Young Writers Society

Chapter Six – Midweek Action

As the lesson earlier in the week had demonstrated, Strategy & Tactics was ordinarily an interesting, eventful subject. However, as Mr Kana himself would say, strategy was not always an exciting activity, and sometimes, it was downright tedious. On that Giraday morning, the appropriate adjective was “tiresome”.

‘What’s the matter?’ Mr Kana asked, chuckling. ‘Did none of you go to bed when you should have? Even you, Minerva?’

The Vulpix gazed at the Medicham with tired, yet determined eyes. ‘I did go to sleep on time, sir; it’s just… that incense you’re burning…’ She yawned. ‘It’s making us sleepy.’

‘And so it is. The reason you all feel like doing what Duncan had been doing for the past few years – and which he is doing quite loudly now – is because I am burning not just any incense, but Full Incense.’

He strode behind his desk and placed his hand on the yellow and red bowl on his papers. ‘Unless today’s strategy is to make you all fall asleep so I can have a free, paid period, what possible reason could I have for burning this most expensive of products?’

‘Full Incense has an extraordinarily calming effect on anything that can smell it,’ Aiden answered. ‘It is calming to such an extent, it makes you want to sleep, so it is used in battle to make the bowl’s holder move last in his or her priority…’ Aiden yawned. ‘In his or her…’ He yawned again. ‘It makes them move slower.’

‘Precisely right. Would you also like to explain why this could be useful in battle?’

‘It’s because… err… sorry, sir, I’m not a Growlithe anymore.’ Aiden nudged the friend to his left. ‘Darren here isn’t a Drowzee yet, so he can answer.’

Darren was taken aback, but he obliged. ‘Moves like Gyro Ball and Avalanche have more power if the user is slower than the target or if the user moves after the target, respectively, so it would be beneficial to Pokémon who use moves like that. Granted, they must be able to resist falling asleep. If they use that Electric Terrain we studied on Diaday, then it will work perfectly, since they can still get drowsy, but can’t fall asleep.’

‘Excellent, Darren! And I’m impressed that you not only used information learned from a previous lesson, but that you did so while maintaining coherent speech. I also haven’t seen you yawn even once.’

‘Mom’s good friends with Miss Charmaine le Chatelier, so I spend a lot of time in her shop.’

‘So tha’s wha’ ye do when ye aren’t with yer buddies,’ Malcolm called from the back of the class, his eyes drooping. ‘Ye gaze into foggy crys’al balls and analyse some stupid tea leaves.’

Darren made to reply with a snarky comment of his own, but he bit his tongue when Mr Kana raised his hand.

‘Malcolm.’

‘Yes, sir?’

‘As you slowly exhale, you feel the stress leaving your body. As you inhale, you feel the pure tranquillity created by the incense permeate through your body. When you exhale again, you feel even more stress leave your body. You feel a blanket of fussiness cover you from head to tail. You feel your consciousness slipping away, and even while I am talking, you drift away on a sea of relaxation…’ Mr Kana trailed off, waiting for a moment before speaking again. ‘There, he’s asleep.’

‘Along with Seamus, Nicole, Tyler, and now Aiden,’ Darren said, looking around the class and stopping at his friend. He was beginning to drool on his textbook, so Darren put Aiden’s paw beneath his mouth.

‘I’m still awake!’ Minerva added resolutely.

‘Me too!’ Leslie agreed, almost as sober as Darren.

‘Very good. Was there anything else you wanted to say, Darren?’

‘Not really, but I guess you can also give your Full Incense to your target by using moves like Switcheroo or Trick. If you know you’re going to face fast opponents like Greninja or Ninjask, it will allow you to render their strengths useless.’

‘An outstanding observation! I honestly had not thought about that possibility. That’s some creative thinking, Darren; it will serve you well later in life, no matter your career.’

‘Aren’t we going to discuss the effects incense has on reproduction?’ Minerva enquired.

‘Considering the subject I teach, I don’t think so. That would be Mrs Williams’ domain.’

‘Oh, right.’ Minerva muttered something about the incense muddling her thoughts.

‘Will we discuss all the incenses today, Mr Kana?’ Leslie asked.

‘Indeed. As much as the sleeping two thirds of the class would like to stay that way, we still have an hour and fifty minutes left of this period, and seeing as I only have two periods with you a week, I have to make the most of it.’

‘How many different types of incense are there?’

‘Nine, and we have to discuss them all.’

‘Should we start waking the others up, then?’ The Spearow looked uncertainly at the Ivysaur next to him.

‘We’ll discuss Lax Incense next, but that is rather straightforward, so they can just read through the textbook to catch up on what they missed. The Luck Incense is rather pungent though, so they ought to start waking up then.’

For some reason, Darren found it amusing that the teacher would allow more than half of the class to sleep while a lesson is being taught, but even more so that said teacher had put them to sleep in the first place. (In addition to Hypnotising Malcolm, which was awesome. Then again, it was Mr Kana, so duh.)