EDITOR'S NOTE: "This was the first original lesson we came up with. I hope you enjoy our interpretation of Hassel."

Juliana decided to train her Fairy types for a bit, and she returned to school with a Jigglypuff and a Daschbun. Taking a seat in her art class, she saw Hassel setting out small tubs of paint. Thick, globby paint with no brushes.

"Good afternoon, students," he said, as Juliana stared at the substance at her table. "I hope everyone is ready for finger painting today."

"Finger painting?" a student in his late teens asked. "That's kid stuff, Mr. Hassel."

"Speak for yourself," said a student in her twenties.

Hassel laughed. "Art isn't about age. Anyone can have fun with it, after all." The male student who had spoken up quietly agreed. "Now, let's get started!"

Juliana and Nemona made eye contact and nodded. Penny was sitting there, awkward in the presence of so many people and wishing she hadn't braved the class, and looked up in alarm when they sat down with her.

"Hi, Penny," said Juliana, and Penny scooted away slightly.

"Hello."

"We were going shopping after classes," Juliana added, gesturing to Nemona. "Are you in?"

"Why?"

"Because we all need friends."

Penny looked over at Nemona, then back at Juliana. "I think someone in the student council would have enough friends."

"You'd be wrong," said Nemona. She dipped her finger into the paint, then pulled it out in confusion. The texture wasn't like the finger paint she remembered from childhood.

Noticing her confusion, the other girls followed suit. Penny frowned, trying to figure it out, but Juliana recognized it.

She whirled her head to face Hassel. Hassel was casually eating his own 'finger paint' but he looked back at her with a smile.

"It's pudding," she stated, no emotion on her own face. "We're painting with dyed pudding."

Nemona licked the 'paint' off her finger. "You're right," she said, surprised. "Why?"

Juliana stared at the pudding on her finger. Then she shrugged and licked it off. "Avant-garde," she said simply.

Nemona laughed. Penny just scooched further away, deciding not to join the shopping trip after all. These girls were nuts.

"Juliana!"

The girl turned at the sound of her name, noticing Florian quickly approaching. "Hey. What's up?"

"I got you a late birthday present," he said, opening his bag. "Actually, I got you something for Koraidon."

"What is it?"

Florian pulled out a sandwich. "Bitter Herba Mystica," he announced, and Koraidon jumped out of his ball. Florian nodded. "Yes, in a sandwich. I just remembered how Koraidon seemed to get more powerful last time he had some of this stuff, so I figured we could try again."

Koraidon licked his lips. Florian held it out for him, and, despite the fumes coming from the bitter herbs, he chomped it immediately.

Just like last time, there was a slight glow coming from the dragon. And, just like last time, Juliana got a call from Professor Sada.

"Juliana Fernandez," Sada began, and Florian cleared his throat.

"And Florian Vasquez," he added.

"Of course." The professor seemed to recognize him, which made him puff out his chest in pride. "You were both present the last time I detected Koraidon regaining some of its power. Perhaps you can test out this development together."

"What can he do now?" Juliana asked.

"I've detected the ability to swim."

"Swim?" Florian interrupted. "He could do that before. He was in my pool."

"Not like this," Sada said, devoid of any emotion. "Have you noticed how he coils his tail and puffs it out with his chest when he carries someone?"

Juliana nodded. "Yeah. He looks like a bike with feet."

"He's retaining air. And now he's able to inflate his air sacks so much that he can float a majority of his body above water and carry someone across it."

"Then you should call it the ability to float," said Juliana, a finger on her chin in thought. "Actually, no. That would imply that he can defy gravity."

Florian shook his head. "Can you just focus on how lucky you are? Your dragon can swim without getting your socks wet. I'll have to hitch a ride sometime."

"I hope that this means you two will continue to show Koraidon the Paldea region," Sada interrupted, more focused on Koraidon's healing than their conversation.

"Why can't you do it? You're his trainer, right?"

"I am unable to leave Area Zero at this time," Sada answered. "I trust you to take care of Koraidon."

And the professor ended the call.

Florian stared at his friend's phone, and then at the place where the phone had been as she returned to Juliana's pocket. It was almost as if Professor Sada was attempting to hide something.

Juliana didn't seem to notice. "I take it Arven wouldn't want us to lie and say she told us to say hello," she said, and Florian shook his head.

"Better not."

Juliana frowned and returned Koraidon to his ball. "I'm close with my parents. I can't imagine a mom caring about her work more than her kid. And no one knows what happened to his dad."

Florian bit his tongue. He and Arven knew what happened to Professor Turo, and Clavell had said that he'd never been able to figure him out even when they'd both been in the outside world. "I'm close with my parents, too," Florian said. "Even though I think Mom would have preferred having a daughter, just for modeling purposes."

This seemed to remind her of something. "Hey. Nemona and I are going shopping after school. Do you want to come?"

"You just want a guy to carry your shopping bags for you, don't you?"

"More like a dress-up doll," Juliana admitted. "But don't worry! We won't put you in girl's clothes!"

She crossed her heart. Florian considered.

"Bring it on," he decided, and she squealed in excitement and pulled him along to their next class.

After all, he liked these people. And if they could show him how to dress to attract girls, even better.

Florian fell into bed after the shopping trip, exhausted from being used as a Ken doll for clothes he didn't buy. None of them had actually purchased much that wasn't related to training, Juliana because she used up most of her money buying sandwich ingredients and the others because they were usually wearing their school uniforms anyway. Florian had bought Juliana a Sprigatito Squishmallow as a birthday present, and that was the extent of it.

He was almost asleep, Lloyd curled up on the floor when he suddenly remembered something. Grabbing Edelgard's ball, he left for the girls' dorms immediately.

Juliana was awake, barely. She opened the door in her pink pajamas, her new toy tucked under her arm. "Florian? What are you doing here? Boys and girls aren't allowed on each other's floors after dark."

"That's why I brought Edelgard." He said it like his little bird could fight off the Murkrow patrol squad.

Juliana apparently thought so too. "Well? What is it?"

"Didn't you get a call from someone called Cassiopeia?"

The name clicked in Juliana's brain, and she buried her face in her toy and screamed.

"We'll go together," she said when she resurfaced. "Team Star shouldn't stand a chance against both of us."

"Which one?"

"Well, I've heard there's a mass outbreak of Swablu out by Cascaraffa, and a Team Star base. I want a Swablu, I promised to stop Team Star."

"I just fought a Titan there."

"Oh." Juliana cringed. "Do you think it shrank?"

"Probably. I haven't heard any more reports about Clawsette."

"So what did you name this Titan?"

How was it that he still wasn't entirely used to this girl?