After some minutes of shaking and moving scenery, the bus came to a stop. Claire took a deep breath and thought. ‘I hope Ms. Iris isn’t too mad I missed her class…'

While the ground students left the bus by the door, the students that could fly left the bus by, obviously, flying. Some thanked the bus driver while some didn’t, other than that Asher the Koraidon was happy with the kids either way.

Claire reached her mouth close to the backpack and whispered. “John, are you still gonna stay there or what?” The backpack opened and the small Joltik’s head peeked out of it.

“Depends on the amount of Pokémon close to you.” John responded.

“Well, there are no Pokémon that close to me so you can come out now.” She confirmed. John took a look around and saw some Pokémon that were a bit far away from Claire that were talking among themselves. He signed and crawled out of the bag onto Claire’s curly head fur.“

image [https://file.garden/ZeEYyRamDG12bOk5/John%20and%20Claire.png]

"Well, I guess we need a bit of fresh air… I’ve been quite needing it I guess…”

“Good, I’m sure you’ll love my school!” Exclaimed Claire. John put his nubs on the side of his face looking rather pensive. He didn’t know what to expect from a school like this, however, he knew one thing for sure, anyone might try to kill him if he makes the wrong move.

“I sure hope so…” He said looking at the school. It was a bigger school than he had expected, like the school uniform every Pokémon was using, it was white and red, the red being more the outline of the edges of the building. It had two floors and it stretched far into the sides, it looked like there were a lot of classrooms. ‘It’s massive alright… just hope no big students around here…' He thought, but he had a feeling that was exactly what he would find in a place as big as this.

Claire entered the school with John hiding on the fur of her head. The halls of the place looked like they were from a normal high school, but instead of humans, it was full of talking animals. There were lockers all around the place. Claire went to her locker, which was close to a door that was labeled in a language he didn’t understand. It seemed he had to learn a new language, it seemed…

Claire picked up some books and her personalized notebook with her mouth and went to her class. She entered the class and John looked around the place. Sure enough, it was full of different looking Pokémon, a hound with a skull on the forehead, a gray round rodent with spots on their body (John then inspected it further then discovered those were actually spikes), and a white hedgehog-like creature with green needles that looked like grass. Looking farther away, he could spot Elsa and those cat Pokémon along with her, still talking to each other.

“Man… what a classroom…” John whispered to Claire. It was easier talking in a low voice since her ears were on top of her head. Claire put her notebook at her back, balancing it making sure it wouldn’t fall.

“Don’t worry about them, they’re nice, as long as you don’t anger them of course.” She whispers back and then looks at her sister and friends. “Can’t say the same for everyone though…”

“At least there are no bugs…” John mumbled to himself. But it appeared Claire had heard that.

“What?”

“… nothing, just go to your seat before your teacher comes.” Claire nodded discreetly and went to her usual desk beside the Togedemaru and sat on the hay seat. She put her notebook down at her desk and sat on the hay that was used as everyone’s chair. Meanwhile, John decided to look at what the rodent-like creature was doing and saw it was reading something, it looked like a type of comic. He decided not to pay more attention to that and decided to look out the window, which coincidentally Claire was sitting next to it at the front of the class.

The steel rodent took his eyes off his comic and looked at Claire, he put a paw on his chin and then decided to speak to her with his male teen voice, something that John didn’t expect him to sound like. “Hey, Claire, can I ask you something?”

Claire looked at him and tilted her head. “Yes, Taro?”

“So… why did you leave the school after break yesterday? Was it something urgent, because it’s not like you to just ditch class like that.” While he said that, he felt something was attracting him toward Claire, but he couldn’t put a finger on it.

“Oh um…” She stammered, trying to think what to tell him. Should she lie to him, or should he tell half of the truth? She thought about how John would react if Taro discovered about him, he wouldn’t be very pleased… “Something important came up, and uh… I got called into a forest…”

“Why…?”

“Well uh… that’s because…” She suddenly got interrupted when a shiny Decidueye walked into the room. They had glasses and were carrying some books around their wings. They put the books on the teacher’s desk, adjusted their glasses, and then wrapped their wings around themselves.

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

“Good morning class.” She said with a female voice. At that, the whole class (except for Elsa and her cat friends) replied with a “Good Morning teacher Iris!”

‘That’s the teacher? An owl?’ John thought as he looked up and down at the black and blue owl.

“Let’s start our class shall we?” She opened her book on a page and looked again at the class. “Today, we’re gonna talk about the very force that gives us the potential to use our magical abilities. Our cores.” John’s head raised at that, maybe he can learn something about these creatures after all. He looked at the professor and saw that she was looking in his direction, he almost jumped as he noticed that. Was she glaring at him? Or was it that weird hood of hers that made it look like she was glaring? Did she even notice he was hiding on Claire’s head? Whatever the reasons he stayed motionless and silent.

“Something wrong Ms. Iris?” The Houndour asked, a male voice coming from him.

“Oh nothing wrong sweetie, just thought I saw something.” She chuckled. “Anyways, let’s talk about our cores, shall we? Cores are something that exists in every Pokémon, almost like an organ if you will. It is different between every Pokémon, and they are the objective that defines our typing. Not only that, but it is that very organ that lets us use our elemental abilities!” She exclaimed and the class stood silent. “… Ahem…” She glares at the class, and everyone except John, Elsa, and a sleeping Glameow pretend to be impressed by letting out an “Ooooooohh!”

‘Interesting honestly… so that’s how their powers work then…' John thought as Iris took out a feather arrow from somewhere behind her wings, and made a bow out of the wire of her hoodie.

“For example, my bow and arrows are part of my body, there is no influence on my core, so I’d be shooting just one of the sharp feathers, however…” She put the arrow on her leafy string and aimed at the sleeping student. “If I use a move like… Spirit Shackle per se…” Her feather started glowing in a dark purple as she pulled the string. “I am using the power that my core provides to me since my core is half grass and half ghost.” John started to become nervous about what was about to happen.

She released the string and shot the arrow toward the student. ‘Is she about to kill a fucking student!?’ John thought. However, instead of the arrow going straight to the cat’s head, the arrow made a loop above the Glameow and landed on her desk, piercing the wood and making some sort of shadow dome around the student. A second later the dome disappeared and Glameow woke up, looking confused.

“Meh?” She grunted confused.

“I shall remove that arrow fifteen minutes after break begins, your punishment for not paying attention.” Iris said as she folded her wings around her again.

‘Damn… not gonna lie… that looked sick and also a bit scary to think what she did to that cat…' He thought while burrowing himself more into Claire’s fur. Suddenly the green spiky hedgehog raised a paw.

“Yes, Amy? You have a question?” The teacher asked and the student nodded as she lowered her paw.

“Do normal types have cores as well?”

The archer owl chuckled while putting a wing in front of her beak. “Why of course, because how else do you think a Snorlax can shoot out a hyper beam then?”

“Oh yeah! You’re right!” The student nodded in understanding as Claire raised her own paw as well.

“If our core is basically the organ that makes us use our powers depending on their typing… then why can some Pokémon use moves that are not on their typing? Because my mom can use Psychic even though she’s just a fire type like I am?” She asked, looking determined to learn.

“Good question, Claire!” She said looking gleefully at Claire. “You see, Pokémon cores are affected by their natural physique and origins of the species. You see, here’s a history lesson for you on your species that I learned some time ago. Ninetales in the past were incredible psychic and fire Pokémon, but as evolution came, their fire typing overcame the psychic typing by a margin. But, that’s not to say that psychic energy is completely gone, no. It is still within your core, but not having as much influence as before. But hey, there’s a chance you might develop more psychic energy than other Vulpix.”

“I see… thank you for explaining it to me!” She said happily.

“Anytime dear, I’m just doing my job.” Once again, John felt that instead of looking at Claire, Iris was looking rather at him. He tried sinking in more onto her fur, but he was a bit big for that. “Claire, mind if I speak to you on break?”

“Um… sure…?” She said a bit confused. And her sister put her forepaws on the desk.

“Oh look at that, looks like someone is in trouble for ditching class yesterday!” She and her friend started laughing at that. Claire stayed in silence, lowering her head a little and looking away.

“Now, now, who said she was in trouble? I just said I was gonna talk to her.” She replied back, opening her wings and looking sassily at Elsa. “Now please put your paws back on your seat.” Elsa scoffed and put her paws back on her seat.

‘At least a teacher supports Claire… poor girl…’ This reminded John of how badly he was bullied at school, being shouted at, being beaten up… and what his only family did? Absolutely nothing about it. High school was one of the absolute worst moments of his life, and being the quiet kid didn’t help at all. But at least it was all over, and maybe he could help someone else that goes through that situation.

“So, let’s continue our class students, let’s talk about how our emotions affect our moves.” And so, the class continued. Iris taught them how to control emotions in the middle of a fight, while also giving some examples. Soon, it was break time. As the bells played, everyone got up from their hay seats and went outside the classroom (except for the Glameow.) Claire followed the teacher outside of the class and went somewhere isolated with no one in sight.

“So… what do you want to speak about…?” Claire asked while looking up at the Decidueye while sitting on the floor.

“Well…” In one swift motion with her wings, she swooped the top of her head fur and grabbed John. Claire was in shock at how fast she was, it was almost like time had slowed down at that moment. Iris brought the little Joltik to her face level, holding him. John was scared shitless as he was trembling while his eyes widened. “I want you to talk about who this is before I make it my snack.”

At that, John had to hold another piss.

image [https://file.garden/ZeEYyRamDG12bOk5/CBAW_C07.png]