Ace spins around to stare at Grim with wide eyes and a slight snarl on his face.

You know shit's about to go down. Oh dear Arceus, you know.

Grim has a satisfied smirk plastered on his face, his paws on his hips.

"Nobody makes fun of Grim, master of fire!" He yells out, attracting the attention of several students walking past, "I'm gonna make that explodey-head of yours explode all over again!"

When did his head even explode though..?

Ace glowers at the cat. "Explodey-head? You wanna throw down with me, shorty!? You got some guts. You wanna talk hair with me, huh? I'm gonna shave you like a toy poodle!" He pulls out a pen- similar to the one's you seen yesterday- with a red bejeweled tip. It reminds you of Riddle's pen, the one you saw the other day when he collared Grim.

"MYAAAH!" Grim fires another fireball at Ace. You and Poni stare blankly as you die internally.

Ace waves his pen and a strong gust of wind sends the fireball aside. Ace has a satisfied grin etched on his face. "Oh-ho! How do you like that?"

You give Poni a blank look. "You restrain Grim, I'll restrain Ace, we'll stop this chaos before it gets too much worse..."

You squeeze through the newly formed crowd that's clustering in a circle around the fighting fellas, setting Poni down before darting over to Ace.

"What's going on over there? A fight?"

"Oh sweet! Get 'em!"

"NO FIGHTING!" You screech as you hop behind Ace and start pulling him back swiftly, arms going under his armpits to yank him back.

Poni wraps her vines around Grim and scoops the cat up. However, she does it just as Grim fires one last fireball and Ace uses a gust of wind to send it flying.

BOOM

You flinch back as the fireball slams into the statue of the Queen of Hearts. You grimace as the smoke fades, showing the statue is now charred and burnt from the fireball.

You look blankly at the horrified Ace and Grim. Both look too shocked for words, which gives you a gut feeling this will be one of the few times either is ever quiet.

"...this is both of your fault. Ace, if I get in trouble, I'm kicking you in the dick."

Ace gives you a startled look that your friendly demeanor is just gone. "Wh- why?"

Your blank expression somehow deadpans further. "Because you started this."

"Myah! The hench-human is right!" Grim yells out, squirming in Poni's vines as he's held mid-air. "This is your fault, explodey-head! You shouldn't have diverted the fireball, and shoulda just let it burn you to a crisp!"

"Who in their right mind would ever do that!?" Ace yells back, glaring at Grim.

...you want to kinda die, except you have Pokémon to take care of so you won't ask Grim to light you on fire and let you join the ghosts in Ramshackle. They seem nice. Much happier than you right now.

"What's going on here!? Cease this at once!" A loud and familiar voice causes all of you to jump, Poni to set down Grim, and the surrounding students to scatter. You glance over and see Crowley marching towards you four, looking very displeased.

Ace pales and squirms out of your loosened grip. "Oh no! The Headmage!"

Crowley places his hands on his hips as he stares at you four, Poni nervously edging to your side and hiding behind your legs as she drags Grim with her, and shakes his head as he stops in front of you. Oh... he's angry. You're screwed.

"Did I not warn you, no more incidents?" You want to argue back that it's hard to keep a powerful fire spitting monster from shooting fire while being riled up without being charred yourself, but don't because you're in enough trouble. "And now you charred one of my statues? It's almost as though you want to be expelled."

You feel your heart skip a beat in fear. You'd be screwed over if you lost the poor excuse of a dorm you're staying in.

"No! Forgive me!" Ace yelps out, joining Poni in hiding behind you. He's shorter than you, but not by much. Maybe by like 5 centimeters.

"And you, Y/N." Crowley seems more disappointed than upset with you, which may be worse. "You were specifically told to keep Grim under control!"

"...can I inquire on getting Grim a harness and leash?" You ask hesitantly.

"I'll see what I can do." He says in a blunt and annoyed tone, turning his focus to Ace again as everyone ignores the look of frustration Grim gives you, one of Poni's vines wrapping around his snout to silence him. "And you! State your name and grade."

"Ace Trappola, freshman..." Ace bows his head down as he swallows a lump in his throat, looking genuinely terrified.

"The listen well, Trappola. You too, Grim, Y/N, and her little "Pokey Man" companion. As punishment for today's infractions, you are hereby ordered to wash a hundred windows!"

All of you reel back in shock. "Myah!?" Grim spits out before glaring at Ace, "That's what you get for makin' fun of me! The human's still right! This is all your fault!"

Ace starts arguing back, and you ignore the two's bickering as you give Crowley the best pleading eyes you can muster, Poni joining in.

"Sir... Poni and I attempted to break up the fighting and even restrained the two, which no one else watching attempted to do. I deeply apologize for being unable to keep them from causing damage, but please at least forgive Poni and myself, even just in spirit."

Crowley thinks for a minute, his gaze softening very slightly at your's and Poni's expressions. Most wouldn't notice it, but you're naturally very observant.

"Hm... I suppose you do bring up a point... you two have done more to stop a fight than any students I've seen here during my time as Headmage..." Crowley clears his throat, getting Ace and Grim's attention. "As an expression of simply how kind I am and as a reward for Y/N's well placed intentions, Y/N and her "Pokey Man" companion may leave after fifty windows are cleaned! Now, Trappola and Grim, this only applies to Y/N and her little friend. You both still must clean a hundred windows."

Both of them give you and Poni flabbergasted and slightly ticked off looks, and you blink innocently. Thank Arceus for your cute little face they blessed you with...

"You all will meet in the cafeteria at five PM. Am I clear about this?" You all nod and say varying degrees of "Yes, sir", at Crowley's order. "And Y/N, I shall show my kindness by paying your paycheck daily- of course, whatever costs of living you rack up will be deducted- and I shall be kind enough to not cut your pay for this incident. Ta ta, now!"

And with that, Crowley leaves. You silently look at the seething Ace as you stroll up to him.

"What? Gonna gloat about how you get out of this before I- OW-" He screeches in pain as you kick him in the groin as harshly as you can muster. He collapses to the ground in pain as you glare at him.

"THAT'S FOR GETTING GRIM AND I IN TROUBLE, ASSHAT! C'mon you two, we're getting back to work."

Grim and Poni give you surprised looks. You usually have a very long temper, but this guy just gets on all your nerves...

Hopefully- if Arceus is kind enough- after today, you won't deal with him anymore.

--------

After a long day of cleaning up trash and a few empty classrooms, you and Grim lounge in the mostly empty cafeteria as you wait for Ace. You actually went ahead and cleaned a few windows waiting for him, though Grim demanded on waiting for Ace before starting.

Poni's taking a short rest in her Pokéball, and your just leaning back on the table with Chompers lounging next to you calmly.

Grim groans from where he's flopped out on the bench beside you. "I'm already exhausted from a full day of cleanin'! I can't believe we gotta wash a hundred windows..."

You shrug a bit. "Maybe if you didn't let Ace rile you up, we wouldn't be here."

Grim grumbles. "Well, he started it!" The cat sits up with a grin. "I still can't believe you actually went and kicked em in the dick! I thought you were just exaggeratin' or somethin'!"

You shrug again, smiling faintly as you angle your head down at the cat so your E/C eyes lock with his ice-blue ones. "Eh, I don't exaggerate. I'm a very serious girl, if you couldn't tell pequeño gato de fuego."

Grim tilts his head with an inquisitive look on his face. "What's that even mean?"

"Little fire cat."

"I'm not a cat though..."

"Eh, just think of it as a name of endearment. I could call you chīsana hi no neko, if you'd prefer."

"Does that also mean "little fire cat"?"

"Yep. Except instead of Paldean, it's said in Sinnonian."

"What're those?" Grim asks as he leans a bit closer, and you smile a bit.

"Well, they're regions from back home in my world. Before I moved to Paldea a couple years ago, my mom and I traveled a lot. Especially to Sinnoh. I was intrigued by the legends there, of the Pokémon of space and the Pokémon of time, and so I learned the language. Then when I moved to Paldea, I learned Paldean. Of course, my primary language is Kantonian, which is the prominent language back home."

Grim looks curious. "Huh, neat! Eh, guess you can call me the nickame in Paldean... don't think I like it though!" He looks serious when he says this.

"Heh, got it pequeño gato de fuego." You wink at the cat, who nods before crossing his arms and flattening his ears.

You raise an eyebrow, "Something bugging you?"

"Yeah..." Grim shakes his head. "Ace ain't even here yet! To make us wait after what he did..."

You frown a bit as you glance at your watch (yeah you have Toto, you just like being able to look at your watch to see the time). "It is like 5:21 now, he's pretty late..."

Grim huffs as he scrambles onto the table and stomps his foot. "I bet he up and bailed on us!"

You shake your head. "Seems likely. C'mon, let's go find him. Would've figured that kick would be warning enough to not mess with us, but alas..."

You click your tongue. "Fear I may need to do it again."

Grim grins excitedly. "Please do! It's pretty cool seeing how cool you can be sometimes! Kickin' people are hard and stuff... any other awesome surprises?"

You tilt your head, a smile teasing your lips as you stand up. "Where to even begin..? Hm. How about I tell you tonight during training?"

Grim excitedly nods, and you smile at Chompers.

"You wanna stay out?" The Pokémon nods at your question. "Heh, alright. Come along you three, we got a punishment ducker to catch!"