“I had, have, will, whatever, spent the past week watching you go to school,” Shaun argued in an impassioned whisper. “And I was so bored the entire time you were there! Can’t you at least hide me in the bushes or something so I can watch?”
“You’re supposed to rest!” Buizel whispered in equally passionate tones. “I can’t walk you to school with a broken leg!”
This row continued until they heard the telltale mechanical noises of the elevator, whereupon Buizel was suddenly in the kitchen making a light breakfast and Shaun was serendipitously asleep instantly.
Ampharos walked into the kitchen, looking tired as usual. “Becoming an early riser, I see,” he remarked.
“Early bird-type gets the Wurmple, right?” Buizel joked, collecting a bowl from the cupboard. He didn’t want to have to explain the “taking Shaun to school” dilemma.
Luckily, Ampharos didn’t seem to notice anything. “I suppose. Just as long as it doesn’t interfere with your schooling.”
“It doesn’t,” Buizel assured him, filling his bowl with a few berries. “I’m probably going to stop by the library today.”
“Oh?” Ampharos got a glass of water from the pitcher. “What for?”
“Geography.” Buizel ate a spoonful of berries and swallowed. “I want to see if that cipher thing aligns with any maps.”
“Good idea,” Ampharos said, a little surprised. “Just remember to stay out of the water, yourself.”
“I know, I know.” Buizel sat down at the table and started to eat, hoping that his dad would go to bed so that he could resume arguing with Shaun. “I’ll try and stay away from the ocean as much as possible.”
“Thank you.” Ampharos finished drinking his water and set down the cup. “And when Shaun wakes up, do you think you could take him to school with you?”
Buizel sincerely hoped that his face didn’t twitch too much. “But he has a broken leg!”
“And he needs to get out of the house for a few hours,” Ampharos shot back. “He seems liable to try and escape the house if he’s too bored. I know his type.”
“Alright, dad,” Buizel said, chagrined. “I’m still worried about his leg, though.”
“Don’t let him do anything too strenuous, then,” Ampharos advised. “I’m headed off to bed.”
“Goodnight,” bade Buizel.
He waited until he heard the door latch and then walked swiftly to the couch, where Shaun was grinning like he had eaten a Flying-type. “He’s right, you know. I’ve done it before.”
“Oh shut up,” Buizel growled. “Do you want me to carry you there, or do you want to try and walk?”
“I’ll walk,” Shaun said determinedly. “I don’t want to have to make you carry me everywhere.”
Buizel sighed. “Let me finish eating first and then we’ll leave.”
He remained begrudgingly true to his word, walking Shaun to school. “You know, I don’t think I’ve seen your school before,” Shaun remarked as they walked along the school path. “And I’ve been here for a while, too.”
“It’s not much to look at.” Buizel shrugged. “It’s mostly sitting and listening to Mr. Breloom talk.”
“Hey, I can do that with a broken leg,” Shaun said as he hobbled along the road.
They arrived at the schoolyard. To Buizel’s relief, no one else was here yet except for Sneasel, who was a little shocked to see them. “What’s he doing here?” she asked.
“Dad told me to bring him,” Buizel answered, “even though he should really stay home.”
“Being stuck at the lighthouse is boring,” Shaun complained. “I would know. I was stuck there for like, four or five days during that rainstorm.”
Buizel rolled his eyes. “It’s just as boring here, you know.”
“I have to agree with Buizel,” Sneasel said, her arms crossed. She glanced at Buizel and asked, “How much of it was your dad’s idea and how much of it was Shaun’s?”
“Fifty-fifty,” Shaun replied. “He seemed to think that I’d leave the house anyway, somehow. No clue how he could possibly think that.”
This elicited a snort from Buizel. “Uh, Sneasel, do you know if Mr. Breloom is here yet? I need to explain about Shaun.”
“He usually gets here an hour before I do, which is an accomplishment,” she said. “He’s probably in the admin building.”
Buizel walked over to it and poked his head in the doorway. Breloom was leaning over a strong-looking wooden desk, staring at a large spread of papers. Seemingly in deep thought, he didn’t look up until Buizel cleared his throat. “Excuse me, sir, can I talk to you about something really quick?”
“Oh, sure, Buizel.” He stood up straighter and looked at him. “What do you need to talk about?”
Buizel shuffled in place awkwardly. “So, my dad made me bring somemon we’re taking care of to school today, but he doesn’t have a desk or anything-“
Breloom nodded, cutting him off. “Say no more. Give me a second.”
He walked out of the admin building and over to the storage shed which was next to it. Breloom produced a key from seemingly nowhere and unlocked the shed, and then pulled out another desk.
Buizel blinked as he carried it over to the rest of the desks and put it down in the row Buizel sat in. Sneasel was also watching with interest as Shaun and Breloom immediately fell into comfortable conversation.
“…Thanks for agreeing to this on such short notice,” Shaun was saying as Buizel walked up to them. “I understand that you’re probably really busy with teaching everyone else and whatnot.”
“It’s my job to teach interested Pokemon,” Breloom replied. “I think you’re the first new pupil I’ve had since Wooper moved here, actually.”
“How long ago was that?” Shaun asked curiously.
Breloom considered the question. “About three to four years ago, now.”
“Huh.” Shaun hobbled to sit in front of the newly placed desk. “Again, thank you so much for agreeing to this.”
“My pleasure,” Breloom replied. “I’ll be looking over today’s material if anymon else needs me.”
He departed for the admin building, leaving Buizel staring after him. “You can just… talk to teachers?” he asked in a bit of a shellshocked tone.
“They’re people too,” Shaun answered simply. “I get the feeling he’s kind of lonely.”
Buizel sat down at his usual spot, feeling conflicted. “It’s not something I’ve ever really noticed,” he said humbly.
The younger set of children arrived, cutting any further conversation short by avoiding Shaun, but glancing at him and trying not to laugh every time he smiled at them.
Eventually, Minun worked up the courage to walk up to him and shyly ask, “Excuse me, mister, how did you break your leg?”
“Fell from a tree,” Shaun answered truthfully. “I’m not good at climbing trees.”
The children stared at Shaun. “But you’re a Shinx!” Plusle said. “Aren’t you ‘sposed to be really good at climbing trees?”
Shaun laughed ruefully. “I guess I was never really interested in climbing trees, so I never got good at it.”
Now that they had started talking to Shaun, the children were unable to stop talking to Shaun. They peppered him with question after question, most of which he answered good-naturedly. Buizel was interested to see that he artfully dodged questions about where he came from, instead preferring to answer other, more interesting questions.
Eventually, Breloom came out to start the lesson, which slightly disappointed the children as they regretfully sat at their desks. The school day proceeded as normal, with Buizel listening to Breloom lecture the class about something he had already learnt years ago.
Shaun, however, absorbed information like a sponge. The topic was about Evolutions, a topic that Buizel already knew about, but Shaun was so fascinated and kept asking such interesting questions that he actually began to pay attention to the lesson.
“So evolution isn’t just an age thing?” Shaun asked. “Things like location and training are elements too?”
Breloom nodded, obviously pleased to have such an interested student from the back row. “Indeed! Quite a lot of Pokemon choose to remain as they are, sometimes not evolving at all!”
Eventually, the tinkling of the school’s wooden bells sounded, causing everymon to look up, surprised.
“That felt faster than usual,” Buizel remarked to no one in particular as he stood up from his desk and stretched.
“I think I know why,” Sneasel said, watching as the younger children peppered Shaun with more questions. “Time is destabilizing already.”
Buizel blinked at her slowly for a second before he remembered what she was talking about. “Oh! Yeah! Right! I completely forgot about that.”
“Not sure how,” she said. “It was a pretty big issue.”
“A lot of, um, other things happened,” Buizel said. He walked over to Shaun, who seemed a little fatigued. “Alright, guys,” he said. “We need to leave now. Shaun still needs to recover from his broken leg.”
The children were disappointed by this. “But he was just telling us how he dodged a Swift!” Plusle said.
Buizel raised an eyebrow and looked at Shaun, who did his best approximation of a shrug. “It may or may not have come up.”
Shaun and Buizel started for home, leaving the kids at the school to gossip wildly behind them as they left. As they were walking along the path, Buizel stared up into the sky and bit his lip. The red star was still there, even though it was almost made invisible by the sun’s glare.
Shaun saw him staring into the sky and also looked. “Oh. Right.” He didn’t say anything for a moment. “Wow, what a deadline, huh?”
“Putting stress on everymon since it was invented,” Buizel replied dryly.
They had to stop in the middle of the road as Shaun collapsed with laughter. “How dare you use my words against me!” he gasped.
Buizel grinned a little, despite the topic. “I do dare.”
“At least come up with something original,” Shaun said, standing up unsteadily.
They continued down the path in comfortable silence, occasionally talking about nothing in particular. It was nice to relax a little after the hectic week behind them.
Halfway to town, Shaun rolled his eyes and gave a loud, over exaggerated sigh. “Sneasel, if you want to talk, you can do that without stalking us from the tree line.”
After a second, Sneasel did, to Buizel’s shock, step out of the trees and fall into step beside them, looking miffed. “How did you know I was following you?” she asked in an annoyed tone.
“One,” Shaun began, “I have decent hearing. Two, I saw you slip into the trees as we were leaving the schoolyard. Three, I’m not stupid. You want to talk about something.”
Sneasel exasperatedly sighed. “I’d argue that you’re too smart for your own good, but alright.” She was silent for a moment as she presumably thought about what she wanted to say. Buizel and Shaun waited with trepidation.
“So, the whole ‘human thing’,” she said. Buizel started a little. He had almost completely forgotten about that.
Shaun didn’t exactly flinch away from her, but it was clear that he didn’t want to talk about that. “Oh, um, what about it?”
Sneasel stopped and looked at him searchingly. “How are you a Pokemon, but also a human?”
Shaun shook his head. “I don’t know.”
She had been seemingly expecting this answer, because she continued, “Why did you hide that from us?”
“I told Ampharos,” he said miserably. He was staring at the ground to avoid making eye contact. “That was before the whole time travel thing, though.” Buizel was shaken by how absolutely dejected Shaun sounded.
“But why did you hide it from us?” Sneasel pressed. “That’s, like, a really big deal.”
“Humans don’t exist,” Shaun said, still in that dejected tone that Buizel was beginning to despise. “Would anyone have believed me if I told them?”
“I would’ve,” Buizel replied. He desperately wanted Shaun to stop talking like that.
Shaun laughed, an unsympathetic, unfeeling laugh. “Oh, sure, now you’d believe it. After everything. You wouldn’t have believed me before.” His tail lashed back and forth like it was under personal attack.
“Shaun, I would’ve believed you,” Buizel said softly. He wasn’t exactly telling the truth, but he wasn’t lying. “Even before everything that happened.”
“Because I’m weird?” Shaun challenged, finally looking up at them. “Because I don’t act like anyone else?” He stopped suddenly and looked at the ground again. “I don’t want to repeat this. I really don’t want to repeat this.”
“Why?” Sneasel asked.
“Because it’s embarrassing!” he burst out, stamping a paw on the ground. “Because I’m acting like a child! I should know better! I’m seventeen! I should’ve moved past this!” He repeatedly stamped his paw for emphasis, still refusing to make eye contact.
Sneasel tried a new tact. “Why did you befriend Buizel, anyway?”
“Oh, please please please stop asking him questions,” Buizel begged. He didn’t want that question answered any more than Shaun wanted to answer it.
“I didn’t!” Shaun yelled over him. “He just- he just kept showing up! I don’t know why!”
“You’re the one who kept asking for me!” Buizel said indignantly.
“The one time!” Shaun shouted back, looking up to glare at Buizel. “You didn’t have to keep showing up! Not for me!”
“Yes, I did!” Buizel hadn’t meant to, but he began to yell too. “There was no one else! No one else would’ve cared!”
“I know!” Shaun stomped his paw on the ground again. “So why did you have to care?!”
Buizel didn’t know. He glared at Shaun, his paws clenching and unclenching.
“All I’ve been is a burden to you!” Shaun continued. “Why can’t you just leave? Everyone else I knew has! And that was before I got here!”
“Because you’re not a burden!” Buizel yelled. “You’re a friend!”
“I’m not!” Shaun’s eyes began to glisten. “You only hang around me because you have to take care of me! You’re just saying that!”
Sneasel was watching in silent interest. “Wait, you’ve never had friends before?” she asked suddenly.
This turned their ire onto her. “Shut up!” they both shouted. “You’re the one who caused this!” Buizel added.
She bristled. “I was just asking a question.”
“Stop asking questions!” Shaun yelled. “I don’t want to think about WHY!”
As he said this, he slammed his paw into the ground painfully. As he did, all three Pokemon heard a click.
Buizel blinked and looked around. The area around them had gone completely black and white, like the world was suddenly a sketched picture.
Shaun’s breath caught and he looked around wildly. “Oh crap, not again, not again…”
“What the heck?” Sneasel said, also looking around.
Shaun jumped. “Oh! Uh, that’s new.”
“What is?” Buizel asked. He was trying to keep his voice steady and nearly failing.
Buizel had the sudden sensation of being violently pulled to the left. He stumbled and gasped a little as the other two Pokemon mimicked his reaction, the grays of the world smearing around them like someone had poured water onto a freshly painted canvas.
“That is definitely new,” Shaun said, gasping a little. “What on earth-?”
They heard a click again, and suddenly things were very different.
The trees around them were covered in leaves, the kind that you only see in deep summer. Around them was an unidentifiable buzzing, and it was a lot hotter.
And there was no dirt path leading to the school.
“Cicadas?” Shaun asked, confused.
“Forget those, the path is gone,” Buizel said. He rounded on Shaun. “What the heck just happened?”
Shaun blew air out of the corner of his mouth. “So, were you there when I was fighting that green lizard?”
“Grovyle?” Sneasel supplied. She looked uncomfortable in the sudden heat.
Shaun nodded. “Yeah, that. Well, I managed to keep dodging his attacks by, um, stopping time? I think?”
“Looked like you were just teleporting, actually,” Sneasel said. “Can we get moving? I don’t like the idea that we got teleported to the middle of nowhere.”
Buizel looked around at the trees. They seemed much shorter than he remembered, with a lot fewer branches. “Do you think we should just keep following the school path?”
“What school path?” Sneasel asked. “There isn’t a path anymore.”
Buizel looked up and down what had been the path a minute ago. While the dirt path was covered in grass, the trees still curved in a path-like way he recognized. “No, there is.”
He started down the path, feeling very odd. The argument he had just had with Shaun still lingered in the back of his head, threatening to flare back up if he said anything. Shaun and Sneasel followed him silently.
After a few minutes of trailing through the strange grassy way, they finally arrived at the town. But something was very wrong.
Instead of the paved stone streets and the buildings made of colorful plaster, it was more like a collection of wooden huts that surrounded a large dirt depression. Young children that Buizel didn’t recognize played in the middle of the depression, laughing and shouting.
“Buizel?” Shaun asked, also looking around at the village. “Where are we?”
“I think,” Sneasel answered distantly, as if she wasn’t quite believing what she was seeing, “this is Island Village.”