wait.
"It seems Golduck has unfinished business with Rosco," Zoelle commented.
"I can't blame her. It was her..no our first real battle in years. She is one of my more competitive mon. Which is ironic since as a psyduck she hated battling." Hazel chuckled.
"It's funny how pokemon change when they evolve sometimes."
"Yes, but sometimes they don't change at all." The blonde teacher added.
Zoelle looked towards her mons with love in her heart. "And I love them even more for it."
"You must really love pokemon."
The new teacher shook her heard. ", I love ONLY my pokemon. To say I love all pokemon would be disingenuous. In fact, it really wasn't love at first sight like how most trainers describe it. It was more of we grew together. I don't know its kind of hard to explain."
"I think I get it. My vileplume, I had her since she was oddish. I was terrified of her for the longest. It took me a while to even hold her. It's so embarrassing especially since she was my starter."
"It wasn't your venusaur?" Zoelle asked confused?"
"No. I did get him from Professor Oak, but I already had my oddish by then."
"What made you afraid of your oddish."
"They look like walking blueberries."
Both teachers stared at each other for a moment before bursting into laughter. It was a nice change other than the animosity from their first encounter. It also eased up the stress that was building up from teaching all day. Checking their watches, the two teachers realized that it was time to go in so the other classes can enjoy the playground.
At the apartment Zoelle was cooking a stew for dinner. Today was draining but it wasn't terribly bad. Sure, the kids started of crazy, but they settled down for a bit. She maybe even thought about taking them outside twice a day to help weigh down their energy some. Or better yet schedule a quick play time in between lessons. Maybe even go out and catch a class pet that the kids can play with rather than her own pokemon. Maybe a pichu or something of that nature.
Knocking her out of her thought, someone knocked on her door. Cutting the stove off Zoelle ran to the door.
"Who is it?" She asked cautiously.
"It's me, Dario. Your neighbor amiga!" Garcia answered.
Surprised she saw the other foreign teacher standing in front of her door with a houndoom by his side. Inviting him inside Zoelle led him to the couch. Why was he here? They didn't even see each other much despite being neighbors. And as a fifth-grade teacher he was in the other building separated by the courtyard. Is he ready to battle now? She hoped not. She quietly made it back to the kitchen so her stew wouldn't burn.
"You must not have people come over often. I would have at least been offered something to drink by now," Garcia stated as a matter of fact.
"Sorry, but I was not expecting company and I'm trying to make sure dinner doesn't burn. Would you like some?" Zoelle asked.
Smiling the young man sat down in a chair in her dining area. Which was just a small table against the wall between the living room and kitchen, and only had two chairs. His houndoom however stayed in the living area and laid on the floor. He already has eaten and was ready to rest. His trainer on the other hand wanted to see the female human for some odd reason. Dario did say they were going to battle her one day in the future, but he talked about her different than other female humans. The houndoom watch his trainer have an internal battle before knocking on Zoelle's door. Slightly annoyed by Dario's strange behavior he nudged him giving him the confidence he needed. The only time he witnessed such strangeness from the young man is back when they were in Pyrite Town in the beginning of their journey. A young human female with dark maroon hair had his trainer act like, well lack of better words, an idiot. Wait? Does that mean he see this one as a potential mate?
"Diablo, I can sense your judgmental stares," Dario complained.
"Diablo? What a cute name!" Zoelle exclaimed as she brought out the bowls of stew and rice onto the table. She also went back to grab two bottles of water for them to drink. "Sorry, I don't really have much. I plan on going to the grocery store soon. Does Diablo want anything to eat? I tend to feed my pokemon at the center or the park so everyone has room to eat."
"No, he already ate. I also try to feed everyone outside of the apartment. It's kind of hard to do here since we can't go over the size-weight limit."
"Well, let me send out Regal so Diablo won't be lonely."
"That's your persian right?" Dario asked with a mouthful of stew. "If that's the case I'll return him and let out Sugar. We don't need to start a cat and dog fight just yet." With that he returned the houndoom.
Slightly confused Zoelle let out Regal. He let out a large yawn and looked at his trainer with annoyance. She knows it was time for his quick nap before he snuck off to explore. Turning his head, he noticed a male human. Cautiously Regal walked towards his trainer giving a defensive stance towards the male. He didn't sense any mal intent, but you could never be too careful.
Noticing the cat pokemon behavior, Dario smiled as let out his other pokemon, a delcatty. For Zoelle it was quite unexpected as she didn't think the Orre native to have such a pokemon in his arsenal. It just didn't fit his aesthetic. Then again, she really didn't know much about Dario Garcia anyway other than he is a former trainer now teacher like her.
"You can ease up. We don't bite." The Delcatty smiled.
Slightly dropping his guard Regal responded, "You may not as of yet, but Zoelle is hardly ever alone with such..company."
"Huh? My trainer seems to only want to be friends with yours. What is the problem?"
Sighing the classy cat pokemon sat in a more relaxed stance. "I guess there is not a problem as of now. However, if things change, I will not hesitate to take matters into my own claws."
"Fair enough. My name is Sugar!"
"Regal."
"That's a funny name. Do you want to play?"
"It looks like they are getting along," Dario said. "So how is everything? You know with teaching the tiny ones."
Drinking the last bit of her water Zoelle replied, "It's tough. I don't want to yell at them some days but if you give them an inch, they will take a mile. But other than that, I like it. I love when they light up when we learn something. And I also enjoy it when my team is gentle with the students. Granted it is still hard though. Like the other day, I literally wanted to pull my hair out. And other days I must ask why, and I know the answer is because their brains aren't fully developed for reasoning but still it's frustrating."
Listening to Zoelle talk about her teaching experience so far was amusing to Dario. He knew all too well the frustrations of being a new teacher and finding your ground. He assured her that she will get the hang of it soon enough. He even offers to help clean the kitchen with her.
"I do have a question for you. Is this what you wear when not in uniform?" He asked looking at her outfit. It was a purple crop tank top and white pajama shorts.
Shrugging her shoulders Zoelle gave a quick reply. "Only when I'm in the house not expecting company."
"I guess that's fair."
"Maybe I should let Hellcat do some chores too."
"Who is Hellcat?"
"My incineroar. I paid a hefty price to get him."
"Oh yeah. Being from Orre you either have to traverse the harsh environment for pokemon or pay for them to be imported. Or on the black market."
"I never got any of my pokemon from the black market!" Dario nearly shouted but toned it down quickly. "Sorry, it's just a reaction for me. Since I'm from Pyrite town everyone in the region thinks the worse of us."
"I understand. I'm also prejudge from people just because of my looks." Zoelle said. "From my obvious brown skin that I inherited from both my parents to a degree. My mom was quite tanned since she enjoyed surfing so much. And we stayed in a harbor town next to a beach so yeah. Anyway, what other pokemon do you have?"
"I have a gengar, a cacturne, and a krookodile."
"I was right. Having a delcatty does not fit your team's aesthetic." Zoelle stated.
Dario couldn't help but laugh at the obvious situation. He promises to tell her the story one day on how he obtained Sugar. Finishing cleaning the kitchen both young adults headed to the living room to watch television. They figured since it was still early in the evening and they didn't have work the next day, it would be nice to relax. And not think about the kids for once. Zoelle suggested a thriller. Agreeing Dario also quickly headed to his unit to bring snacks.
Laying down on the living room floor the two cat pokemon finished playing with Regal's toy raticate and decided to relax. Regal still unsure on how he felt about the new company in their home but didn't mind. It was one of the few times that Zoelle felt comfortable around another human. Especially one of the opposite sex. Seeing as he didn't have anything to worry about, Regal made his way to the window that he could easily open and snuck out.
Confused by his actions Sugar decided to follow him. She watched as the male cat leaped down into the street. Not wanting to lose him she did the same thing. Did he not like being near his trainer. His earlier actions showed that he was loyal so why is he leaving?
Regal sensing Sugar behind him slowed down his pace so she could catch up. In his honest opinion the prim cat seemed naïve about the world, but she was genuinely kind. He would never admit to anyone else that he had fun playing with her. Generally, he refused to act in what he called undignified manner but the delcatty brought it out of him. In fact, she also brought out an unknown feeling as well. It made him feel fluttery. He hates feeling fluttery but also enjoyed it? Strange.
"So where are you going?" Sugar asked keeping pace with the cream fur cat.
"Patrolling," Regal gruffly responded.
"Isn't that what the police humans do? And pokemon without trainers?
"I've always patrolled the area before we made camp to make sure it was safe. At first, I just explored this area when we first moved here but I picked up a familiar scent."
Sugar tilted her head in confusion. A familiar scent? "What do you mean?"
Not answering the question, Regal continued his stroll throughout the neighborhood. He hoped that he was wrong. If HE was here that would cause many problems for Zoelle. As much as he refuses to admit, they were not strong enough to take on his team. No matter how much they trained, HE was stronger. So, if HE was here, it would better to know now than later.
The sound a falling trash cans made the duo pause in their steps. Regal slowly approached the direction of the sound only to see a couple of ratattas getting whatever food was in there. Slightly relieved he continued his trek with Sugar still behind him. She remained quiet for the duration of the stroll. She wanted to pry some more although it was probably not the best time. Sugar sensed something was up since she met him at the apartment. Yet, something else was stirring inside of her but she did not know what it was.
Regal patrolled the whole neighborhood. He would have done the entire city but with Sugar he knew he couldn't be out too long. Most trainers were not like Zoelle. They kept the pokemon close to them at all times refusing to let them be free once in a while. At least from what he has seen. Regal and the rest of the team were used to being alone for a couple of days being free to do what they want, as long as they did not cause any damage, while Zoelle went to do work. During those days the team would either nap for the day or train together. Most of the time everyone did their own thing anyway. Despite all of that, they worked well with each other and dare say became friends.
Who knows? Maybe soon he might consider Sugar a friend.
"Sugar!? Where did you go chica?" Dario panicked. Looking for her in the apartment.
"She's most likely with Regal doing what cats do, explore," Zoelle calmly replied. "Don't worry Regal is a gentleman I'm sure he won't let anything bad happen to her."
"You're used to this huh?"
"Yep, especially since I used to leave them alone for a couple of days or vice versa. Now before you say anything, I was still a new trainer, and I was still working my other job too. Most of the time my pokemon got in the way so I left them at the Pokemon Center. I rested at the center but sometimes did not interact with my team."
"What was the job if I may ask?" Dario inquired?
"Deliver service. My team were very destructive so half of the products would end up damaged. I always did whatever local job was in whatever town we stopped in though. I didn't abandon them."
"I'm not judging you amiga. I can honestly tell how much you love your pokemon and how much they love you. Your persian is a prime example of that. He was ready to pounce on me!" the Orre native laughed. "That's why I sent out Sugar to ease some of the tension."
"So, you thought Regal would attack Diablo?" Zoelle asked confused.
"Well, I figured there was enough male energy and needed some feminine energy to balance out." Nervously replied.
"I guess it make sense. Regal is not like Romeo but even he can't deny a pretty face sometimes. It was nice to see him be out of his comfort zone. He hardly ever plays with his friends. He's too much of a snob for that."
Feeling something hit the back of her leg Zoelle looked back and saw that it was Regal looking annoyed. Shrugging her shoulders, she gave him a very light kick. Getting more annoyed the cat pokemon began attacking his trainer. Claws retracted of course. Zoelle not taking it lightly began to fight back.
Both confused and worried Dario and Sugar looked at the duo 'fighting each other'. The brown skinned young woman is laughing while the persian gently hits her with his paws. After a few minutes of the roughhousing Regal rubbed his head on Zoelle's leg showing her much affection. Smiling at them Dario and Sugar said their goodbyes as they headed back to their unit.
"Thanks for being my wingman Sugar," Dario said as he pets the Delcatty. "Even though I did not like you sneaking off. Did you have fun with Regal chica?" Sugar nodded and even blushed a little bit. "I should also thank Diablo too. If it wasn't for him, I would not have knocked on her door. It's odd that me of all people get nervous talking to a girl. Look at me. I'm freakin' gorgeous women should be nervous talking to me."
Sugar nodded in agreement. Like her trainer she could not help if male species fell for her charms. Well, cute charm is her ability, however that does not deter the fact that she is easily loved. To her credit she won a few battles for her trainer with her cuteness to the point that her opponents did not want to attack. Plus being the only girl on the team had its advantages. Like the first one to get snacks.
"So, let's talk strategy. When we battle Zoelle I'll make sure you will fight Regal. If your ability doesn't activate, we will use attract and then hit him hard with zen headbutt. We can't let our feelings get in the way of winning okay."
Zoelle decided to leave out for work extra early Monday. Surprisingly she saw Dario locking his door as well. Both smiled and greeted each other. He complimented her outfit which was just a short sleeve white collared shirt complimented with khakis and the apron Mr. Oda gave to her. I guess compared to last night she was a little bit more dressed up.
Since they were heading in the same direction the pair walked together and discussed lesson plans for the week. For Dario, his fifth graders were going to learn type match ups and do mock battles. Along with studying long division, finding topics for their upcoming essays, and reading a few age-appropriate short stories.
The Hoenn./Kalosian teacher was grateful that her lesson plans this week was making the kids trace their shapes, learn colors, do basic math, practice writing their names, and teaching them about all the pokemon that start with the letter 'C'(in Kanto and Johto).
"We should do dinner again soon," Dario commented. "I will cook us Pyrite style street tacos."
"Pyrite style huh? Can't wait. I'll also bring a dessert. I should have groceries by then." Zoelle laughed.
The Orre native laughed along with her. Maybe he should take her out to eat instead. Nah, he will wait until he defeats her in the battle. For now, having simple dinners at each other's apartment was good enough.