Chapter 17 – The Academy
“Ahh… Sure is good to be back home, isn’t it?” Jal’tai asked.
Home… Solonn had only lived there for just under two weeks; there were aspects of this place—not to mention this body—that he was still getting used to. And yet… he couldn’t deny that the suite was taking on a sense of familiarity, even comfort at times. It truly was beginning to feel like home.
“Suppose so,” he responded, semi-absently raking a hand through slightly damp hair.
Jal’tai smiled at him. “Here, let me take your coat,” he offered. Solonn allowed the latios to do just that. Then, still quite taxed from his recent hospitalization, Solonn went straight to the armchair in the den and dropped himself onto it.
After putting Solonn’s coat in its right place, Jal’tai disappeared into the kitchen; a moment later, Solonn could hear the rather loud whirring of the blender. Soon after it fell silent, Jal’tai drifted back into the den with a glass of something opaque and pale purple clutched in one of his talons.
“Here,” the latios said, handing the glass to Solonn. “It’s one of my specialties. It’s got something of an energizing property—the effect isn’t as strong for humans as it is for pokémon, but it still ought to put a little of the vigor back into you. Plus, it’s rather tasty,” he added with a grin.
Curious, Solonn gave it a try. It was pleasantly creamy, with a nice, strong berry flavor. He looked up from the drink to voice his approval—but where he expected to see a latios, there was only empty air. “Jal’tai?” he called out as he tried to spot him. He looked toward the transport tile just in time to see a green flash there.
Puzzled, Solonn stared at the space where Jal’tai had just been. He took a sip of the berry smoothie every few moments as he wondered where Jal’tai had gone and why he’d left without warning. Before he could come up with any answers, the latios returned as suddenly and unexpectedly as he’d left.
“Sorry to just pop out and back without warning,” Jal’tai said, having noticed the somewhat bewildered look on Solonn’s face. “I’d meant to pick this up on the way here, but it slipped my mind.”
Before Solonn could ask the latios had brought him, it was in his hands. It was a paperback book, one whose title instantly bemused him. “
Parent’s Choice: The Very Best Names for Your Baby?” Solonn read the title of the book aloud with an odd look on his face.
The latios nodded. “You’re going to choose a name from this book to use as your own from now on.”
“Is that really necessary?” Solonn asked. “What’s wrong with the name I already have?”
“Nothing, of course,” Jal’tai answered. “But it’s still a good idea for you to take a human name. It’ll help to reinforce your human identity.”
Solonn’s brow furrowed skeptically as he set his smoothie down on the table beside him and opened the book, riffling through its pages without really stopping to read them. “I still don’t see the need for it… I don’t think anyone outside my—” He nearly said “my own species”, but caught himself short. He couldn’t exactly call them that anymore. Managing not to get too ensnared by that matter, “No one other than snorunt and glalie would be likely to recognize it as anything other than a human name,” he said. “And what are the odds of one of them showing up here?”
“Good enough,” Jal’tai replied. “You could encounter any number of species here. It’s best to be prepared for anything. And furthermore, any effort that can be made to strengthen your new identity is a step worth taking. Your new occupation and your new life will be much easier if people have as few reasons as possible to ask questions. A name that strikes humans as unusual might lead them to inquire about its origins—about
your origins, Solonn. Do you wish to face those kinds of questions?”
“No,” Solonn answered promptly. “No, I wouldn’t.” He didn’t have much faith in his ability to come up with a convincing human background—he rather hoped he could avoid having to give out too many details.
He opened the book again, bothering to read it from the beginning this time. Minutes wore on, and then hours, and still none of the names had struck his fancy. Finally, Solonn grew so weary of the whole matter that not even midway through the “M”-names, he decided to just settle on the next half-decent one he came across.
“Michael,” he said, meeting Jal’tai’s gaze steadily enough, sounding more confident in his final choice than he truly was. “I’ll take that one.”
Jal’tai gave him an inquisitive look, cocking his head slightly. “Are you sure?”
Solonn barely managed to stifle a wince.
Those words… “Absolutely,” he replied at once, wanting to get the matter behind him as soon as possible.
The latios smiled, nodding approvingly. “A fine choice, I say. Common enough, yet also quite stately, in my opinion.” Solonn rolled his eyes at Jal’tai’s choice of words. “Well, then. For our next matter of business, it might be a good idea to choose at least one middle name for yourself.”
Solonn sighed. From the time spent with Morgan and her pokémon, he’d learned (mostly from Sei) that many species didn’t find it necessary to give their children more than a single personal name and some sort of a family name, if even that much. Sei only had two names, while Oth only had one. Solonn had rather envied them; he’d heard quite enough laughter over his own middle name for a lifetime.
“Do I
have to have a middle name, exactly?” Solonn asked tentatively. “I mean, do humans have to have one?”
Another of those inquisitive looks crossed Jal’tai’s face. “Well, no,” the latios answered. “Plenty of human cultures don’t use them, as a matter of fact. You don’t have to yourself; I just thought I’d offer it as an option.”
“Thanks, but no thanks,” Solonn said promptly. “I’d rather do without.”
“Very well,” Jal’tai said, at which relief spread through Solonn.
All that was left now was to take on a human surname—a name to represent a human family that he didn’t have. The notion bothered Solonn, and he couldn’t pretend it didn’t. In his eyes, it almost amounted to denying his family, his mother…
Denying doesn’t have to mean forgetting, he realized. Whatever else had to change, he could still keep his memories.
With that settled, he let Jal’tai suggest various human surnames to him, stopping the latios when he heard one that he didn’t mind. Michael Layne was his new name, and while he didn’t think nearly as well of it as Jal’tai did, he felt like he could have done a lot worse.
“Whew,” Jal’tai said, casting an eye toward the clock. “Well, that certainly took a while. I’d expected it would, though.”
“Yeah, well…” Solonn said, not really knowing how else to respond. Of course it should take a while to choose a name for yourself—who’d want a name they disliked or regretted following them wherever they went?
That thought made something occur to him. “So, did you have a hard time choosing
your human name?”
So fleetingly that it could have easily been imagined, a strange, inscrutable look appeared on Jal’tai’s face. “Actually, not really,” he answered with only the slightest delay. “I came by the decision quite readily.”
“Hm.” Not really sure of what he thought of that, if anything, Solonn dismissed the matter.
“Well, what matters is that we’ve gotten this taken care of now,” Jal’tai said pleasantly. “Now you’ve got a human name to match your human appearance—a name under which I can enroll you at the Convergence Academy,” he added. “I’ve enlisted the services of a very capable instructor, one who’ll teach you nearly everything else you’ll need to know before you go into office.
Systan Exeter knows you have a lot to learn, and they’re sure to keep you very busy—I don’t mean this to intimidate you, of course,” he added with a sort of self-conscious little chuckle.
Solonn gave a dismissive shake of his head. He’d known from the start that he’d have a lot of work ahead of him. He was a little surprised at first that Jal’tai wouldn’t be handling most of his training, but then supposed he shouldn’t be surprised. Jal’tai still had a city to run, after all. He couldn’t be expected to tend to all his successor’s needs.
Solonn only hoped this “Exeter” would be likeable enough and hopefully not too strict.
“Now, I won’t be shipping you off to school just yet,” Jal’tai told him. “You’ve been through a lot these past few days, and I think you’re entitled to some rest before taking on something so major.”
The latios looked at the now-empty glass that sat on the table beside Solonn. “Would you like me to make you another smoothie before I go?”
“Hmm? No, that’s okay,” Solonn answered. “Thanks anyway, though.”
Jal’tai nodded, but took the glass in his talon anyway. “It should be washed, at least,” he said, pointing at the pale purple film that was drying inside of the glass, then disappeared into the kitchen.
Shortly thereafter, Solonn heard the blender whir to life again, which puzzled him. It seemed his polite refusal had slipped from Jal’tai’s mind.
Sure enough, there was a fresh glass of the purple berry beverage in the latios’s talon when he came back into the den. He set it down on the table with a funny sort of apologetic smile. “Sorry—I just couldn’t resist,” Jal’tai said. “I could tell you really liked the last one, so…” He shrugged.
“Uh… thanks,” Solonn replied politely, albeit a bit awkwardly.
“Anyway,” Jal’tai began, stretching his arms out and flexing his neck, “I’ll be bringing you to the academy on, oh, the Monday after next, I think. I’ll let you have a tour of the facilities and meet Exeter, and you can probably start your classes the next day.
“Now, I won’t lie to you—the workload will seem very heavy at times during the course of your education. But I truly believe you can handle it. And I have a lot of faith in Exeter—you’ll be under the tutelage of one of the greatest and most important minds in all of Convergence. They’ll make sure you stay on course and are fully prepared for the responsibilities that lie in your future. You have absolutely nothing to worry about—you’re going to be in excellent hands… well, in a manner of speaking,” he amended, then laughed.
“In the meantime, though, I just want you to relax,” Jal’tai told Solonn warmly and earnestly. “Yes, you’ve got quite a road ahead of you, but it’s nothing to fear, nothing to be stressed about. I think you’ll find your life becoming richer and better as you begin to truly apply yourself to your purpose. Coming into your role is something to look forward to, my boy. Keep that in mind and be at ease in it in your days to come.
“Of course, Neleng can help you keep your nerves about you—she’ll be here in just over an hour. And again, she can come to visit any evening you wish.
“Until we meet again, take care.” With that, Jal’tai went to the transport tile and disappeared, leaving Solonn alone with a berry smoothie and plenty on his mind.
* * *
The night before Solonn’s first visit to the academy arrived, and he went to bed thinking exclusively of what would await him the next day. What he most certainly didn’t expect to be awaiting him the next morning was a latios holding a tray of hot, buttered pancakes, hovering almost directly over him.
“Rise and shine!” Jal’tai greeted him cheerfully—and loudly.
Jal’tai’s voice startled Solonn awake at once, and startled him badly. “Bwaaa!” Solonn shouted, flailing momentarily in confusion. He very nearly knocked the pancakes right out of Jal’tai’s talons; doing an admirable job at concealing most of his amusement, the latios backed up and watched patiently as Solonn untangled himself from the sheets.
Sweeping a handful of matted black hair out of his face and trying to will his hammering heart to calm down, Solonn shot a bewildered, incredulous look at Jal’tai. “Good gods… why in the world did you think
that was a good idea?”
Jal’tai shrugged. “I figured that if you were anything like me, an ordinary alarm clock wouldn’t do the trick, so…” He held out the tray in front of Solonn with a lopsided, hopeful smile.
Still a bit frazzled, Solonn took the tray from Jal’tai without a word and started in on the pancakes. They were still quite warm, quite fresh; he vaguely wondered how Jal’tai had managed to slip in and cook breakfast without the smell awakening him. When he’d nearly finished the pancakes, he asked, “What time is it?”
“It’s 5:00 a.m.,” Jal’tai replied.
“…Oh, you have
got to be joking,” Solonn half-groaned, suddenly feeling rather drowsy again. It had been around 10:00, 9:00 at the earliest, when he’d awoke on the past several mornings. “I don’t think I even got seven hours of sleep last night…”
“Well, I did advise you to get to bed early this time, you know,” Jal’tai pointed out.
“Which I did,” Solonn informed him, then paused to yawn. “A whole hour and a half earlier, in fact. I knew I’d be getting up early, but not
this early… I’ll bet the sun isn’t even out yet, is it?”
“It’s about to be,” Jal’tai said. “Anyway, you’ll need to get used to early mornings. You’ll need plenty of time each day for the lessons you’re to learn and the work you’ll be given, so the school day can’t afford to start late. You should be glad you’re going to be given such long hours. You’ll be able to get through your courses much more quickly than you would if you were taught at a more leisurely pace.”
“Lucky me,” Solonn muttered, still somewhat irritable from having been jolted awake. He stirred the remaining maple syrup on his plate about with his fork for a brief while, tracing little patterns in it, lacking the energy to think of anything better or more involving to do. “So how long until we leave?” he eventually asked.
“In about three hours,” Jal’tai answered.
“…What? You woke me up before the sun, and we’re not even leaving for another
three hours?”
Despite Solonn’s agitation, Jal’tai kept a remarkably even temperament. “This is when you’ll be waking nearly every day from now on,” he told Solonn. “When you begin attending classes tomorrow, you’ll be leaving an hour earlier than we’ll leave today. I felt it was a good idea for you to start getting used to being up and around at this hour.
“Now, the idea of waking up hours before you have to leave might seem silly to you, but it’s important to have ample time to get yourself ready for where you’re going. You should be able to shower, get dressed, have a nice breakfast, and even have a little time to just sit back and relax before you leave each day. Rushing to an appointment is never a good idea; it can have very sloppy results. Why, you wouldn’t want to arrive there only to find you’d forgotten your trousers, now would you?”
A crooked smile crept across Jal’tai’s face, and he burst into uncontrollable laughter. Solonn only stared bemusedly at him for a moment, failing (or perhaps refusing) to see the humor in the situation that the latios had just illustrated. Slightly disturbed, he pushed his tray to the foot of the bed, then climbed off and left the room to go take a shower, leaving Jal’tai laughing at his own joke.
Minutes later, Solonn was trying in vain to calm the static in his newly dried hair as he stepped out of the bathroom. There was Jal’tai in the den, perched oddly in the armchair and listening to his favorite jazz station with Solonn in his line of sight—he didn’t seem to be paying the human any mind, but Solonn was still glad he’d remembered to put on his bathrobe.
A sudden, brief fanfare sounded out of nowhere, clashing with the music that was coming from the radio. In a swift series of motions, Jal’tai silenced the radio and snatched a silver cell phone from the table nearby. He answered it just as it rang again.
“Hello? …Ah, good morning, Ms. Kal!” he greeted the person on the other end of the line. Solonn stopped on his way to the closet, wondering who this “Ms. Kal” might be and why she was calling. “Is that right… So, the idea just struck you out of the blue, did it?” Jal’tai asked her. There was a pause as she responded, and then the latios laughed. “I’m sure they’ll do just fine, and I know he’s going to appreciate this. This was a very nice thing to do, you know, especially on such short notice.” There was another pause. “Well, we’ll be seeing you shortly. Goodbye.”
The latios hung up and put the phone down. His gaze then shifted to Solonn, and he raised a questioning eyebrow. Solonn could tell from the way that Jal’tai was looking at him that no, the latios hadn’t just noticed him, and the notion that he’d been caught eavesdropping made Solonn oddly uneasy. Slightly embarrassed, he hurried out of Jal’tai’s sight.
Once dressed, he walked into the den to get Jal’tai’s opinion of the outfit; the latios noticed him with a slight delay and then looked him over for perhaps a second and a half at most. “You forgot your tie,” he then informed Solonn.
Solonn made a face at Jal’tai. Ties were easily his least favorite aspect of human-style attire.
“Come on, now. It’s important to make a good first impression when introducing yourself somewhere new—hence the importance of dressing like a gentleman. My videos illustrated that point; do you not remember?” Jal’tai reminded him.
“Right, right…” Solonn said blandly, walking off to finish getting himself ready to leave.
* * *
Solonn walked along a fairly new-looking, barely-worn cobblestone path that wound through the sprawling grounds in front of Convergence Academy. He was accompanied by Jal’tai, who was presently wearing his human disguise. Every so often, a red or yellow leaf from one of the trees growing along the sides of the path fluttered down and landed on Solonn; he promptly brushed off the ones that he noticed, while Jal’tai removed the ones he didn’t.
As they got closer to the academy itself, Solonn noticed marble panels stretching across the face of the building at each of its floors. They depicted both humans and pokémon who were historically associated with wisdom, invention, and the arts, carved in relief. On the roof, several flags waved in the wind, lined up in a neat row and representing many different regions, with one of them representing the International Pokémon League. In the very center of them all, on a longer pole, was a flag representing Convergence itself, with the unown character “C” in black over a spiraling, silver-and-gold shape.
On either side of the entrance, a large marble statue stood. One of them depicted an elderly human man with flowing robes and a long, curly beard, while the other was carved in the form of a wingless, five-horned dragon pokémon. The two figures each had an arm outstretched toward the other.
“Aphilicus, a great human philosopher, and Meron, an emyril known to a number of pokémon cultures as the Father of Wisdom,” Jal’tai identified the two statues after noticing Solonn looking at them. “Two of the greatest minds in history and therefore fitting icons to represent one of the most important educational facilities in the world.
“Now,” he said in a somewhat lowered voice, drawing the rest of Solonn’s attention from the statues with a tap on the shoulder, “I’ll remind you that you should make a conscious effort to speak human language most of the time. Almost exclusively, in fact. It seems much more fitting, much more
natural for a human to speak in the fashion of their kind as a habit, Speech or no Speech; do you understand?”
“Right,” Solonn said, nodding.
Looking pleased with Solonn’s answer, Jal’tai motioned for him to enter the building alongside him. The two passed through the doors and into a vast foyer. A nearly full trophy case stood against the far wall adjacent to the doors, while the other walls were covered in plaques with the names and achievements of star pupils engraved in gold, as well as banners that sported mottos like “Knowledge Is Power!”. There was a round symbol emblazoned in the center of the foyer on the linoleum floor, bearing the intertwining spiral of gold and silver from the Convergence flag.
Footsteps sounded from the hall to the right, heavy-sounding with a faint clicking that suggested claws on the hard floor. Turning toward the sound, Solonn saw a nidoqueen making an approach. She soon reached Solonn and Jal’tai and stopped before them, smiling eagerly.
“Ah, hello, Ms. Kal,” Jal’tai greeted in a friendly tone.
“Hello to you too, sir!” the nidoqueen returned enthusiastically. Her gaze shifted to the unfamiliar human at Jal’tai’s side. “And this must be Mr. Layne, right?”
“Correct,” Jal’tai said.
“Hello, Mr. Layne. It’s so nice to meet you,” Ms. Kal said merrily.
“Nice to meet you, too,” Solonn responded. Remembering some of the etiquette lessons from Jal’tai’s instructional videos, he extended his hand to the nidoqueen. Ms. Kal seemed to have expected this; she took his hand readily in one of her own and shook it with a strong grip.
“So have they got it all set, then?” Jal’tai asked her.
“Oh yes,” Ms. Kal said, beaming. “They’re all ready to go.”
Jal’tai nodded and smiled. He turned to Solonn and said, “Ms. Kal is in charge of teaching some of the academy’s younger students. She will not be teaching you. However… she and her class would certainly like to meet you. Come, let’s go and say hello to the children. Lead the way, madam!”
Eagerly, Ms. Kal turned back toward the hall she’d come from and set off. Jal’tai and Solonn followed her, the latter being especially careful to not follow too closely; he didn’t want to step on the nidoqueen’s tail. They soon reached a door with a placard that read “GRADE 1 (P) – MS. KAL”… but to Solonn’s surprise, they kept walking right past it. Though perplexed as to why the nidoqueen passed by her own classroom, Solonn figured she knew what she was doing, and so he kept silent.
Ms. Kal rounded a corner and continued onward, leading Jal’tai and Solonn behind her until she arrived at the entrance to the gymnasium. Excitedly, she opened the doors…
“
Welcome, Mr. Layne!” a chorus of voices shouted in less-than-perfect unison. The source of the greeting was a small, multispecies crowd of children—all pokémon, Solonn noted—perched on the bleachers. The children in front held signs that matched the spoken welcome—or were supposed to, anyway. The “l” and the first “e” in “Welcome” were in reverse order; the “y” in “Layne” was upside-down; and the student holding the “M” in “Mr.” forgot to turn up his sign until all the other students had put theirs down.
Ms. Kal’s eyes darted toward Solonn and Jal’tai, holding an alarmed and very apologetic look. “Mr. Layne is very pleased by your excellent welcome,” she said merrily—albeit rather hurriedly—to the children. She cast a hopeful yet urgent look at Solonn that seemed to say,
“Right? Right
?” Solonn took the cue and nodded, smiling warmly and managing not to look as vicariously embarrassed as he felt.
An aipom in the third row lifted the hand on her tail to get the teacher’s attention.
“Yes, Ms. Chibbles?” Ms. Kal acknowledged her.
“Is he gonna be our new teacher? Did you get fired?” asked Chibbles.
Ms. Kal made an incredibly flustered face, her cheeks turning a shade befitting a bruised oran berry. “No, no, of course not, Ms. Chibbles,” she said hastily. “Mr. Layne is going to be a new student here.”
Wondering gazes and whispers flittered among the students. “A grown-up’s coming to our class? He must not be very smart…” a totodile in the back row said very loudly, without raising his hand.
Ms. Kal winced and blushed even further, giving Solonn and Jal’tai another apologetic look. “Please don’t speak out of turn, Mr. Cuomo,” she reprimanded the totodile, though she didn’t sound terribly assertive. “And no, Mr. Layne will be taught by
Systan Exeter.”
The whispering among the students abruptly stopped. Ms. Kal smiled in relief, believing she’d finally regained the respect of the students, but Solonn got the feeling that it was actually the mention of Exeter’s name that had brought the hush over the crowd. What sort of a person could Exeter could be for the
mere mention of their name to command silence like that?
“Well, then,” Jal’tai spoke up suddenly, clapping a hand onto Solonn’s shoulder and startling him so badly that the human nearly jumped at the voice and contact, “I’m certain Mr. Layne enjoyed your surprise greeting and had a lovely time meeting you all.” Again, Solonn recognized the cue and nodded very self-consciously. “Have a nice day students! You too, Ms. Kal!” Jal’tai said.
“Bye!” she responded cheerfully, waving heartily. As Solonn left the gym with Jal’tai, he turned briefly and noticed Cuomo standing up in the bleachers and mocking the nidoqueen’s voice and the way she waggled her rear end when she waved. Ms. Kal was utterly oblivious to the totodile’s actions.
“Wasn’t that a lovely little thing she decided to do there?” Jal’tai remarked. “Just a spur-of-the-moment, random act of kindness; she said the idea just hit her last Friday, and she simply had to try and pull it off for you. She’s a good person, that Ms. Kal. She’s only recently begun teaching here, but I think that given time, she’ll really come into her own here. The children certainly do seem to like her, that’s for certain.”
They seemed to like her, all right—in that she unintentionally amused them. Solonn’s thoughts didn’t linger upon the nidoqueen and her class for much longer, though. “What do you know about Exeter?” he asked.
“That’s
Systan Exeter to you,” Jal’tai corrected him, but not harshly. “You should always keep due etiquette in mind, my boy. Anyhow, I know quite a bit about Exeter, actually,” the latios said, the white mustache of his human guise turning up in a smile. “Exeter is an old friend of mine and one of the primary founders of the Convergence Project. They provided a great deal of research into human industry and technology as well as a number of other key fields, which was vital to the conception and creation of this city and remains invaluable to Convergence and its citizens to this very day. Exeter’s is a brilliant mind, and the unique abilities and properties of their kind give them unparalleled access to some very rich resources and broad varieties of information.”
Learning of Exeter’s intelligence and importance only stoked further unease in Solonn. If they really were as smart as Jal’tai claimed, surely their classes would be extremely challenging. “Just how difficult are
Systan Exeter’s classes going to be?” he asked.
“I’ll be perfectly honest with you, Solonn: what you’re about to undertake is a very intensive and demanding education. Exeter usually only tutors psychic students, particularly those with especially sophisticated mental capabilities. It took very little convincing to get them to agree to tutor you exclusively for as long as is necessary, though. Knowing your reason for being here, they were glad to put aside their other classes for a while; they cherish the welfare and future of this city as much as I do.
“Exeter’s are tough courses, yes, the most rigorous ones provided by this school. But Exeter themself is not harsh at all—they’re one of the most patient and pleasant people you’ll ever meet. They want you to learn all that you need to know, and they’re willing to invest as much time and effort in your education as they must. All they’ll ask is that you invest the same in yourself. Will you give them—and yourself—that much?”
Solonn nodded silently. He was still somewhat nervous, but no longer about his teacher so much as about the magnitude of his undertaking, which seemed to be looming much larger than before now that he was about to confront it directly. “You know… I still can’t entirely believe I’m doing this,” he said quietly. “I still can’t quite picture myself in charge of an
entire city…”
“You needn’t try so hard to grasp these things all at once,” Jal’tai said warmly. “Everything you’re meant to be will come about in time.”
Solonn turned to look at Jal’tai, to regard the kindly, presently human face that smiled comfortingly back at him. He almost spoke, only to realize just as quickly that he didn’t really have anything to say. He gave a smile that was less than earnest, feeling that Jal’tai’s somehow demanded reciprocation, and then turned away, swallowing against a sudden lump in his throat.
The two walked through the halls of the academy in silence broken only when a stream of human kids emerged from a classroom they passed, the students chatting animatedly as they diverged and made for their next classes. Noise filled the air as classrooms emptied throughout the building near-simultaneously. Several of the passing students shot looks at Jal’tai, clearly recognizing him—or recognizing Mayor Whitley, anyway. Most of them kept going, continuing to look back at him over their shoulders but nonetheless intent on getting to their classes in time. But a small handful of them couldn’t help but stop.
“Is it really you?” a short blond boy among them asked incredulously.
“Well, I’ve always been me, as far back as I remember,” Jal’tai responded, then laughed.
The blond boy’s eyes widened, and he exchanged significant looks with the other students. “What are you doing here?” he then asked, apparently the unofficial spokesman of the group.
“Well, young man, Mr. Layne here and I have a very important appointment with the staff to get to. I’m afraid we really must be moving along, as a matter of fact… Good day to you all, students!” he said, bidding them farewell as he began to lead Solonn away.
“Bye!” the blond boy called after Jal’tai. A couple of the other students echoed the farewell. Solonn looked over his shoulder and saw a few of them waving at him and Jal’tai, and he waved back.
As the halls began to empty once more, Jal’tai came to a stop at the doors of an elevator, and Solonn followed suit.
“
Systan Exeter’s class is on the top floor,” Jal’tai informed him. “Many of their old psychic students would simply teleport up there, but we’ll just have to make do with the elevator.” The doors soon opened, and the two stepped inside. “Just be glad you’re not being made to take the stairs,” Jal’tai said with a small laugh.
They arrived at the sixth floor, and Solonn found his nervousness peaking as they approached Exeter’s classroom. He tried to distract himself with his surroundings, his eyes darting over the framed photographs that lined the walls. They depicted various noteworthy people, from past and present educators at the academy to important figures in Convergence to people who had worldwide fame or accolade. They couldn’t hold his attention, however; his eyes soon turned forward once more and locked upon the swiftly approaching door.
“SYSTAN EXETER – INTENSIVE EDUCATION,” read the placard on the door. Jal’tai gave Solonn one last reassuring smile (which only slightly succeeded in its aim) and then pressed a button beside the doorknob. A faint tone sounded within the classroom.
“Come in,” a voice called from behind the door a moment later. It sounded strikingly similar to the soft chime of the doorbell, which surprised Solonn a bit.
Taking the cue, Jal’tai opened the door and took a single step inside, beckoning Solonn into the classroom ahead of him. With no small measure of apprehension, Solonn did as he was directed. Once he was inside, he saw Jal’tai close the door behind him; involuntarily, Solonn imagined it sealing itself shut and melting into the wall, trapping him inside.
Shaking such thoughts from his mind with only partial success, Solonn swept his gaze over the classroom. It was much smaller than he’d expected, and there was nothing at all on the pale blue walls. The classroom was almost entirely bare, in fact; it contained only a single desk and chair near the center, a longer desk up near the front on which there sat a number of unfamiliar devices, and a vast screen mounted on the wall above that desk.
There, hovering before that screen, was
Systan Exeter themself. Solonn hadn’t really known what to expect his new teacher would actually be, but he was certain that nothing even remotely like the porygon2 he now beheld would have ever crossed his mind.
Exeter glided effortlessly toward Solonn, who went stock still as they approached him. “Welcome, Mr. Layne,” they said in their chiming voice as they stopped before him. They appeared to have nothing at all in the way of a mouth, and no other part of them moved when they spoke, either. Solonn found himself rather reminded of Oth, who hadn’t used a mouth to speak, either. The difference was that he could comprehend Exeter’s audible speech; they didn’t need to resort to telepathy.
Solonn knew that he couldn’t shake hands with Exeter since they didn’t have any. At a loss for any other way to greet the teacher, “…Hi,” he said somewhat awkwardly.
The porygon2 cocked their head slightly at Solonn, staring appraisingly at him through large, bright eyes. Finally, they lowered their head respectfully; when they looked up once more, there was something playing about their eyes that suggested a smile. “I’m most glad to meet you, Mr. Layne, and I’m even more pleased to be able to teach you.”
“…Thanks,” Solonn said, still gathering his wits.
Exeter made an odd, jingling sound that Solonn figured was laughter. Then they turned their attention toward Jal’tai. “You’re looking well today, Mr. Jal’tai,” they said.
“Why, thank you. You’re looking quite well, yourself,” Jal’tai returned.
Only then did it properly click that the porygon2 had referred to Jal’tai by his true name, his
lati name, not the human name Jal’tai normally used in public. Solonn turned toward Jal’tai and saw that the latios had done away with his mirage and was now hovering there in his true form. He stared speechlessly at Jal’tai in surprise—Jal’tai revealed himself as he truly was to virtually no one, humans and pokémon alike.
Jal’tai noticed the way Solonn was staring at him. “No need to worry, Michael,” he assured him, interpreting that look correctly. “As I said,
Systan Exeter and I go back quite a long way. They know me for who and what I truly am; they’re one of the
very few here who do.”
Solonn’s gaze shifted between Jal’tai and Exeter, and he found himself feeling strangely singled-out all of a sudden. Those two knew each other by name, just as he knew them. The only identity that wasn’t known by everyone present was his own. Jal’tai had only referred to him by his human name in the porygon2’s presence. Exeter didn’t know the true identity of their new student, and Solonn wondered if they ever would.
“Say… why don’t you give him a little preview of what you have to offer him?” Jal’tai suggested.
The porygon2 gave another of their mouthless smiles. “Certainly!” they said brightly. They glided over to their desk and set themself down on a flat, gray, circular pad surrounded almost completely by the devices arranged there. Their eyes closed… and then, much to Solonn’s surprise, the porygon2 sparkled, became transparent, and then disappeared completely.
“What? …
Where did they go?” Solonn hissed at Jal’tai.
The screen over the desk suddenly came awake, showing an image of Exeter in front of a flowing, liquid-looking, emerald green background.
“I’m right here!” the porygon2 said cheerfully, their melodious voice magnified greatly.
Solonn could only stare at the screen that somehow contained the teacher. He might have asked Exeter how they’d done such a thing, but he found his brain and his mouth refusing to cooperate.
Exeter gave another of their peculiar little laughs at Solonn’s plain bewilderment.
“Give me a subject,” they then said.
Solonn supposed that the teacher was addressing him and tried to think of something, but he was still a bit discombobulated; no suggestions came to mind.
“How about… dragons?” Jal’tai suggested once it was clear that Solonn was drawing a blank.
Apparently Exeter found Jal’tai’s suggestion particularly amusing; their musical laughter tinkled on for several seconds before subsiding. Once they fell silent again, the porygon2 nodded in acknowledgment. Exeter’s form then darkened to the green shade that surrounded them, their outline fading until the porygon2 blended into the background completely and vanished.
A second later, the flowing green field was replaced by a mountain range. Sweeping classical music began playing as a salamence suddenly surged upward from behind the mountains and began soaring over their peaks. The salamence rushed across the screen, filling its view completely; when it cleared, a desert scene was revealed, through which a pack of flygon sped along, their wings buzzing.
A few more cinematic scenes depicting different varieties of dragon pokémon in their natural environments played, then gave way to a screen on which small, three-dimensional representatives of numerous dragon species perched along the sides. Exeter returned to this screen at its center; some of the tiny dragons merely turned their heads toward the porygon2, while others among them hissed or growled at Exeter in disdain.
“Please select a species for further discussion,” the porygon2 prompted.
“Let’s have a look at the dragonite,” Jal’tai suggested.
Exeter acknowledged this and then turned toward the tiny dragonite at the upper right corner of the screen. The teacher, along with all of the other dragons, vanished as the dragonite increased in size, filling most of the screen. The dragon stood there at the center, where they remained as Exeter began describing that species in greater detail from offscreen. As the porygon2 continued narrating, the camera focused on the dragonite from several angles, and then the model of the dragon was replaced by a series of video clips of their species in action.
Exeter was also asked to talk about the salamence and drathlon species before Jal’tai decided that was enough for the day. The porygon2 closed the dragon program, then rematerialized within the classroom as the screen went blank once more.
“That was only a small example of the sort of lessons
Systan Exeter has in store for you,” Jal’tai told Solonn then. “Now, this is not the only method they’ll employ; they’ll provide a variety of different lesson types.
“Also, I’m afraid that dragons won’t be a focal point of your education. I just really like that particular program,” he admitted with a chuckle. “Figured you might like it, too.”
Solonn nodded. It seemed learning under
Systan Exeter might not be as unpleasant as he’d anticipated. At the very least, it looked as though it wouldn’t be as boring as he’d expected. Given the porygon2’s pleasant, even cheerful demeanor and what he’d seen of their teaching methods, he now imagined that the experience ahead of him might actually be kind of enjoyable.
“Well, I suppose we’ll be taking our leave now,” Jal’tai said. “I’ll let Michael have a look around the academy for a while longer, and then it’s off to enjoy a nice, relaxing evening.”
Exeter turned toward Solonn and smiled once again. “I hope you’ll enjoy your time here, Mr. Layne,” they said. “Farewell, and I’ll see you tomorrow!”
“Goodbye,” Solonn said, and then followed Jal’tai out the door.
