1. Ash's Story (Part 9: Alola)

Chapter 10: School Trouble

The road to school was blocked before we even reached the gate.

A herd of Tauros stood across the path, snorting and stamping their hooves while several students kept a nervous distance. None of the Tauros looked truly wild with rage, but they were large enough that nobody wanted to test the difference between stubborn and angry.

Lillie stopped beside me. "What in the world?"

"Looks like our route is blocked," I said, looking past the Tauros toward the school grounds. "Good thing we were only aiming for the Trainers' School nearby."

Trenor watched the herd carefully. "They are not charging. They are just refusing to move."

Selene held Popplio close while her Alolan Grimer stayed tucked beside her foot. "Can we go around?"

"We can," Nate said. "But someone should tell Hala."

Rosa pointed toward a teacher already hurrying away with a Rotom Phone. "It looks like someone did."

One Tauros turned its head toward us and huffed, not threatening, but very clear. Its meaning reached me through the set of its horns and the heavy stamp of its hoof: "Do not rush me."

"I hear you," I said quietly. "We will not push."

Pikachu glanced at the Tauros, then at me, his ears lifting with approval. "Good. Big ones hate being crowded."

I smiled despite the strange morning. "That is true for a lot of Pokemon."

We took the side path around the road and entered the school grounds from the training area. The place already hummed with activity. Students practiced commands, classmates checked bags and supplies, and Kukui shouted encouragement from the far side of the field.

The moment should have felt normal.

Then a pencil case flew out of an open classroom window.

It landed near Rowlet, who woke in alarm and fluffed itself into a rounder shape. A sleek gray Alolan Meowth jumped onto the windowsill after it, tail raised, eyes glittering with smug satisfaction.

"An Alolan Meowth," Lillie said. "Now a Dark type."

The Meowth tilted its head as if it had been waiting for someone to notice properly.

Then it flicked another student's notebook off the sill.

"Hey!" Sophocles cried from inside the room. "That has my battle calculations!"

Alolan Meowth stepped delicately over the scattered papers and gave the class a look that clearly meant: "Admire me, and maybe I will stop."

Rosa folded her arms. "That one knows exactly what it is doing."

"It has been around the classrooms all morning," Mallow said, rushing out after Sophocles. "It keeps opening bags, stealing erasers, and sitting on homework like it owns the school."

Nate looked at me. "So this is school trouble before first bell."

"Looks like it," I said.

Alolan Meowth leapt down and strutted past us, carrying a shiny button in its mouth. It did not run like a scared Pokemon. It walked like it expected everyone to follow.

Pikachu dropped from my shoulder, ready to move, but I held out one hand.

"Not yet," I said. "If we chase, it gets the attention it wants."

The Meowth paused, annoyed that I had not taken the bait.

Trenor noticed too. "It wants a crowd."

Selene nodded. "Then we stop the trouble without giving it a stage."