School Years

By Charles Hibberd

Chapter 1

Companions for life...

"Into your forms!" Bellowed professor Rowan from the school gates. The children lined up in rows. Ash ketchum, a 12-year-old boy with black wavy hair and wearing a cap, was eager to get his first pokemon, he was a new student. As the children filtered into the classroom Ash was thinking of which pokemon to choose, due to his arrival in Sinnoh he was allowed a new starter pokemon, but which to choose? Chimchar? The tiny fire chimp? Piplup? The cute penguin pokemon? Or turtwig? The grass turtle? He was still pondering two hours later at break. As he trudged down the corridors after being taught everything he already knew about pokemon, he bashed into a girl. As he was knocked back to his senses he realised what he had done.

"I-I'm sorry," he stuttered as he frantically attempted to pick up the girl's books. Her face was still hidden.

"No, it was my fault, I was in a rush," said the girl as Ash stretched out a hand to help her up. As she lifted the books away from her face and took Ash's hand he got his first glimpse of her. She was beautiful, no wait, more than beautiful. She had a soft kind smiling face, with long blue hair in locks, and the eyes, the big blue eyes, Ash got lost as he stared into her sapphire eyes for a second, it was like looking into the sky on a cloudless summer's day. The two were locked in each other's stare for a second, before a door opened and they both turned.

"I best be going," said the girl as she collected her books and stumbled away down the corridor, only glimpsing back once to check if he was still here.

At the end of the day Ash had decided, he didn't really care which of the pokemon he got. As he entered the lab where the professor worked he was surprised to see the blue haired girl, and Gary, a boy he knew well from his home town in Kanto.

"Right!" The professor boomed, "You are here to receive a Sinnoh starter pokemon from me, am I correct?" We all nodded. "Right, you first," he said pointing to Gary. Gary walked forward as if he was destined for this moment, his brownish hair waving. He picked up a poke ball and stepped aside. Next the girl stepped forward. She pondered for a second before picking up a poke ball too. Finally it was Ash's turn.

"Guess I'm stuck with you then," he said as he picked up the final poke ball on the table. As he wondered outside he saw the girl playing with her new pokemon, Piplup. And there was Gary, already imposing himself on his Chimchar. Ash knew what his pokemon was as he opened up the poke ball for the first time.

"Turtwig," his pokemon said happily.

The next day Ash couldn't concentrate on anything. His mind was fuzzy. He had never had an experience with a girl before like that, come to think of it, he had never had an experience with a girl at all. At break he was having a battle with Gary, to practice. He had sent out his new pokemon, turtwig, to test it out. The battle was going well, the grass turtle was performing well until something caught Ash's eye. Suddenly Gary's chimchar attacked turtwig off guard and made it faint.

"Hey, no fair!" Cried Ash, snapping back to the battle.

"Which one you got your eye on?" Gary asked following Ash's gaze to the group of girls.

"I want Dawn," Gary said again.

"Who's Dawn?" Ash asked. Gary's jaw dropped open.

"You don't know who Dawn Berlitz is?" Gary said as if it was some kind of righteous thing everyone should know. Gary pointed towards the blue haired girl. "That's her."

Ash opened his mouth to say what had happened the other day, but decided not to, after all Brendan was there. Brendan was a trouble maker, one of the worst, he spread rumours, poked fun at people... The list could go on. Instead Ash closed his mouth before he got himself into trouble. Ash's eyes still hadn't moved from the group of girls. The blue haired girl was in the middle looking angry, hands on hips. Suddenly she bellowed something and came charging up to us, but as she walked, she calmed herself down.

"Watch a master at work," Gary said as Dawn began to come close.

"Hi," she said shyly.

"Hi babes," Gary replied in a flirty way.

"I wasn't talking to you, you pile of filth!" Dawn hissed.

"Oh! I think you just got blitzed, by berlitz!" Brendan teased.

"And you can shut your trap too!" Dawn was angry again now. Now she turned to Ash. "Sorry," she said. "I came over here to thank you for helping me yesterday, you were really helpful." With that she turned and walked away back to here friends. Brendan came up and punched me in the arm.

"I think you just got a girlfriend." I blushed all over.

"I don't get it? How did you do it? You never told me you saw her yesterday?" Gary's jaw was wide open in shock. He withdrew his Chimchar and stomped away angrily.

"So, who are the other girls?" Ash asked Ethan, one of his new friends. Ethan looked almost identical to Ash, except for the clothes they wore. Ethan also wore a cap but while Ash's was red, green and white, Ethan's was black and yellow. Also, Ash wore a blue jacket and Ethan's was red.

"That's Lyra, May, Misty, and Leaf - oh yeah, and of course, Dawn," Ethan pointed to the girls in turn. Ash recognised a few of the girls, Misty, one of the gym leaders from Kanto, and May, a co-ordinator from Hoenn.

"Why is one called Leaf?" Ash asked.

"Well, she's not really, she's actually called Lily, but she gets the nickname Leaf because she changes all the time," Ethan replied. There was a short silence. "I reckon you've got a chance with Dawn, usually she despises boys, even though all the boys like her, not me though," Ethan said. Ash looked away from the girls and turned to look at Ethan.

"Who do you like then?" He asked.

Time passed and Ash hadn't really crossed paths with Dawn much since those first days, even though they were in the same class. They caught each others eye once or twice, but one of the two would look away. One day it came to the first exams. They were all put into threes. As the groups were read out Ash dreaded even more that he would be put with Dawn and he'd mess up and spoil her chances of passing. Everyone was put boy, girl, and a instructor. Ethan was put with Lyra and an instructor. Gary was put with Leaf and an instructor. Brendan was put with May and an instructor. Ash knew what was coming.

"Ash Ketchum and Dawn Berlitz, you will be with Brock," Professor Rowan Boomed. Dawn walked over to me slowly. I turned away so she wouldn't see me blush, but when I glimpsed to see if she was looking at me, she had her head down too.

"Right, kids... Ash?"

"Hi Brock."

"I haven't seen you in ages! Can't you do this on your own?" Ash shrugged a response. "Well," said Brock, "I've just seen something over there that I rather like the look of." Brock wandered away over to Misty and began to flirt with her. Dawn walked closer to Ash.

"I guess it's just you and me then?"

"Yea, just you and me," Ash replied. The task set was for each group of two to go to a region and complete a pokedex, the instructor was to accompany them. The first couple back with a full pokedex was to receive a great reward.

"Now! You will each get a brief of your task, you have two weeks before the exams begin!" Boomed Professor Rowan from the front of the squabbling children.

"Guess we better do some research?" Dawn said, "my place tonight?"

"Y-your p-p-place... Tonight!" Ash stammered.

"That's what I said," Dawn laughed nervously. Ash knew he was blushing. His cheeks were scolding. Then he noticed Dawn had gone slightly red too.

That night Ash turned up at Dawns house wearing his normal casual clothes. Dawn answered the door wearing a black sleeveless top and a short pink skirt.

"Come in," she said beckoning Ash in. Ash gazed around the house. It was so much bigger than his house in twinleaf town. He looked at the walls. They were laid with certificates and ribbons.

"Who's are these?" Ash asked.

"Huh?" Said Dawn swivelling round, "oh, they're my mums, she used to be a top co-ordinator, I want to follow in her footsteps." The two wandered up the stairs and into Dawns room. Dawn closed the door behind them and sat down on the bed. There was an awkward silence before Ash broke the silence.

"Lovely weather isn't it?" I'm such an idiot!

"Yea." That was odd.

There was another awkward silence.

"So, um? I'm not really very prepared," Dawn said. Ash was still stood up in the middle of the room. "Sit down if you want?" Dawn said patting a spot on the bed beside her. Ash wandered over and sat down. The two sat staring forward for a second.

Don't look her in the eyes!

Uh, I bet he thinks I'm stupid.

She probably thinks I'm an idiot.

Oh

Oh

"Do you want a drink?" Dawn asked.

"No, I'm ok thanks," Ash replied.

The next day the school yard was quieter than usual.

"How'd your date with Dawn go then?" Brendan asked.

"Awkwardly, and for the last time, it wasn't a date!" Ash virtually screamed it at Brendan. It wasn't much better on the girls side.

"So? How did your date go with Ash? What's he like?" May asked.

"How'd your date go with Brendan?" Dawn said slyly. May shivered. "One, it wasn't a date, and I've told you a million times before already, it was strange, we weren't prepared and nothing much happened!"

Ash was looking across from the yard at Dawn.

"You really fancy her!" Gary said.

"Do not!" Ash retaliated. With that he stood up and stomped away, and at the same time from the other side, so did Dawn.

"Now now, someone better calm down!" Brendan laughed from where the group of boys sat.

Dawn slumped down the wall and began to cry. She had no real friends, real friends wouldn't do this to her.

"You ok?" Said Ash walking into the scene.

"Huh?" Dawn looked up and dried her eyes. "Yea, just a few friend problems," she snivled.

"Yea, me too," Ash sat down beside her. "So, um, wanna revise again sometime?" Ash asked.

"Yea, but where?"

"Dunno? My place? Tonight?"

"Sounds good."

"See you there." Ash stood up and began to walk away, but he turned back after a few steps. "Oh, and one thing, if you need a friend to talk to, I'm here," he said before turning round again and walking away.

Later that day the door bell of Ash Ketchums house rang.

"I'll get it!" He shouted as he slid down the banister of his stair case. He raced to the door and opened it. "Hi," Ash said. "Come in." He beckoned her in. She Walked next to Ash through the house and up the stairs. Ash's bedroom was nothing like the pink and girly style of Dawns, instead he had pictures of Pokemon and famous trainers on the walls.

"Oh, I forgot." Ash pulled out three pokedex's from under his bed.

"Where did you get those?" Asked Dawn surprised at what she saw.

"Well, er, there's one from Kanto, one from Johto, and one from Hoenn."

"Wow!" Dawn whispered.

"All I need now is Sinnoh's," Ash smirked.

"So, how long have you been travelling?" Dawn questioned.

"Roughly? Nearly three years."

"Wow! I've been the Professors apprentice since I was eight and I've never got further than where we are now."

"Dinner time!" Mrs. Ketchum yelled from downstairs.

The two children wandered down the stairs into the dining room.

"Oh, so this is Dawn? Hi dawn, Ash has been talking about you a lot recently," Ash's mum greeted Dawn.

"Hahaha, shall we eat?" Ash laughed nervously over his mother's sentence. Thanks mum! He thought. The two sat next to each other at the table while watching 'Battles Roadshow'.

"And next up we have a trainer named Gary Oak!" The tv blurted as Gary stepped infront of the camera.

"Gary!" Dawn shouted. "What has tv come to?" Ash turned it off and the two sat in silence while eating their food.

Later that evening Ash decided to walk Dawn home.

"Thanks," Dawn said at her door. "We are sure to win with your old pokedex's on our side, I mean half the Sinnoh pokedex is made up of old pokemon. Anyway, night, my place tomorow?"

"Sounds good, goodnight," Ash said as Dawn closed the door. He turned to walk away back to twinleaf from Dawn's house in Sandgem, feeling great. He decided he would call early on Dawn tomorow as it was the weekend. The could go out and look for pokemon straight away. As he walked back past Lake Verity he heard a shout and a gust of wind blew past him. He ran through the trees and found the entrance to the lake. There was a man with a large pokemon ,which seemed to be a crobat, standing on the edge of the lake with another small pokemon standing before him, traped.

"Hey! You leave that pokemon alone!" Cried Ash as he ran up to the man, who by now had turned round.

"So, you are weak to the power of emotion! Hahaha!" The man cried. "Destroy this boy! Crobat, go!" Ash knew what was coming.

"Pikachu, I choose you!" The two pokemon stood on the dusty path.

"Crobat! Steel wing!" The man commanded.

"Ok, pikachu, counter it with volt tackle!" Ash bellowed. Pikachu charged up towards Crobat, static energy building in it's cheeks as it got faster and faster. Crobat swooped down as Pikachu jumped. There was a massive colision which left a train of dust.

"Ok pikachu, now use iron tail!"

"Crobat, double team!"

"Hit them all pikachu!"

Pikachu's tail glowed silver and it charged at the numerous crobat smashing it's tail into each one until it finally found the real crobat.

"Now pikachu, finish it off with thunder!"

Dark clouds grew over crobat and a bolt of lightning flew down, blasting Crobat to the ground, it was a clear win for pikachu. The man stumbled away, angrily muttering something about Ash under his breath as he went. The pokemon that was trapped had forced it's way out of the tube and now it was hovering infront of Ash. He saw it better now, with it's pinkish head and small cream coloured body. Suddenly there was a gust of wind and the pokemon was gone.

Thanks for reading, and if your not bored the next chapter will have the relationship between Ash and Dawn spice up. Please continue to R&R, thanks again,

Charles Hibberd (Chezahib)