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Lucas got to his locker and breathed a sigh of relief.

The conversation he'd just had with Jessica had gone better than expected. If only he'd been able to ask her out...no, that would have been weird. It was only the first day of school, after all.

The white-furred Lucario looked at the schedule that had been taped to the inside of his locker door. He saw that his first class was math, so he headed there first. It was only a couple of hallways away, and he made it to the room with about a minute to spare.

Looking around, he saw one person whom he was not eager to face today. It wasn't just that he was reluctant to, or found him annoying to talk to. He found the Machoke sitting at the desk in the back of the room terrifying.

His name was Brett Matamoros, and he was the most brutal bully you could have ever met. He was rude, boisterous, and obnoxious, but, worse still, he was cruel. Why he hadn't been expelled yet, or at least suspended, was beyond Lucas's imagination.

As the other students walked into the room, there were several side conversations going on, most of which Lucas didn't bother to pay attention to. He just wasn't the social type of Lucario, and, what was more, he didn't want to be too disrespectful to the teacher. That was the main reason why he did not join in.

It's so hot here, Lucas thought. Even though his fur may have been as white as snow, that didn't make him any cooler. It was only 7:51 AM, according to the nearby clock (class started at 7:52), and yet the temperature outside was already in the mid-seventies. That might not have sounded hot to someone from Hoenn or even Kanto, but, in this region of southern Sinnoh, anything above ninety was considered dangerous to be outside in.

He considered taking off his scarf...but he decided against it. After all, he never took off his scarf except to sleep.

The thing was a golden yellow color, with a wavy pattern on it in white lines. In addition, there was an olive-colored rope pictured on it, giving it a nautical appearance. That was something Lucas very much liked, since he was a fan of the ocean.

In spite of its being a scarf, it had no "tail". It was simply a flexible tube of fabric that could be worn around the arm like a band (or, it could probably be used as a tourniquet, but Lucas wouldn't want it covered in his own blood), in addition to being a neck band. However, the Lucario always preferred to wear it in this fashion.

As stated above, Lucas never took off his scarf unless he was going to bed or taking a shower or bath. He considered it a good-luck charm of sorts, and, in some respects, he really was lucky.

But I've been cursed with social awkwardness, he thought, tugging slightly at the scarf. And I can't charm anyone into submission. Clearly, it should be working by now...but Jessica hasn't asked me out yet.

The last thing Lucas decided, before the teacher entered the room, was that, at least for right now, he couldn't dwell too much on what Jessica probably thought of him. Right now, he had something else to focus on; namely, math class.

The teacher, a Blaziken named Mr. Joseph, walked into the room. He was tall, with spectacles and a no-nonsense attitude. He wasn't somebody you wanted to cross, whether by causing mischief or simply by not paying enough attention in class.

Occasionally, he would call on a random student to repeat what he had just said to the class. When the unfortunate student could not do that, he would send a note to their parents, telling them that they weren't paying enough attention. That had happened to Lucas a couple of times last year, so he was determined to pay more attention this year. Those death stares from his parents just weren't worth it.

"Good morning, class" Mr. Joseph said. "I hope that you all had good summers".

Most of the room nodded, but Brett did not. That was probably, Lucas guessed, because the Machoke didn't like when he was restricted from bullying and abusing others. He was a psychopath of the worst order, or at least the white-furred Lucario thought so.

Lucas was grateful that he was rarely made fun of for his different fur color. It was something that was occasionally brought to the attention of others, but, for the most part, nobody cared about it.

Indeed, he found it pretty cool. He might have had albinism, or might simply have gotten white fur in some other manner. Whatever the case, he'd most likely never know.

Not unless I got some sort of time machine and warped back, he thought.

As Mr. Joseph started lecturing, Lucas leaned in to listen. He was determined that he wasn't going to get any notes this year. He was going to build a streak from which he would never fall.

This was the way the Blaziken teacher always conducted his lessons. He would drone on and on, like a walking, talking sleeping pill. No matter what, he wouldn't stop talking about math, as though it was his number one interest. Which, if he had gone to school to be a math teacher, it probably was, or at least close to it.

Lucas jotted down notes furiously, so much so that he could feel sweat running down the bridge of his nose. It was important to take notes in all of your classes, but especially in math class.

Math was also the only class in which you weren't allowed to use your computer to take notes. Lucas, who was much better at typing than he was at fine motor skills like handwriting, always preferred to do the former, another reason why he didn't like math class.

However, he did like numbers a lot. Back when math had been all about numbers, without all of this pre-calculus bullshit, math had been one of his favorite subjects. It was no longer so in his senior year of high school.

Finally, the class was over, and Lucas breathed a sigh of relief. At least that was over. Whatever happened next, it could not be nearly as bad as Mr. Joseph's math class.

He got back to his locker and looked at the schedule, seeing that he had science class next.

That was much better. The teacher, a Xatu named Mrs. Berlin, was a very kindly woman who was much more understanding than Mr. Joseph. She offered extra help sessions in her room, which you could attend at the expense of your lunch break. While that wasn't ideal, it was better than falling badly behind in your work.

After more talk about summer and all of that, Mrs. Berlin began her lecture. This lecture was easier to follow than the math lecture, and Lucas couldn't quite put his finger on why. Perhaps he just found the Xatu a much better speaker than Mr. Joseph, more skilled at not making her speeches sound completely dull and boring.

Okay, Lucas thought, I suppose that I'm going to be more interested during this lecture than during the math one.

He was finding it hard to stay interested, however. It wasn't that the lesson was boring; on the contrary, he was always rather interested in science, simply because there were so many wonderful things it could do to help solve problems.

No, the main problem was that he wasn't used to this. After two and a half months of summer vacation, he'd gone back to school and realized that he'd have to face this sort of thing all over again...to say the very least, that wasn't his favorite situation to be in.

Of course, that's life, he thought to himself. It kind of goes in cycles, doesn't it?

Lucas realized that he'd been zoning out, so he tried to refocus on the lecture. Occasionally, he would play with the yellow scarf around his neck, twirling it around, but not taking it off.

Even though Mrs. Berlin wasn't a very harsh teacher, she did assign a heavy amount of homework, even on the first day of school. Lucas had learned that the hard way last year, and now he was going to be in the belly of the beast.

"Homework", the Xatu teacher said eventually, "is to write an essay. Five hundred words on Zexonyte and its use in medicines, to be turned in tomorrow. It must be typed in twelve-point font; I don't care if it is double-spaced or not".

Sighing, Lucas grabbed his binder and went back to his locker. Checking his schedule once more, he saw that he had history class.

Oh, Arceus help me with history class.

His history teacher, a Lucario named Mr. Enfield, generally didn't seem as energetic as most Lucario. While that wasn't necessarily a quality one wanted in a teacher, he took it a step further than Mr. Joseph. It sometimes seemed as though he was trying to be boring on purpose.

If that was the case, Lucas didn't really understand it. It made no sense to, if you were trying to be understood, intentionally make your lectures dull and uninteresting. That certainly wouldn't help your students pay attention.

Oh, well. He was only stuck with Mr. Enfield for one more year; then, he'd be going off to college, and hopefully not have as boring a teacher next year. Right now, though, he had to listen to the lecture.

Mr. Enfield had the same practice as Mr. Joseph. Namely, he'd occasionally ask a student to repeat what he had just said, sending notes home to the parents of students who couldn't. Only here, it was even harder not to receive one, just because the Lucario teacher was so boring.

After suffering through Mr. Enfield's lecture, Lucas hadn't thought that things could get any worse. Surely, things had reached their lowest point, and they wouldn't go any lower.

As it would turn out, however, that was no more than wishful thinking.

Once more, the white-furred Lucario made it back to his locker and looked at his schedule. There was only one period left before lunch, and yet it was the worst class for him.

Gym class. Oh, joy.

Lucas was fairly unathletic for a Lucario. He could run for five miles at a time, but that typically wasn't the skill that was required of him in gym class. Even though he was a Fighting type, and therefore had a lot of stamina, the fact remained that he was rather below average; most of the other Lucario that he had met could run for ten miles or more, most likely, not that he'd ever done a survey.

In any case, when he got to the gym, he saw that a line of about twenty soft foam balls had been set up in the middle of the basketball court. That could only mean one thing.

Dodgeball. What a classic.

Already, his heart was pounding from nerves. He could see that Jessica was also in the gym, and that upped the stakes dramatically.

He wanted to impress her with a good performance. He felt that he owed it to himself to do so.

"Tread carefully around me!" said a harsh voice from the doorway to the gym.

Lucas looked backwards and saw that a Flareon was running for his life into the gym. That was scary in and of itself, because, if the Flareon (whose name was Evan) was running for his life, there must have been something to make him scared.

Sure enough, the next person to enter the gym after Evan was none other than Brett Matamoros, sporting his typical swaggering attitude. He looked even more terrifying than usual, if that was even possible.

Of course he looks more terrifying than usual, Lucas thought. He's about to be armed with any number of dodgeballs, and I've seen him in action - that guy can THROW.

Once, a classmate of his (he couldn't remember who) had had one of their bones broken when they were hit with one of Brett's balls. He'd seen it happen. Not only was the Machamp an accurate thrower, but he threw with a large amount of power - it could hurt to get hit. Considering that the balls were mostly made out of foam, that was no doubt a difficult task, especially for a relative weakling like Lucas or Evan.

The gym teacher, a Blaziken named Mr. Courtland, lined the students up into two teams, ordering them to go on opposite sides of the gymnasium. They were asked to say the numbers one and two alternately, and that was how they were divided into the teams, based on which number they had said.

"All right" Mr. Courtland said eventually. "It's dodgeball, you know the rules already. If you don't, you've probably been living under a rock your whole life...in any case, let's get this thing started, shall we?"

Lucas surveyed the gym and saw that Jessica was on the same team as he was, five people over in the line. Meanwhile, Brett was on the other team.

Great, he thought sarcastically. I really want to possibly spend the afternoon of my first day at school in the hospital. This is going to be fun.

And then he looked over at the Zoroark girl, and he realized that he also had a great opportunity. Jessica was on his team, meaning that he could use this game as a potential opportunity to impress her with his dodgeball skills.

If he hadn't been feeling the pressure before, he certainly was now. Lucas was now fully aware of the fact that, if he didn't perform well, he might make Jessica uninterested in him. He couldn't have that, could he?

Mr. Courtland blew his whistle, and Lucas realized, not for the first time that day, that he had indeed been zoning out. If only he could have been a bit more focused during the countdown to the beginning of the game, he could have gone in and run for the balls immediately.

Instead, like a dazed idiot, he had stayed standing in his starting position like a statue. Now, he was going to have to play defensively rather than offensively.

Not that there was anything wrong with that. Indeed, that was typically the way Lucas played dodgeball, always preferring to stay in the back and try not to get hit with a ball. His aim was also horrible, with his balls going in all directions. It was a wonder that he ever hit anyone at all.

On the other side of the gym, a certain Machoke was playing very aggressively. As soon as he would pick up a ball, he would throw it, no matter what.

Somehow, the balls he threw were never caught, and Lucas wondered if Brett had some kind of magical touch for the game. Given what he knew about Brett, it wouldn't have surprised him.

A ball went flying towards Lucas. He was spacing out, not running away from it, and that would turn out to be a very grave mistake indeed.

Suddenly, his chest felt as though he had been hit with defibrillator paddles, or given the Heimlich maneuver. For a moment, he thought that that's what had happened.

And then he realized that it was, in fact, not either of those things, but rather the fact that Brett had just hit him with a dodgeball.

Lucas moved over to the sidelines, as was required whenever you got out. He felt as though Jessica were staring at him disapprovingly as he did so.

Hey, he wanted to say. It's not like I'm super athletic!

And then he realized that he didn't really want to say that, for if he did, Jessica was going to judge him for that. There was no way that she'd be interested in him then.

Within five minutes, the game was called for Brett's team, and Lucas was disappointed. He felt as though he had let the team down, and that he himself had been the cause of their loss. In the back of his mind, he knew that this wasn't entirely true, but it sure felt the way to him.

After that, there was another game that was being set up. A chance for Lucas to redeem himself, at least in the eyes of Jessica.

He took a deep breath, wanting to make sure that his body was ready for this opportunity. He couldn't mess it up.

"Go!" announced the teacher, in lieu of the whistle.

This time, the white-furred Lucario didn't zone out. He sprang into action immediately, sprinting for the balls in the middle. He used his paws to knock some of them back towards his team's side.

The game didn't go much better for Lucas's team than the first one had. The first four members, including Jessica, were eliminated in quick succession just a few minutes after the game began. And then they kept on falling afterwards, to the point that, eventually, it was only Lucas left.

Now, all eyes were on Lucas Snow. He was sweating, his heart was racing, and his muscles were all tensed up. He was ready to move in whatever direction was necessary in order to catch a ball.

As bad as things were for Lucas's team, it wasn't too much better for the other team. By the time Lucas was the only one left on his team, there were only three members of the other team left, including Brett.

It had come down to the wire.