The Adventures of Darren Cassidy - Chapter Five, Part Four - Beware the Watchog

Darren sighed and looked dejectedly at the ground, while Aiden scowled at Tyler.

‘You couldn’t have given us at least one more minute of happiness, could you?’

‘But the class is right around the corner!’ Tyler protested. ‘We’re practically there already.’

‘You know Mrs Williams – a few seconds late is still late.’

That statement held more truth than a random passer-by could have known, which the teacher perfectly illustrated after the trio had taken their seats: she stood up, turned a tiny hourglass on its head, and approached the door. She counted down from ten, reaching zero just as the sand ran out.

‘Class begins now!’ she declared, slamming the door shut.

‘He’s late,’ Aiden whispered to Darren.

A knock on the door confirmed it. Duncan slowly pushed open the door and peeked around the corner hesitantly.

‘Good afternoon, Mrs Williams. I’m sorry I–’

‘No, master Rafferty, it is not. It might have been a good afternoon, had all my students been on time.’

‘But the bell hasn’t gone yet!’

As if just awaking from a stolen nap, the bell announced the start of the next period.

‘It just has, and since you’re still outside the class, you may remain there.’

‘But…’

‘But is the start of an excuse. You would only snore in my class anyway, so I really see no reason why you need attend this lesson. Go home and sleep there.’

‘Are you serious, Mrs Williams?’ Duncan asked, dumbfounded.

‘Quite. In fact, if you plan on being late for Reshday’s lesson too, you don’t have to bother attending that one either. Now, I have a class of willing pupils to teach, so kindly close the door and begone with you.’

When Duncan continued to stand in the doorway, considering what the Watchog had just said, Mrs Williams casually walked over and shut the door in his face. She turned and gave the class a Mean Look, daring anyone to ask if they could leave too. Even Minerva looked away.

‘Open your books at page eighty-two.’

‘The Monster Egg Group?’ Aiden said once he had turned there.

‘Well-observed, master Karman. However, you will deal specifically with Pokémon that belong exclusively to this group. The others we shall discuss during the next few lessons.

‘Pokémon that are classified into this Egg Group are often fearsome in appearance. In addition, they are generally quite powerful. These two factors combine to make them some of the most well-known evolutionary lines in both modern and ancient society.

‘Appearance-wise, most Monsters are bipedal, but there are several quadrupedal examples as well. Often, they have large tails, which aid in balance in reference to the bipedal Pokémon, but many lack them nevertheless. Monsters frequently sport claws too, but as with the tails, it is not a given.

‘Now, to focus on the pure Monsters, it is noteworthy that all of them are, at least partly, Normal, Ground, Rock, and Ice types. This suggests that Monsters are some of the oldest Pokémon, a claim that can be supported by the presence of three Restored Evolutionary Lines. They are closely linked to the Dragon Egg Group in appearance, though certain Pokémon in the Field, Grass, and Water One Egg Groups can also be sorted into it.

‘The pure Monster Evolutionary Lines are those of Cubone, Lickitung, Kangaskhan, Snorlax, Larvitar, Aron, Cranidos, Shieldon, Amaura, and Bergmite. Your homework for Reshday is to list and describe each of their possible Abilities in your own words – evolved and Mega-evolved forms included. It’s quite simple really, so you shouldn’t have a problem with it. You may begin now.’

‘Should we write the repeated Abilities, like Sturdy, out more than once?’ Widen whispered to Darren.

'There are no shortcuts in life, master Karman, so yes, write it out each time. And by the way, masters Cowell and Donnelly, shortcuts include copying each other's work.'

'I wasn't–' Seamus began.

'You will not,' she stamped her foot, 'lie to me! I see everything that happens in my class – including your chewing, miss Brent. Into the rubbish with it.'

Nicole walked over to the bin and spat her gum out.

'Did your manners abandon you?' Mrs Williams asked hotly. 'You are a young lady, not some Ytridorian hooligan! Get back to your desk immediately. Anyone who speaks will receive additional homework. Get to work!'

Darren hurriedly picked up his pen and began copying down the work. The sooner he finished his homework, the sooner he can get Mrs Williams out if his thoughts. Honestly, she could get an Arbok to slither away in fear.

So, Cubone. It and its evolved form, Marowak, had the same potential Abilities, so that was easy. Rock Head mitigated the damage received via Recoil from attacks like Double Edge and Wood Hammer... Lightning Rod, absorbed all Electric type moves aimed at the Pokémon with said Ability (though he himself currently absorbed all Electric moves around him, since he had yet to control his Ability)... And Battle Armour prevented Critical Hits from successfully landing against the concerned Pokémon. Done.

Moving on to Lickitung and Lickilicky. Own Tempo made the concerned Pokémon immune to confusion, self-inflicted or otherwise. Oblivious granted immunity to infatuation caused by Attract and Cute Charm. Cloud Nine mitigated any weather conditions, restoring the weather to mild sunlight.

And so he continued with Kangaskhan, Snorlax, Cranidos and Rampardos, Shieldon and Bastiodon, Amaura and Aurorus, and Bergmite and Avalugg. All of them were simple in that the Abilities remained the same throughout the evolutions. The trouble came with the two lines that could Mega-Evolve.

Larvitar was simple, since it only had Guts, which increased its Attack when affected by a nonvolatile status condition like Burns or Poisoning (sleep, freezing, and paralysis prevented attacks, which defied the purpose), and Sand Veil, which increased its Speed when experiencing a Sandstorm. But Pupitar had Shed Skin, which could spontaneously cure all status conditions, because of its cocoon-like state, and Tyranitar had Sand Stream and Unnerve, which causes a Sandstorm to rage or makes any opponents too nervous to eat Berries, respectively. (Mega-Evolution resulted in only Sand Stream.)

Aron and Lairon fortunately shared Rock Head and Sturdy, which prevented them from being knocked out in one hit, but Aggron had Sturdy and Heavy Metal, which doubled its weight. Filter, which reduced the damage received from super effective attacks by twenty-five percent, broke the pattern by only being accessible through Mega-Evolution.

Luckily, two hours were more than enough to copy all of that down – even for him, who wrote slower than Duncan. (It seemed the Drowzee had long ago learned to write as fast as a Greninja in order to accommodate his sleeping habit.) Of course, he and everyone else pretended to be busy until the bell went, lest they receive more homework.

'I know you all can't wait to be out of here, so go. You are dismissed.'

'You know, Aiden,' Darren said once outside, 'if Mr Williams married her, I think there might still be hope for Minerva.'