NSO Chapter 6

I don't own Pokemon.

Pushing open the gymnasium door, Zenith found the room to be empty, besides the PE teacher, Mr Ho. Mr Ho was a Machamp, and years of training devoted to his job had made him even more well-built than the most of his species in every way, from height to strength. Seeing Zenith enter, Mr Ho waved at Zenith with one of his four arms, acknowledging his presence. He seemed to be one of the few Pokemon that were okay with the Umbreon being Shiny, although his eyes seemed to linger on Zenith's blue rings for longer than usual.

Returning the wave, Zenith climbed to the top of one of the nearby bleachers and sat there, waiting for the other students to arrive. The gym was empty, most of the students enjoying their fifteen-minute break before the lesson elsewhere. Judging from the way Mr Ho was laying out hurdles and gym equipment, it looked like it was going to be another physical training session. Zenith groaned internally. It wasn't that he couldn't make it through those sessions, but he found repeatedly doing the same exercises with relative ease kind of boring.

Weird flex, but okay…

Hey! I'm not the only one in this class that can accomplish the same things that I do!

Yeah, but if they could, why does your school even have PT in the first place?

While struggling to come up with a good reply to the entity in his head, Zenith felt a paw being placed on his shoulder. All rational thought abandoned the Umbreon's mind as his instincts kicked in, fearing the worst. He grabbed the paw and pulled on it, throwing the Pokemon over his shoulder.

It wasn't until then that Zenith realised how light the Pokemon he flipped was, and how the paw was blue, the light colour matching none of the bullies that constantly picked on him. That meant that the paw that he had just yanked on belonged to…

Cleo!

It was at this moment that Zenith knew… he screwed up.

Zenith was sitting on the ninth step on the bleachers, which meant that he had just thrown Cleo off the highest step. It was about 5 metres from the ground, and since Cleo was taken by surprise by Zenith's sudden actions, she had no time to react, her face an expression of surprise and shock as she fell. It was too late for Zenith to do anything now; by the time that he had realised his mistake, Cleo was plummeting halfway towards the ground. He was moving too slow to rescue Cleo in time, the only thing that the Umbreon could do was close his eyes, apologies and regrets speeding through his mind as he braced himself, dreading the thud of a body hitting the hard gymnasium floor.

Silence.

What seemed to be another second passed. Still silence.

Wait. Cleo should have hit the floor by now. Did I not hear the landing?

Zenith opened his eyes in fearful curiosity, expecting to see a gruesome sight, but was instead greeted with a strange one. Cleo hung in mid-air, mouth wide open in a scream that Zenith could not hear, falling slowly towards the floor. The Umbreon looked around in confusion. Mr Ho was placing a large pull-up machine on the ground, but his actions were slowed to a crawl. Zenith moved his paws and legs, noticing that they were still moving at the same speed as per normal.

Am I… slowing time down? I never knew I could do that!

Yeah, but you know something that you can do? SAVE CLEO! She's going to be severely injured if she hits the floor!

Hearing the urgent tone of the voice in his head snapped Zenith out of the wonder-filled daze he was in, and into action. He rushed down the bleachers, leaping two steps at a time till he was directly next to Cleo. It was sort of lucky that she was falling close to the steps so that she was within Zenith's reach. Placing one leg on two different steps to maintain his balance, he placed his paws directly underneath Cleo's falling body, ready to catch her without tumbling down the stairs from the impact.

Just as suddenly as Zenith's 'time powers' were activated, they disappeared without warning, everything around Zenith speeding up rapidly. Cleo landed in his arms, the Vaporeon was surprisingly light. Zenith stumbled a little from the impact, but still managed to maintain a stable footing in order to not fall. In the background, Mr Ho set the pull-up machine on the ground with a thud, the sound sending chills down Zenith's spine, the Umbreon shuddering as he imagined what would have happened if he hadn't caught Cleo in time.

Cleo grunted as she landed in Zenith's arms, the wind knocked out of her from the fall. She looked up at Zenith, trying to see who had caught her, and their eyes met. The two stared at each other, crimson orbs lost in pools of turquoise. They were so close, Zenith could smell the scent of ocean mist that hung around her. He had no idea what his scent was, but if the small smile on Cleo's face was any hint, the Umbreon could tell she liked it.

They were locked in their position for so long that Zenith's arms were starting to ache from the strain. Reluctantly, he broke Cleo's gaze to gently lower her to the ground. As soon as the Vaporeon was out of Zenith's arms, they looked away quickly, blushing furiously at what they had just done.

Luckily no one was here to witness that. More teasing is what I don't need right now.

Thinking of which, where are all your classmates? I know it's still your break, but is your entire class full of slackers?

Pretty much.

Mentioning students, Zenith circled Cleo, giving the Vaporeon a once-over as he checked her body for any signs of injuries. Finding none, he gave a loud sigh, sitting down on the gym floor with relief, before realising that Cleo was looking at him with a quizzical expression on her face. Remembering what he had done to her before, the Umbreon scrambled back up on his feet, apologising profusely.

"Look, Cleo, I'm sorry for almost injuring you. I just thought you were one of the bullies and I overreacted and I...and I-"

Cleo held up a paw, cutting off Zenith's nervous rambling. "It's okay," She placed a paw on the Umbreon back to calm him down. "After all, I'm not hurt, am I? All thanks to you. But how did you do that?"

"Uh… do what?"

"How did you manage to catch me?" Zenith flinched as he heard Cleo's loud, incredulous tone, wishing for the gym's doors to remain shut. "Not to be ungrateful or anything, but you were sitting on the second-highest step when I surprised you and you were able to make it in time to catch me! How... was that possible?"

"I- I honestly don't know…" Zenith's head began to ache as he pondered the same question, struggling to come up with a logical explanation to what he had done moments before. How had he managed to slow down time? It wasn't something he was able to do until just now. And as far as he knew, no other ordinary Pokemon in the history of the world was documented to have time-wielding abilities.

Cleo raised an eyebrow in skepticism, but nodded. "It's alright if you don't want to tell me. We all have secrets, and I respect your privacy."

"It's not a secret-" Zenith was forced to clam up as students started to stream into the gymnasium in chattering droves. Noticing this, Mr Ho gestured for everyone to gather around him, cutting off his conversation with Cleo as they joined the boisterous crowd.

-I really...don't...know. Say, you wouldn't have anything to do with this, would you?

…

...right.

Gym was surprisingly uneventful, given everything that had happened. Zenith's prediction about PT was correct. He wasn't bullied as much, since everyone was preoccupied doing their various exercises Mr Ho had planned out for them. However, he couldn't talk to Cleo as well.

As the bell rang, the entire class heaved a collective sigh of relief, glad to be free from the torture that were Physical Training sessions. The other students proceeded to make their way to the Battle Room, where their next lesson, Battle Training, was being held.

Battle Training was an initiative held by Kingdra High to teach all students how to use their different types of moves effectively in the scenario where one needed self-defence. Battle Training was Zenith's least liked lesson, paws down. Even though it was the most fun, students were allowed to train with one another through 'friendly battles'. Previously, when he was fitting in, he would be practicing in a corner by himself while the bullies dueled it out on the multiple elevated battle arenas in the room. But now that the school knew that he was a shiny, the Umbreon was sure that there would be a few classmates who would love to 'train' him.

I can't wait to be beaten up…

Oh, look on the bright side! We both know you're completely incapable of handling yourself in a fight, but at least you now have Cleo to help you! You won't be alone anymore!

I really have to stop admitting this… but I guess you're right.

"Hey, Zenith! You waiting for me?"

Said Umbreon turned around to see Cleo trot up to him, having helped Mr Ho put back the equipment that the Machamp had laid out previously. Standing alone at the double doors of the gymnasium, Zenith felt bad for just waiting at one side, spending his time screaming at the voices in his head instead of helping her out.

"Uh… yeah! Le-let's go." Zenith facepalmed himself mentally as he felt himself turn into a bumbling idiot around the Vaporeon, tongue twisting on even the simplest of words. His nervous brain felt the need to say something, anything to break the silence as they walked to their next destination.

"You-you're not perspiring? I thought that even after all those strenuous activities…"

Smooth move, charmer boy. Of all possible topics to pick from, you choose sweat.

I-I...you..only thing I noticed...ugh. I can't even think straight.

Luckily for Zenith, Cleo chuckled and bumped against his flank lightly, taking mock offence to what she perceived to be a curious, joking statement from the Umbreon.

"What, just 'cause I'm a girl means that I can't take what boys can?" Cleo shot back lightheartedly, watching Zenith's face flush red, mistaking her passing comment as a serious one and struggling to come up with an appropriate response.

"U-uh, no, I-I didn't mean it li-like that... I just wanted to say that-" As Zenith trailed off into defeated silence, he received another friendly nudge from the Vaporeon.

"Calm down, Zenith. It was a joke. My molecules are actually similar to that of water, which means that I can basically become water if I want to. I just absorbed the water in my sweat back into my body, that's all."

Zenith realised that in the midst of their conversation, they had unknowingly traversed the hallways of the school to end up in front of the Battle Room, Pushing open one of the heavily fortified double doors, he allowed Cleo to enter the room first, before stepping in himself.