Taking Notes

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This one-shot takes place in a Pokemon high school fanfic setting. This time, it's the Pokemon going to school. 

Hawlucha sat down in his science class, next to his lab partner, Greninja. The frog Pokemon nodded by way of greeting as he sat down, but he ignored him. He still couldn't believe that their teacher had actually had the nerve to place him next to Greninja, of all Pokemon. Not only was he the worst lab partner imaginable, the two of them were polar opposites. Hawlucha was hardworking, diligent, and extremely serious while Greninja made a joke of almost everything. Expecting the two of them to work together as a team? Ha, as if. 

For the next half hour, Hawlucha struggled to stay awake and take notes as their teacher droned on and on. It wasn't like him to fall asleep in class, but he'd decided to sign up for all advanced placement classes and the workload was starting to catch up to him. He barely had time to finish all his homework, which resulted in his sleep schedule becoming extremely strained. 

"Now for this next part, I'm going to dim the lights and show you some slides," the teacher said. Hawlucha let out a groan. It was as though she knew what a battle he was fighting to stay awake.  

"Pay attention! What I'm about to show you isn't found in your textbooks." 

Hawlucha had no idea what was on the slides. He had no idea how long they spent on each one. 

All he knew was that once the lights were gone, so was he. 

Sometime later, he felt a tapping on his shoulder. 

"Hawlucha." 

The tapping increased a little. 

"Hawlucha? Can you hear me?" 

Now the tapping turned into a rough shaking. 

"Hawlucha, wake up. Class is over." 

Class is over?! 

Hawlucha jerked up, looking around at the now-empty classroom. Panic set in as he realized exactly what had just happened. 

He'd actually fallen asleep-all the way asleep-in the middle of class, for the first time ever. 

"Hawlucha-" 

"Not now, Greninja! I've had quite enough of you!" He actually hadn't had any of him, considering they barely spoke these days. 

Hawlucha began shoving his books back into his bag, trying to calm his racing heart. It was fine, he told himself. Even if they were quizzed on the material he'd missed, it wouldn't matter in the long run. He could afford to fail one quiz and still pass the course. 

But he never allowed himself to fail! 

"Hawlucha." 

"What, Greninja? Why didn't you wake me up?" 

"You needed to sleep, Hawlucha. Anyone can see that." 

"Because of you, I have no idea what we did in class! I've tried so hard to keep up with everything going on this year, and it's all starting to catch up to me now, but you-you don't even have to try, because you're good at everything. And I can't do it anymore, Greninja, I can't. Please. Just leave me alone. I need to..." 

It all came out. He couldn't stop himself. Greninja was smart, there was no way of denying it. He never had to try. He was one of those audio-visual learners, while Hawlucha had to physically write everything down in order to remember it. 

Greninja held out a stack of papers. 

"Take these." 

"What?" 

"I know. I know you're having a hard time. I also know you'll still come out on top. You're stubborn, Hawlucha, but...accept help now and again." 

He gently prodded his talon with the stack of papers. Hawlucha took them and began reading through them as Greninja picked up his bag and walked out of the classroom. 

Radioactive Waste and its Effects-Slideshow Notes

He'd...Greninja had taken notes for him. Really taken notes. There were at least a good six pages here. 

Greninja never took notes. 

But...

"You needed to sleep, Greninja...accept help now and again." 

Detailed and annotated diagrams. Definitions. Concept maps. His style of notes. 

How did he know? 

It was exactly how Hawlucha always took notes. And they were neat, legible...

He'd never felt so....looked after. 

Greninja had changed. This action right here was proof that he no longer thought of just himself. 

He hadn't made fun of the fact that he'd fallen asleep. Maturity. 

He certainly hadn't done anything rude to disturb him. Kindness. 

He'd made sure he would make up for what he missed. Responsibility. 

He'd let him sleep because he could see he needed it. Sympathy. 

Taking notes for him even though he hadn't kept any for himself? Selflessness. 

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