Hunger for knowledge. On topic! [Independent Studies]

The Sandshrew by the name of Yigo was troubled with something for some time. While looking at his stash for supplies, he managed to find a strange fruit. There was no doubt in his mind that it was, in fact, a berry. However, the young kid couldn't pinpoint which one it was or if he had ever seen it beforehand. The appearance of the fruit was of round, light yellow with small green circles all over its skin. To the touch, it felt tough yet not that rough. His claw could easily tear into it, something that he did just to check on the insides of the thing. They seemed as clear as the skin yet it had an even lighter yellow. Some juice came out of the wound as well, proving that it wasn't exactly dry. This last fact brought a new question to the table.

This juice felt like something Yigo himself could produce long ago: Poison. Wouldn't it be a waste to hoard a poisonous berry? Yigo had no use for poison at all. It is dangerous to leave a delicious looking treat that is a sick belly in disguise when food is scarce. How to clear this doubt? Luckily for Yigo, there was a place that was all about learning in just a walk of distance. With hunger for knowledge in his head and actual hunger a step below, Yigo fit his berry into his satchel, strapped on his belt across his shoulder and then adjust it around his hip, put on his pink, ragged and stained Trap Scarf and marched on!

It took him less than an hour to reach Peak Academy. Hopefully, making a good time would make his potential meal last enough before going to waste. In no time, the Sandshrew found himself on all fours trotting around the open fields with pokemon already making use of them to spar or play some sport. Yigo could identify a few from having crossed paths in the past but no one was too noteworthy. The one he was truly looking for was a teacher by the name of Millie who gave the Essential Skills lectures to him and a few others. With all her cooking knowledge she would know what secrets the unknown forage was keeping. Getting past the training ground and the front gate, the ground type came to the hallways leading to the classes. He remembers enough of the building to know where to go, just turning a few corners until he found himself in the room with the cooking materials.

"Woah!" A Pamsage took a step back in surprise. Yigo's ears tensed and immediately stared at the source of that. It was... really close to him and they were about to bump into each other if it was not for the monkey doing her best to avoid it. Yigo noticed this and took a few steps back himself, looking down and with his tail low in shame.

"Uhm.."
"Oh..."

They both stammered for a moment without looking into each other's eyes.

"Sorry"
"Yes, sorry" Said the Pansage, finally resuming her march. She was heading in the direction Yigo was planning to go but the rodent thought that going with her would be too awkward for both. Where did she come from anyway? Yigo shook his head and looked around. He was standing almost in the middle of a doorway. With such little room around the corner, it was easy how one would bump into someone. Examining the place a bit more, he found out that the door was open, revealing what was inside. The room contained a few carpets, some pillows and a bunch of shelves that contained rows upon rows of books. One of the pillows was occupied by an idle Mime Jr, sitting down with a book open in front of him. It was not open the way someone would have it, it was standing by itself while being open thanks to the hardcover being thick enough. Moreover, this book had an illustration at the front, a whole bunch of rocks.

This gave Yigo an idea. Maybe he could find a book inside that could help with this issue. Of course, there was the danger of finding books with just words but, with a bit of luck, there would be a few that only had pretty and instructional pictures he could follow. And so, Yigo entered the academy library and immediately started taking books out of the shelves. Not brutishly but with care yet dismissing any single book lacking a picture. Grabbing a bunch into a pile which had in the cover either a berry or a berry bush, Yigo laid down in one of the comfy pillows and began opening each and every single one of his handpicked research material. Did this page had a picture? No? Next page. Yes? A little research. Many of the books were fruitless in Yigo's quest for discovery, put down in another pile by his side until... wonder of wonders! In a book that featured on the front cover a berry, an orb and a thorn, the Sandshrew found turning a page that the following two pages had a big, colorful and detailed drawing of the berry. One page had it whole and the next one had just half of it as if it was perfectly divided into two pieces by a single slice. The problem? The rest were just words. No instructional pictures that could serve as the solution to this enigma. The next page was about another item altogether so searching for more into that book seemed like a waste of time.

Yigo took his fruit out of the satchel and placed it right next to the book, comparing the picture to the real thing all the while scratching his ear in a confusion. He was having trouble. Should he just search elsewhere?

Valen had recently found Peak Academy, and decided to join it. He hoped that it would teach him more about exploring, a subject that his old school had barely touched on. And having a major about survival and daily life skills was a nice bonus too. He flew towards the campus grounds. He wasn't looking for an actual class: he had checked earlier, but there were apparently no open classes for him to join at that time. He just wanted to find whether there was something he could do on his own. Maybe independent study or something like that?

He entered the grounds, swiftly flying over most of the other Pokemon. Once he went through the front gate, he slowed down and went lower so that he wouldn't crash into anything or anyone. As he flew, he looked around. Flying through a building was, in an odd way, somewhat similar to flying through a place like Pecha Forest, he thought. You had to make sure not to hit an object, and also be aware of other Pokemon, even if the ones here weren't feral.

Quite a few of the rooms he saw seemed to be classrooms, which he didn't really have any business in yet. But eventually, he came across a room that was filled with shelves of books. A library, he thought. I can study there. It seems pretty quiet, so I won't be disturbed. Valen went inside. He could see only two other Pokemon there, neither of whose species he knew. Maybe the first thing I study should be the different species of Pokemon so I can tell what species someone I see is.  One of them was a large, mostly pink creature who seemed to be relaxing and just reading a book.

There was something more interesting about the other one. It wasn't just being smaller and yellow, unlike the pink Pokemon. It was the things the small one had nearby. There was what seemed to be a berry, as well as an open book. Valen, upon going a bit closer, could tell that the book was open to  large pictures of the same berry. However, the yellow Pokemon was just staring at the book and the berry and scratching. Why? Was there some kind of problem? Valen had heard some Pokemon would scratch their heads if they were puzzled or worried.

Valen didn't really want to disturb anyone. But he had a feeling something unusual was going on, and if there was any way he could help, it would be quite nice. He moved just a little bit closer to the yellow Pokemon, and softly said "Hi."

Yigo had been focusing on finding a solution but the Mime Jr. he saw earlier didn't seem like it was researching the same topic. Just something with stones and this berry was no stone... or he hoped so. "Well... I guess that's it for this one" he thought to himself, reaching for the book's edge so he could close it and place it in the pile 'not useful'

"Hi"

Yigo looked to the side with eyes of surprise. His previously calm tail began to wag at the friendly greeting. Yigo's ears peaked at the sound of the bird in front of him, then twitched as if expecting something else. His eyes focused on the bird for a moment, examining it from head to toe. He cocked his head to the side. "Hello" He said helpfully before returning his head to normal "Do you need me?" Why would this bird salute him if not for that? Actually, now that Yigo put some thought to it, there were other options "Oh, maybe you need some of these books. You can take them" he concluded, closing the book he was using and sitting down on his haunches. From his towering position, he observed the bird for a moment. Maybe he could ask him a favour if he wasn't too busy.

When the yellow Pokemon offered Valen the books, Valen said "No, no, it's okay. You can keep those books. I was looking for something else." Why was the other Pokemon suddenly offering them just for one greeting?, he thought. At least I haven't offended anyone, I guess.

But there was something else, too. When Valen had come closer, he saw that the berry was yellow, with circular green markings on it. He recognized it as an Aspear Berry, which could cure freezing. Not only that, he had seen the words in the open book right before the other Pokemon had closed it, and they said basically the same thing. He could understand not knowing all of the berries, but the information was right there! So what was this Pokemon puzzled about? Or had Valen just misinterpreted the situation?

How do I ask this politely? Valen thought for a bit. After he got an idea, he spoke. "I'm Valen the Pikipek. I'm a student at Peak Academy. What are you studying right now? I'm looking for something to study myself. You know, maybe we can do it together."

"Oh, you want to study together?" Yigo said with a tone that resembled awkwardness. How odd would it be to present this helpful bird with a problem that seemed so trivial? Thinking back on the book he just closed, it looked like the information was there but he just couldn't take it. Nevertheless, Yigo was ignoring a very important fact. This Valen was a bird. Birds were always nice and helpful from what Yigo knew. They came from above the clouds after all. Besides, he really needed the extra pair of eyes, a pair of eyes that may read that is. His confusion soon turned into a smile, tail wagging and arm raising in excitement.


"Yes!" He let out very pleased with this situation "I'm Yigo and I'm also a student he-" "Ssssh!"

The Mime Jr. stared at him with fixated eyes and a grumpy look "This is a library! Speak low if you must!" he whispered. That took much of Yigo's energy, except from his tail which was waving from side to side pleasantly. The rest of the Sandshrew quickly made room for Valen on the pillow. It was more than enough for the two if Yigo just stayed on one side "Well..." he spoke low this time, taking a hold of his berry and extending it to his new acquaintance "I'm trying to find out if this is edible. It looks as such but I want to make sure that the juice is not poisonous. I thought I might find a picture of that somewhere but I had no luck. I found a page about it in a book but unless you can read it's as useless as it was to me"

Yigo left the berry on the spot it once was and picked up that tome, opening it by the page with the familiar fruit's pictures "Yes, this one" He pressed the tip of his claw on the picture of the berry "See? They are the same. Can you read what it says below?"

Valen was quite surprised. Yigo couldn't read! What? Then how was he even going to this academy in the first place? From his application, it hadn't seemed to require all that much from a prospective student to join, but still... And Yigo didn't even seem very young, so what kind of excuse did he have for not knowing how to read? Saying that was probably very rude, however, so Valen didn't say it out loud. Well, it did explain why he didn't know what was literally right in front of him.

"Okay. So, first off, that berry you have is called an Aspear Berry, and it's not poisonous. In fact, the important thing about it is that if you are frozen, it can cure that condition. The items that cure status conditions generally work when they are eaten. But come to think of it, I don't think you can exactly eat if you are completely frozen, so I think there are other ways to activate this berry. Such as having the juice get on you or something? Honestly, I would have to check to make sure. I'll read that book now in more detail - what I just said is actually things I had learned previously." Valen explained.

"Second, if you really cannot read... let me just say that I think you should learn how to do it. It is extremely important, especially in school, that you know how to read. You could find a teacher here who could give you classes on the topic, I guess." Valen continued. But then he thought of something. "You know, maybe I could teach you how to read. At the very least, I could start teaching you so it would be easier if you found an official teacher later. So first, please tell me how much you already know about reading and writing, so I know where to begin."

Was this going to work? Valen thought. I know how to read, of course, but I'm not a teacher. Well, I can at least try to help. It can't hurt, right?

It was great to know that the fruit was not poisonous and that it was rather useful against being frozen. Yigo despised winter and the cold it brought. It was not like Sandshrew were meant to live among snow so knowing that this berry's juice was effective when dealing with frost was a relief. It's not like it is not on sale at all. Many of Grassveil's shopkeepers had them on store. All of this information left the young shrew in a pretty satisfied mood. Although Valen had brought a valid point he couldn't mean that you could get completely frozen solid, right?

...right?

The bird's second point was also very thought inspiring. Reading was a very important skill to master, that much was evident, but was it as important to learn as some other subjects taught in this school? Yigo never needed it up to this point as he could always ask someone around to read something out loud for him. It doesn't help to find forage nor it does dissuade a feral Pokémon from fighting you. The Battling major help with the latter while and the Exploration major should teach how to do the former. "I know reading is important. Everyone here knows how to do it so I thought that I could learn that skill here. That's why I applied for the I-ssen-tial Skills classes" Yigo paused looking at the books for a moment "But we aren't doing any reading there, not yet anyway" He sighs, a bit anxious "Someone tried to help me read. They showed me how my name... And  hers... Is written but, after that, she never had time to come teach me again. That's what happens with Guildmembers, right? They have to save some Pokémon's live or fetch resources in need. Everything else is... Too irrelevant to matter"

Those words had a great tinge of sadness. Yigo's tail went limp all of a sudden, his head tilted down and paws dropping the book without much care at all. The Sandshrew sighed again and shook his head to clear his mind. Those memories were just some torture. He needed to take them off of his mind. After all, this was a winged 'mon. This thought managed to cheer him up a little, causing Yigo to stare back at Valen with an awkward smile and scratching his pink scarf right below his chin "Well... That means that I know nothing, I think. If you could help me get started that'd be great!"

"Mm... Okay." Valen said. That information was pretty odd. The classes didn't involve reading? That was not something that he had thought a school would ever do, even if it was just in the beginning, and even if Peak Academy wasn't exactly the same as some other schools. Pretty much all of the classes he could remember from his old school required textbooks almost all of the time.

But still, reading was important, in daily life at least, and Yigo had just confirmed that he wanted Valen to help him. So, how to start? Valen knew that written language (of the kind he had learned about, at least) was, ultimately, composed of letters. Therefore, he guessed that the first step would be to teach Yigo the alphabet.

Valen quickly checked what he had, but he didn't find any writing implements or paper. He looked around, but couldn't see any books that were obviously for teaching the alphabet. For all he knew, there weren't even any of that sort here at all, as the students at Peak Academy generally weren't really young. So there was a bit of a problem here.

Valen told Yigo "Please, can you stay here and wait for a moment? I need to get some supplies. I'll come back soon." Valen then left the library room quickly. Once he was outside, he asked "Anyone? Can I borrow a writing instrument and some paper?"

One of the Pokemon going by - whom Valen could recognize as a Kirlia - replied. "You can take these," handing Valen three sheets of paper and a bottle of ink. "My class is nearby. If you have anything left once you're done, you can return it to me."

"Thanks!" Valen said, a bit surprised that he got so much so quickly. He went back into the library with his new supplies. Then, he dipped one of his toes into the ink and started to write the alphabet on one of the sheets, saying the name of each letter out loud (but not very loud, as it was a library).

This new acquaintance had waited no time in getting the material ready. Yigo looked at him, perplexed yet amused as he flew by. What drew him and his winged folk to help others. He'd have to think of a way to help this Valen in exchange for his support. He rolled onto his back, stretching his whole length on the pillow and wiggling a little to ready himself for a time of steadiness. After this little stretch and before Valen was back, Yigo curled his upper half forward, his anatomy allowing him to do so without much of an effort until he found himself lying on his belly again.

This was when the Pikipek returned, carrying sheets of white and a bottle of what looked like desert oil. Supposing the sheets were to write upon, it wasn't hard to imagine that one would use the oil to do the actual marking. Letting Valen roost on his side, he observed him use the ink to scribble some symbols in one of the sheets. More observing him than the symbols themselves, he still had no clue what those were and was waiting for an explanation for the letters he was speaking out loud. This meant that, when Valen was done, Yigo was simply staring back at him as if expecting... something more. "So... what now?" He asked so his thoughts were clear to his study partner.

Maybe I've gone too fast? Valen guessed. It seemed that Yigo didn't really understand what had just happened when Valen had been reading the alphabet. So what do I do now?

Valen thought for a while, and then remembered, Yigo said he didn't know anything about reading earlier. So maybe he doesn't understand that each letter has its own sound? The connection between letters and sounds had been such an obvious fact to Valen that he hadn't truly understood that Yigo may not know that. And then some memories of Valen's own very early education came to him, when a teacher was saying that groups of letters could make a new sound that was different from the sounds of the individual letters.

Hey, if I think more about how I learned things in school myself, maybe that will help me teach! Valen realized. He then decided to give a more detailed explanation about the alphabet to Yigo. "So, written words are made up of letters. Each of these symbols is a letter, and each letter corresponds to a sound. Well, it's more complex than that, because - how to say it - the sounds can also involve other letters, but we're starting with the basics."

Valen paused for a moment, then continued: "So what I was doing was saying the sound that each letter makes while I was writing it. When you see a letter, you need to know the sound it makes to be able to read. I can tell you the sound for each letter again while pointing to the letter, so you will be able to remember them."

"Each of these is a sound... The sounds you did... each of these are sounds, right?" Yigo spoke, staring blankly at the letters. They still felt really foreign, all so small and with a strange design. Some were round and others were straight and sharp. Some were complex, needing more than a single strike to draw and others were as simple as a straight line up. But this wasn't a hard concept to grasp. After all, words were made up of sounds. These letters were just a way to represent the sound like one would draw a flower to remind whoever is watching that it is a flower.

After this inner realization, Yigo nodded at Valen "Yes, I think I got it. I just have to remember this and what their sound is and I can just speak the sounds to know what it says, right?" The Sandshrew pointed at some letters with his claw and thought of a word to use. He thought of "Berry" as this was what he was trying to know about before. Now, let's see... where was the "Be" sound? Valen had only mentioned a "Bi" sound but not a "Be" sound. Maybe Yigo didn't have it. What about some other words? "Element" might be a good one to start since Valen had used many of those sounds before. "El-em-en...ty?" he spoke. He didn't know how to end this word right. "Am I saying it right? It almost sounds like Element but... Oh! I see! There are more letters, right?" The Sandshrew felt like he had made a breaking discovery. As long as each sound had a letter he just had to memorize, speak it up and he could read but... there are a lot of sounds... how many letters can there be? Is there a letter for a Rattata's cry? A letter for Alki's singing? A letter for when you strike a claw at wood? This thought worried Yigo a little "...there must be more letters than sand in the desert..."

Well, now Yigo clearly looked happy, and Valen could tell that he had made a breakthrough in understanding. But there was still some confusion that Valen had to clear up.

"Actually, there aren't quite that many letters. The thing is, while I said the sound of each letter, that is only the most basic level. Once inside a real word, things become more complex. The sound a letter makes can depend on where in the word it is and what letters are near it. A group of letters can form a unit that makes a new sound." Valen had briefly mentioned this before, but was now going into more detail.

But now... While Valen supposed that even the number of sounds in language was less then the number of grains of sand in a desert, there were still a lot of sounds. And Valen eventually had to admit something to himself that he did not want to - that maybe he didn't know every single rule, at least not consciously and well enough to teach Yigo. Should I stop here and let Yigo move on to an actual teacher? he wondered. No. I've just started! I can't give up now. I have to try explaining everything I know! After all, Valen could remember at least a few of the common letter patterns.

"Okay. So we've just started. You know, the words you mentioned are pretty complex. We may need to start with very simple words first and then work our way to the longer ones." Valen continued. He tried to sound as confident as possible, but internally, he still was not completely sure of how well he would do. Even worse, other doubts were growing - was there even a teacher here who would teach reading? Valen guessed that most of the other students knew how to read and write already, so would a teacher really bother with a class on something so basic?

So he didn't get it, at all. A sound can't mean a sound by itself, it had to be with some other sound to make it a different sound. That sounded... way more complicated than Yigo expected. He tilted his head down a little, bringing his claws to his chin in a bit of desperation. How to remember all of that? It was going to be a nightmare and a huge waste of time. How would he even make room for all of that even if Valen would be around to help him?

Fortunately, the Pikipek had come up with another solution. If the word he had chosen was too hard another, shorter one could make Yigo understand. A bit of time was spent thinking of a word that felt simple. Element had four sounds. Berry had two. What if he went for... a word with one sound?

"...You" He said low and shyly "H-How does 'You' look like? It looks so simple but..." He was starting to get nervous, one claw poking the other as he stared at some corner of the paper "N-Nevermind. I want to see 'You' "

(Have in mind, he's thinking sound as syllable. That's how he has learned how to speak words)

"Hmm... 'you' is a simple word, I think. We can do that." Valen wrote the word down on the paper. "It has a 'y', an 'o', and a 'u'. In this case..." Valen stared at the word for quite a bit of time. I need to remember, I need to remember...

Suddenly, he got it. As he pointed to each letter that he mentioned: "The 'o' and the 'u' together, in this word, make a new sound. Sounds like 'oo.' The 'y' makes a sound sort of like 'yuh'. Put them together and say them, and you get the pronunciation of the word from the way it is written. "

Valen remembered something. "Even just 'o' and 'u' together don't always make the exact same sound. It can be different in different words. I think there are even more rules for that." It had been taking quite a bit of time by now. So what do I do? I'm not sure how much longer I can go just by myself. I don't know how long it will take to find a reading teacher, if there is even one here at all. Valen thought. But maybe, just maybe... Some Pokemon study languages and writing, don't they? If it's a field of study, maybe there could be a book here that helps after all. But how to find it?

"Yigo, I know that this is getting difficult. I might need to find something else again. So, I was thinking about getting a book that talks about how to teach reading skills. But I don't know where that book is. I think you've been in Peak Academy longer than I have, so by any chance, do you know anyone who knows how the books here are organized?" Valen asked.

Even though 'you' was a simple word, the explanation for why it required those three specific symbols couldn't be weirder. After all, didn't the word only need that last symbol 'u'? That letter was able to produce the whole sound by itself but only when the 'o' was near so it could sound like some howl... and then the 'y' was there to make the sound whole? This was incredibly hard to understand. Perhaps it would be better to just nod and accept it and remember that those three words mean what they meant.

Yigo sighed with resignation. He wasn't going to learn this today... or through this week... or year if this was too complicated. Dropping this sounded like the sensible option, after all, time spent not understanding reading was time that could have been used for foraging or sparring or playing with his Murkrow friend Radar. Yes, that sounded like a much better use of the time compared to... failing...

Yigo stared at Valen with his eyes lacking luster "Oh... Uhm... I think it's enough for today, Valen... thank you for trying to help me but I think that I won't have much trouble for now. Thankfully, there are Pokémon that will read for me if I really need it anyway" The voice sounded relieved and disappointed at the same time. Yigo's head tilted lower a bit more before attempting to regain composure, now sitting straight and stretching one of his arms to the side. He still felt a bit uncomfortable trying to decline this bird's aid. A subject change was needed "You look like you know a lot. Why are you a student and not a teacher? What do you need to learn from here? Some fighting tricks?"