The moment Spike entered the classroom in the morning, all the kids stared at Ares who walked in alongside him with varying expressions of surprise, wonder, and curiosity. A few of the girls in the class braved their lingering aversion to Spike and hesitantly approached them. An outgoing blond one at the front asked, “What kind of Pokemon is that? I’ve never seen one.”

“He’s a Riolu, and his name’s Ares.”

“He’s, like, super cute. Can we pet him?”

Raising a brow, Spike considered it, but Ares frowned and crossed his arms at the request. Noticing his partner’s unwilling reaction, he shook his head and replied, “No. He isn’t touchy-feely.”

The three girls frowned as though hit by a weak poison powder attack. Shrugging off the girls’ disappointment, Spike walked over to his desk and sat down with his hands in his pockets. Following suit, Ares hopped up and sat on the desk with his feet dangling over the edge. Afterward, Spike scratched Ares’ head, causing the Pokemon to close his eyes and relax into the touch. The three girls pouted at the action.

“Do you think Dil-”

The girl halted her words upon noticing a sharp glare from Spike’s direction. She shivered at his piercing green eyes.

“Do you think Spike lied?” The girl with short brown hair resumed in a hesitant whisper to the other two, apparently still thinking that he couldn’t hear her for some reason.

“Dunno,” The blond replied with a shrug.

The third girl, one with long red hair that covered most of her right eye, looked over at Spike and Ares while the other two discussed the possibility. She stared at the boy and Pokemon and rubbed her red eyes. Then, she looked again, and her mouth gaped. She couldn’t believe that Dilon, the boy that used to bully everyone, had a gentle smile on his face. He had completely changed since getting that Pokemon egg. Seeing the smile on the boy’s face, she wondered if she should ask her parents for her own Pokemon egg even though she was still young.

Before the girls could discuss it more, the classroom door slid open, and Miss Johanna entered. All of the kids stopped what they were doing and scuttled to their assigned seats. Just as Miss Johanna was about to call roll, she noticed the Riolu sitting on Spike’s desk. Surprised by what had hatched from her student’s egg, she couldn’t help staring for a moment before shaking her head and carrying on with the class.

While the teacher droned on about topics Spike already knew, he pulled out a notepad and pencil and started sketching to pass the time. Noticing the objects, Ares stared at them and watched in amazement as Spike started drawing all sorts of Pokemon. Of course, they looked like crap on a stick if compared to someone who actually knew how to draw, but they were at least recognizable. Eventually, Spike noticed Ares watching him and held out the pencil toward him. Ares moved his red eyes between the pencil and paper for a few seconds. Then, unable to hold his curiosity, he took the pencil that looked larger than normal between his small paws. He dragged the pencil tip along the paper, creating multiple unrecognizable shapes, much to his dismay.

Spike smiled at his buddy and whispered, “Nobody is good the first time… except maybe Smeargles?”

Unwilling to let that stand, Ares ignored the consolatory statement and tried to draw something until the class ended. When Miss Johanna dismissed the kids to recess, Ares dropped the pencil and stared at his noodly creations.

“C’mon. Let’s go outside, buddy.”

Ares nodded and scratched his own head as though frustrated that he couldn’t draw as well as Spike.

“You’re a competitive little guy, aren’t you?”

Ares shrugged, but still followed his partner out the door.

Right outside the door, Miss Johanna, who had been waiting in the hallway for all the kids to leave the room, stopped Spike with a tap on the shoulder. When Spike looked up at her, he saw a wide smile on her face.

“It looks like your egg hatched, Dilon. Congratulations. I’m surprised you got a Riolu, though. They aren’t native to Hoenn.”

“Thanks. I got lucky with it. Also, call me Spike.”

Miss Johanna covered her mouth to stifle a giggle. Then, she knelt in front of Ares, smiled, and said, “Nice to meet you, Riolu. I’m Miss Johanna, Dilon’s teacher.”

Noticing the extra emphasis on his body’s name as well as a teasing gaze from Miss Johanna, Spike sighed and grumbled, “His name's Ares.”

“Well, then. Nice to meet you, Ares,” Miss Johanna corrected herself while stretching out a hand to pet his head. However, Ares sidestepped the pet. Due to her wide experience of interacting with Pokemon, she adjusted her approach and held her hand out toward him.

Ares glanced at the woman’s hand and tilted his head. He glanced at Spike as though asking for an explanation.

“It’s a greeting. You grasp hands and move them up and down. It’s called a handshake, and it’s like a more polite version of the fist-bump I showed you yesterday,” Spike explained.

Nodding in understanding, Riolu placed his paw against the woman’s palm, and she shook it gently with a wide smile.

“Ri,” Ares said while nodding to himself and thinking this was a far more acceptable interaction than hugs or pets from strangers.

Somehow, Spike felt like he understood his partner’s thoughts toward the handshake. He almost wondered if he and Ares already had an intangible link that some trainers had with their Riolu or Lucario mentioned in some of the Pokemon anime or games he played or watched in the past. After pondering for a moment, he shrugged it off since the truth of the matter would reveal itself to him over time. No point wasting his time thinking about when he could spend time improving their bond or training instead.

‘Have I become a meathead?’ Spike wondered.

Like usual, Spike beelined for the small grove of trees near the playground. The lack of aggressive or overly boisterous Pokemon in the small grove made it the perfect place to relax, as opposed to the hectic playground full of noisy brats. Upon reaching his favorite spot under the largest tree, he looked around for the handful of Ralts that came to play once every few days, but he didn’t see any of them.

‘Maybe they aren’t coming today,’ He thought while sitting down with his back against the tree trunk.

“Riolu?”

“Hm? Something wrong?”

“Ri,” Ares said while jabbing the air a few times.

“You want to train?”

Ares nodded.

“Go for it. Just try not to damage these trees too much. A few nice Pokemon live here. Wouldn’t want to damage their home.”

Nodding in understanding, Ares started shadow boxing with an imagined foe as Medicham taught him to do last night. Meanwhile, Spike crossed his legs and closed his eyes with the intention to try meditating again. Before long, his eyes twitched and wrinkled in confusion. Unlike previous days, he noticed a strange occurrence within his senses. Much like when Ares hatched, he felt like he could perceive the trees and grass in a small radius around him as though he had gained a three-hundred-sixty degree view of his surroundings without actually seeing or touching most of it. He also noticed something unfamiliar, almost like an invisible gas, in the atmosphere around him. Out of curiosity, he focused on it. The moment his mental ‘hand’ reached out, the gas-like substance floated closer to him as though attracted to his touch. It encompassed him and gathered near his skull.

Suddenly, the gas-like substance tickled his brain. The strange mixture of the intangible yet palpable swirled around his head. He felt something akin to sparks in his brain that startled him awake into full consciousness again.

Noticing Spike leaping up onto his feet, Ares glanced at him with brows lowered out of concern for his partner.

“Riolu?”

“Huh? Uh, I think I’m fine?” Spike mumbled a half-hearted reply while running his hands all over his head and body. For some reason, his muscles twitched as though itching for some action. Unable to bear it after a few moments, Spike looked at Ares and asked, “Want to try a spar?”

Almost instantly, Ares’ eyes brightened. Nodding vigorously, he barked, “Ri!”

“Cool. Come at me, bro.”

Ares bolted forward, his back foot shooting chunks of dirt backward. Spike’s eyes widened.

“Uh, actually, be gentle with me, please?”