Living in the Shadows

CHAPTER 5 HELLO AGAIN ZORUA

We didn't go home straight away. Nurse Joy had to stop at the Pokemon Center to brief her sisters and cousins and their staff of Chansey, Blissey, Audino, and Wigglytuff about what happened at school. She explained she was taking me home and would be back in a little bit. (New World's Pokemon Center is run by at least five Nurse Joys with the Head Nurse Joy having a Wigglytuff. The one driving me home has a Blissey, and she is the Head Nurse Joy's cousin.)

When we got to the mansion, we saw Headmistress Zora and Jake in the reception room. She was explaining what was happening to Jake when we came in.

"You sure it's the same guy, Jenna?" Jake asked after Nurse Joy and I sat down.

"Without a doubt," I replied in all seriousness.

"Quite the coincidence he shows up after Sakei leaves," Jake said in a tone that implies he doesn't believe it to be a coincidence at all.

"That's what I said."

"So, what happens now, Mrs. Tao?" Jake asked the headmistress.

"Well," she began, "as of today, the computer records say that Jenna followed her grandfather to Kanto. If anyone asks, the story is that at first she stayed behind to finish off the week, but with school being canceled the next two days, she joined him early and we'll be sending her class assignments via e-mail."

"Jack, Ben, Crystal, and Melody also said they'd keep an eye on him while he's in school," I added.

"And Officer Jenny volunteered to do the same when he's in town," Nurse Joy also added.

"But what about you, Jenna?" Jake asked as the current butler brought in coffee. "I know you. You won't just sit around the mansion all day, doing nothing."

I turned to the headmistress. "Is there a possibility for a new student to transfer from another island or school and register here?" I asked.

She shook her head. "I'm afraid not. It's too close to the end of the term for a new student to register. Even an exchange is impossible."

"How about the Island Relay?" Jake asked. "Didn't you say the academy was participating this year?"

"You have to be a student of the school to enter the relay, Jake," I told him.

"But what if the student entering was homeschooled and tutored by a member of the school staff?" Nurse Joy asked.

"Or the headmistress herself," Headmistress Zora said with a thoughtful look on her face. "Now that is not only possible but legal in the rules of the Island Relay." She looked at my face and hair. "You'll have to wear a disguise of course."

"No problem," Jake said. "At the last Founders Day, we used this super strong hair gel to make it look like Jenna had hair short enough to pass as a real Gardevoir. And it's waterproof too."

(FYI: Not as much as he thinks. After I went swimming in our basement's pool the day after Founders Day, the chlorine unstuck my hair better than the soap or shampoo I tried to use the night before.)

"Good." She looked at her watch. "It's time I got back to school. I need to inform the staff that Jenna has gone to Kanto to join her grandfather and won't be back in the foreseeable future. I also need to register a homeschooled student, that I myself have been tutoring, for the Island Relay."

"And I need to get back to the center," Nurse Joy said as we all got up.

"Nurse Joy," Jake began. "While you're here, could you give the staff Pokemon a checkup before you go?"

"Yes, of course."

While the butler escorted the headmistress to her car, Jake and I led Nurse Joy to the side deck where the gardens are. The gardeners presented their Diglett, the maids their Minccino, and the groundskeeper his Herdier. There was also a Combee, Ledian, two Butterfree, and a Dunsparce with three little Budew in the garden too.