Getting Iggy with It
In a flash of light, a small pokemon appeared out of the ball. It was small, round, pink, and rounded tuft hair on its head. Zoelle did not remember the name of this creature other than it shares a connection with jigglypuff. She hardly ever encountered the cute pokemon on her jour. This was a bad look for her since she's supposed to be a teacher. How embarrassing.
Taking out her phone she took a picture of the pink ball. Thanks to technology she could look it up without anyone getting suspicious. An igglybuff is what came up in the search bar. Of course, it was the pre-evolved form of jigglypuff duh. Zoelle did wonder if Mr. Oda was part psychic. How did he know she was planning on giving her students a class pet.
Semi-learning the art of boundaries, the kids surrounded the small balloon pokemon with wide eyed curiosity. The igglybuff did the same in return. Both teachers smiled widely looking at the exchange. Since in all technicalities the kids and the creature have the same mindset.
Before leaving to go back to his class Mr. Garcia explained that the pet pokemon will always stay on school grounds unless stated otherwise. Each of the kindergarten teachers also received a baby pokemon for their respective classes. He also explained that the principal thought this was much easier and safer for kids to learn how to take care of pokemon without over relying on their teachers' teams. That did not mean they couldn't use their team it was just a way for the kids to experience their own.
"Wow it so cute Ms. Zo!" Aoki exclaimed. "Can I take it home?"
"You all heard what Mr. Garcia said, the pokemon stays here unless stated otherwise." Zoelle replied calmly. "Besides we will play with it more tomorrow. Right now, everyone needs to clean up and get ready to go home."
Groaning, the kids did as they were told. However, Aoki was the only one giggling as she was cleaning. Zoelle guessed it was the anticipation of getting to play with the new pokemon in the room.
Returning both Rogue and the igglybuff to their poke balls Zoelle began straightening up her desk. Since the igglybuff had to stay within the school, she placed it on her desk. Now she had to figure out how to incorporate the pink squishmellow into lessons. It was already hard enough squeezing in her team. But since igglybuffs are pretty much babies themselves it might be easier for them to comprehend the lessons better.
"Hi Igglybuff, I'm Zoelle and this is Romeo," the teacher properly introduced herself. It was early in the morning and still time before the kids came in. "Starting today you will help me teach the kids. So, after we do our usual morning routine, we will have a music lesson today. Want to help us sing?"
"Iggy!" the balloon pokemon agreed with a huge smile on its face.
Staying up late doing research, Zoelle figured it would be best to use Igglybuff during music time. Igglybuffs and their evolved forms are best known for their singing abilities. However, in the baby form its vocal cords are not nearly as strong but that does not matter. Everyone sounds out of tune anyway.
Romeo wondered how he was going to help the young teacher today. He guessed since it was a music lesson today, she is going to incorporate dance as well. He is the best dancer on the team. Romeo smiled at the pink fluff ball. The punching pokemon had a soft spot for pink pokemon. When he was a young tyrogue, he flirted with the chanseys at the pokemon centers. And before he was captured by Zoelle, he got adopted into a group of cleffa, clefairies and clefables. Romeo placed his hand/fist in front of the Igglybuff. Confused by this, the baby ball tapped her stubby arm on his hand. In a way it was a handshake.
Zoelle smiled at the sight while the kids were beginning to come in. Everyone quickly put their things in their cubbies and sat down in the seats. The young teacher figured the kids were more excited about Igglybuff than anything else. They did the morning lessons without a fuss. Zoelle was happy that things were going smoothly this morning. Every other morning, at least one kid was getting up or not paying attention.
After the usual routine, the young teacher took out some toy instruments. Hopefully they would not get too crazy with the noise. She also grabbed one of the toy tambourines so she could guide them a bit.
"Okay kids, so what shall we sing with Igglybuff today?" Zoelle asked.
"Twinkle twinkle little star!" Aoki practically shouted.
Zoelle agreed and they began to sing the nursery rhyme. Igglybuff quickly caught on to the tune and began singing. As the baby pokemon was singing, the teacher wondered if it knew the move Sing. If so, she could use it to put the kids to sleep at nap. But that might be going overboard.
Three songs and terribly out of tune later, Zoelle decided it was time to end the music lesson. Personally, she enjoyed the music lessons the best. During her time traveling she was always singing to keep her spirits up along with extra cash. And learning dances moves helped with her battle style as well. It was a way to learn how to be in sync with her pokemon.
"Ms. Zo, why do we sing?" Jackson inquired.
"Singing helps us learn and retain many things. How many more pokemon names you know from our ABC remix?"
"Um a hundred. Do pokemon like singing?"
Ignoring the hundred comment Zoelle replied, "Yes, yes, they do. Igglybuff and its evolutions are known for their singing. In fact, quite a few pokemon are known for their singing. To be honest, I don't know all of them, but we can learn together."
"Can Romeo sing?" Jace asked.
"He can but he cannot learn the move Sing."
"Wait you can sing in a pokemon battle!?" Aoki screeched.
"Yes. I'm not sure if Igglybuff knows Sing yet but if she does, you can use that move to put your opponent to sleep. Simply it's a lullaby like the ones your mommies sing."
"Will Igglybuff sing to us for nap time?
"I might let her do that. Although I must put in ear plugs, so I don't fall asleep too."
"Do grown-ups take naps?" Sammy questioned.
"Not enough Sammy," the teacher laughed. "I wish I could."
"Mr. Oda did you give the kindergarten teachers igglybuffs and cleffas for lessons or just to help them put the kids to sleep?" Mr. Roberts asked.
"Both."
"Would it not have been easier just to get recordings of the singing instead?"
"Roberts yes but it also a lesson for responsibility for the young ones. They will oversee feeding, playing, and grooming the class pet. It also helps relieve the stress off the teachers as well," Oda replied sipping on his mug of coffee.
"Understandable sir. I think it is a wise choice. The kids will be less likely to acquire any type of harm from the species.
"Roberts, do you still disagree with my choice of letting Ms. Morris become a teacher?"
The principle sighed, "To be fair sir, the hostility from the other teachers has toned down a bit, and she seems somewhat effective at her job. Still, she is young and inexperienced. She started off being nice, but she is getting a hang at being firm with the kids now. Honestly you were right we needed help. If she stays for the next school year, she will have to get a larger class to be fair."
Mr. Oda nodded and continued sipping his coffee. The middle-aged man was happy that hiring Zoelle was starting to benefit the school. The teacher shortage began to stress him out. He had to cut some days short due to the lack of teachers. Unfortunately, it upset a lot because they felt like the kids were not getting the education they needed. For the smaller kids the parents were also upset because they had to leave their jobs early to pick them up.
He could not blame them. They were losing money that helped pay for their livelihoods. For a while he paid for transportation services to pick up the small kids, but it started getting expensive, so he had to cut it out of the budget.
"Mr. Oda, I also want to inquire about something. It seems you are paying for Ms. Morris living expenses."
Slightly annoyed Oda answered, "Relax I am not dipping into the school's finances for that. Just using my own."
"Trust me, I'm aware. We've been friends for a very long time before we decided to work at this school. So is Zoelle related to you in any type of way?"
"Roberts, I told you I will tell you the full story one day. But not here at work."
Gritting his teeth and clenching his fist Roberts got annoyed, "Kentaro no one is here besides you and me currently. This is YOUR private office away from the school and away from your wife. Surely you can tell me now. You have been constantly showing up in the kindergarten building more often. To some of the teachers you are even showing favoritism. I want to protect the school's reputation….
"She's Honor's child." Oda finally answered interrupting. "I am aware of what things look like. I love this school just as much as you. But I also want to make up for some lost time. Zoelle does not even know who I am. I'm just some older man who gave her a job and offered a place to live."
Upon realization Roberts eased up. "I'm sorry I should've never pushed the issue. Please forgive me." Roberts bowed.
"Raise up Tim, we're friends. I should have told you from the beginning." Oda smiled. "Besides my wife is aware of it. She is the one who said I should get her the apartment."
"I guess it's best she does not know who you are. Or your reputation old friend," the principle smirked.
"My reputation is pure…mostly. But I want this to stay between us."
Nodding in understanding, Roberts left the office. Everything started to make sense now. The apartment, the job, and just everything else. The one thing that bothered him now was that Zoelle did not recognize who Oda was. Sure, the Director was busy at times, but he did not check on his own blood? Or was the relationship too damaged to be repaired?
No that couldn't be it. Oda made sure all his seeds and whatever fruits they have were taken care of? Could it be that Maria is the one responsible for the bad communication or was it his best friend? Possibly. It did not matter; now even Roberts felt a protective spirit over Zoelle. It is his God daughter's child. How could he not?
The next day during recess the kindergarten teachers decided to play outside. With the new class pets, they did not have to rely on their own pokemon for a bit. The igglybuffs and cleffas were running around the playground alongside the kids. The air was filled with laughter, and it gave the teachers a much-needed break.
Everyone was blissfully unaware of what was lurking in the skies. A large bird was eyeing the small pink pokemon. It was not part of this pokemon diet, no, it wanted to play with one back at its nest. The question was which one? There were so many. It did notice an igglybuff in the hand of small purple haired human. Maybe that was the one and it can play with the human too. That would be fun. The bird just had to wait its turn patiently.
"Ms. Zo, can you play some music so we can dance with Igglybuff?" Aoki asked sweetly with the balloon pokemon in her hand.
"I didn't bring out the…." Before the teacher could finish her statement a fearow scooped up her student along with the class pet.
Panic filled Zoelle's eyes. For one it was extremely uncommon for a fearow to be in this area, and two what was she supposed to do. Filling out incident reports for when a child gets hurt is one thing, but how is supposed to explain this? Who cares? Right now, she needed to get Aoki back. Without thinking she called out Rebel and climbed on his back. She ordered him to quickly catch up to the wild bird pokemon before it got too far.
The wild fearow gently dropped Aoki and Igglybuff in its nest in some small woods on route 2. Both reasonably terrified scooted away from the avian species. Raising its wings and it made a loud noise summoning spearows to its location.
The smaller birds landed on nearby tree branches looking at the small child and pokemon curiously. Fearow cawed something causing the spearow to get rowdy. A couple of the birds flew close to the frightened child. Reacting on instinct Aoki tried to run away but forgot she was in a tree. Luckily Igglybuff manged to stop the girl before she could fall. At this moment Aoki had to think on how to get out of the situation. Maybe she could use Igglybuff to battle it.
"Okay Igglybuff we gotsa battle so we can go back to school. My big brother told me if I ever get stuck, we haveta fight our way through." Aoki said confidently which quickly went out the way as soon as the fearow cawed again.
This caused the young girl to cry very loudly. Seeing this Igglybuff jumped in between the young girl and the bird pokemon. She was going to protect Aoki to the best of her abilities. Getting a head start the pink puff used pound on the flock leader.
Angry at the sudden attack the large bird used a gust attack causing Igglybuff to fly off somewhere into the air and Aoki to fall off the tree. To her luck Ms. Zo caught her before she could get seriously injured. Still crying, the young girl gave her teacher a big snotty hug happy to see her.
"I'm glad you're, okay? Where's Igglybuff?" Zoelle asked as she was checking for any injuries on the girl. Unable to answer the girl pointed to the sky. There she could see the baby pokemon constantly being tossed around with gust attack.
The young teacher needed to think. She could easily have Rebel take care of the pests, but she did not want to hurt Igglybuff. She could also have her charizard fly Aoki out of the woods. Then that would cause confusion at the school on why Zoelle was not present. That's when the idea hit her. She could have Rebel swoop in and save Igglybuff and let her use sing if she was not too tired.
"Rebel, go save Igglybuff. Those spearows should not give you too much of a hard time," the young woman commanded.
Nodding the fire type did as it was told. Sure enough, grabbing Igglybuff was easy for him. For safe measures he gave them a warning using his flames not to come near. It worked on everyone except the flock leader itself.
Fearow once again cawed loudly instructing the flock to peck on Rebel. Annoyed, the fire pokemon used his flames to attack the birds without hurting Igglybuff in the process. Most of the spearows fled away but the few who stayed kept pecking at him. Igglybuff climbed onto Rebel's back and held on tightly with its stubby arms. Once secured Rebel quickly sped into the direction of Fearow.
Not backing down the large avian prepared to use a drill peck. Carefully maneuvering out the way Rebel countered the attack with dragon tail.
"Rebel fly as close to the ground as possible! Igglybuff I want you to be brave and use sing okay!" Zoelle shouted.
"Okay Puffball hold on really tight." Rebel instructed. "You got a big job to do!"
Doing as told the young pokemone squeezed as tightly as possible. Rebel flew towards an open field since he knew he also would be affected by the singing ability. As on cue, Fearow followed suit using another gust attack. This time the Charizard started to fly sideways so the puffball could take minimal damage. He wished he could go all out but was strictly told not to do so. It seemed even more spearow showed up after that attack. Apparently, they did not learn their lesson the first time.
"Umm mister, I don't know if I can do this," Igglybuff quivered.
"We don't have time for doubts puffball. I can take these weaklings on by myself in normal situations. Since I can't do that thanks to you and the human hatchling being around, I unfortunately need your help." Rebel snidely retorted.
"But I don't see them. I just see the flock."
"Zoelle is right behind us don't worry. You see that large rock? You are going to use your attack there. Got it Puffball?"
"Yes!"
Jumping from Rebel's back Igglybuff landed clumsily on the rock. Once she got her footing she began to sing. One by one the spearows began to fall. However, there were still so many, and she could not keep singing forever. Rebel was doing his best trying to stay awake to defend her. Oh, how she wishes her vocal cords were stronger. Feeling tired stopped singing. It was disheartening to see that the flock was still there and that scary fearow was coming to attack with another drill peck.
"Rogue use thunder!" Zoelle shouted out of the woods with Aoki on her back. The electric attack managed to hit the whole flock causing them to fall out of the sky. Luckily, they were just unconscious and not fatally hurt. How could she explain that to a child who had just gone through one traumatic experience. What was more amazing is that the species is not really known to dwell in this area. Was it already time for them to migrate?
With the little energy she did have, Igglybuff bounced towards the teacher. Rebel snorted out a puff a smoke from his nose with a little annoyance but deep down he was just relieved. Rouge scoured the field looking at his handiwork. He had to admit taking down a whole flock of spearow and their leader Fearow was quite exhilarating.
This is the most excitement they had in forever. Although he wished the human cub was not involved in it whatsoever, they couldn't go all out. Rogue can tell that even Rebel was upset about it as he dragged his way back to the group. The electric fox returned to his ball now that his work was done. Maybe they will get a nice treat when they go home.
Upon returning to the school Aoki's parents, Mr. Oda and his arcanine, Ms. Norton, a nurse, and a few police officers were standing in the front yard. With tears in her eyes Aoki's mother ran towards Zoelle and gently grabbed her baby while the father spilled a thousand thanks for the rescue. The nurse quickly came behind the young girl's parents to check for any visible wounds. It was advised that take her to a hospital to make sure there wasn't any physical trauma done to little Aoki.
With no time wasted, the parents called a taxi and made their way to the hospital. Due to the commotion, parents decided to get their kids early, therefore making the kindergarten close a few hours earlier.
"Ms. Morris, when you get a moment we would like a few words with you," One of the police officers informed.
"Um no problem," Zoelle replied nervously.
Sensing the tension Rebel and Igglybuff somewhat stepped beside the brown skinned woman offering protection. Zoelle assured the two everything would be fine. She did not want to make this situation worse than what it currently is.
"Officers let's take this to the classroom. The other teachers besides Ms. Norton here I have already gone home," Oda suggested.
"That's fine. I also advise you to shut down the kindergarten for the rest of the week until we get done with the investigation. If you choose not to do so that is fine as well. As an officer I can only enforce whatever deems fit. However, as a parent, with a child enrolled into this program it does make me question the safety of the school." The second officer agreed sternly.
Returning Rebel to his pokeball Zoelle walked stiffly inside the building towards the classroom with Igglybuff by her side. She knew she messed up big time. Was she about to get fired after this? Honestly, she hoped not. She is really starting to enjoy what she is doing. In reality Zoelle started to feel like this was her purpose in life.