"Try your best to capture the Pikachu."
The girl nodded and quickly captured the Pikachu.
"Okay, good going. That's pretty impressive. Hehehe… My name, it is Kaplan. You are now a member of our secret army, the inscrutable Team School. As proof of your membership, you are conferred the School Styler you just used. Together, we shall rule the world…"
The girl's head tilted to the side and her face showed confusion. She heard a door open and close. Footsteps began approaching them and a woman's voice rang through the room.
"Oh, please, Mr. Kaplan! Please don't tease my student with a silly performance like that."
"Ahahaha, sorry, sorry. The timing was just too perfect to miss. Ahem… You have passed the Ranger School's entrance exam with flying colors! That really was quite an impressive capture."
The girl smiled and thanked him. The woman turned to the girl and placed a hand on her shoulder.
"Congratulations! You've been accepted. Starting today, you are officially a student of the Ranger School. I'm Ms. April. I'm your class's teacher. I'm pleased to meet you. Your classmates are waiting for you. I'll show you to our class."
The woman led the girl into a large building and to a room.
"Wait out here. I'll let you know when to come in."
The girl nodded and leaned against the wall. She could hear voices from inside the room and listened in.
"Sorry to keep you waiting, class. And good morning, everyone!"
"Good morning!"
"As I mentioned yesterday, we have a new member for our class."
"Is it a guy? Or a girl? Which is it?" a boy asked.
"Is the new student cute? Cool? Or look like a celebrity?" a girl asked.
"Okay, that's enough! You can see for yourself. Here's our latest classmate! Come on in!"
The girl moved away from the wall and went into the classroom. She stood beside Ms. April at her desk and looked around.
"Our new friend came alone to our Almia region to become a Pokemon Ranger."
Ms. April turned to the girl, as if she had just remembered something.
"You should introduce yourself to our class."
"My name is Lianna."
Lianna's voice was very quiet, timid, and shy. She leaned her head down a bit so that her bangs covered her bright green eyes.
"Okay, our new friend is named Lianna. Let's make her feel welcome. I understand that she scored quite well on our entrance exam."
A boy in the front row grinned and leaned back in his chair.
"What is it, Keith? Why the big grin? Anyway, we had better get you seated somewhere, Lianna. You can have the seat next to Keith."
Lianna nodded and sat next to the grinning boy.
"Well, that's it for treating you like a new transfer student. From now on, you're all my students, people whom I can take pride in teaching. Let's do it everyone… Let's not fail your dreams of becoming Rangers, Operators, and Mechanics!"
"Yeaaah!"
"Okay, I'll change the class schedule specially for today. This will be a free-study class. Before I go, Lianna, I need to explain something to you."
Ms. April began explaining about the School Styler. Lianna, however, had tuned her out. Her older sister Elita had already told her everything she would need to know. She started listening once more when Ms. April turned to a girl behind her.
"Rhythmi, can I get you to show Lianna around the school, please?"
"I sure will!"
"I'll be in the staff room. I'll leave you to it."
As Ms. April left the room, all of the students crowded around Lianna.
"Hey, new kid, I forgot your name, but how long did it take you to capture Pikachu? Like an hour?"
Lianna's shy demeanor broke for a moment as she growled at Keith. Rhythmi put a hand on Lianna's shoulder and turned her away from Keith.
"Keith's just a show-off. You're better off ignoring him. Instead, you should be paying attention to me. I'm not here to become a Ranger. I want to become an Operator instead. So, when Keith becomes a Ranger, I can order him around like my servant! Just joking! All right, let me take you on a tour of the Ranger School. Let's begin with our own classroom. You've already met our teacher, Ms. April. She's really nice, but if you make her mad…look out. There's another class next to us. The teacher there is Mr. Kincaid. He's very uptight and strict. 'No running in the hallway!' is, like, his pet saying. Come on!"
Rhythmi grabbed Lianna's wrist and dragged her out of the classroom. She took Lianna next door and into the other classroom. When they opened the door, a man looked their way.
"Sorry to disturb you! I'm taking our new classmate on a tour of the school."
Rhythmi turned to Lianna and began to speak in a lower voice.
"This is the other class. The man looking this way is Mr. Kincaid. He gets his hair to go that way with a ton of hair spray. He's a little too uptight, I think. I'm not a big fan."
Mr. Kincaid stepped forward and pointed to the door.
"Out."
"Yes, sir!" the two girls said.
They left Mr. Kincaid's room and Rhythmi led Lianna to another room.
"This is the library. Also known as Keith's nap room. That boy in the back with a haircut like a mushroom is Isaac. He's awesomely smart. You can usually find him right here in the library. Sometimes, he goes off somewhere, though."
Rhythmi took Lianna to another room. Inside, there was Ms. April and an older man with glasses.
"Here's the staff room. But usually, only our principal is here. Our principal is Mr. Lamont. His eyes are always twinkling happily behind his glasses. I like him pretty well."
The two left the room and headed toward two sets of stairs. Lianna started toward the one going down, but Rhythmi stopped her.
"Mr. Kincaid's lab is down there, but we're not allowed down there without permission."
Lianna nodded and went up the other set of stairs.
"Our dorms are up here on the second floor. This is where we all bunk down, coed style. Not in the same bedrooms, of course. The boys' bedroom is on the left. The girls' bedroom is on the right. Janice, the lady there, is our caretaker. She's like a mom to us all."
Rhythmi led Lianna back down the stairs just as a bell rang.
"There goes the bell. We can go outside now."
Lianna nodded and allowed herself to be dragged outside by Rhythmi.