May let out a small sigh as she sat relaxed under a tree as a gentle breeze caressed her face. A few strands of her chestnut colored hair tickled her nose as she rested with her arms tucked behind her head. She heard light footsteps make their way toward her and she reluctantly opened her eyes.
"Watcha doin'?" a light voice, that she instantly recognized, asked.
May looked up to see her best friend Leaf Green standing in front of her with a smirk on her face. May frowned at her friends interruption. "Well I WAS sleeping." She replied with a yawn.
"Well I can see that!" Leaf retorted with her hands on her hips.
"Then why did you ask?" May smiled as she once again closed her eyes.
"Because you ditched class again. That lazy attitude of yours is going to get you in detention… again." As soon as she noticed that May had no intention of getting up, Leaf sighed as she sat down next to her.
"You know you have to go to the ceremony." Leaf finally said after a moment of silence, as her brown hair danced in the wind.
May let out a small groan. "Is that today?"
"You could be a little more excited. We're going to be seniors! That means there's only a year until we can go out and join the Defiance!" Leaf said in a giddy voice.
That didn't exactly appeal to May, but she wasn't going to tell her friend that. Leaf wanted to support the cause more than anything, May on the other hand couldn't care less about the stupid war.
Somewhere around a decade ago, a group who called themselves the Opposition took control of the Kanto, Johto, and Sinnoh regions. They were a nasty group that wanted nothing more than to control everything and everyone. It was rumored they had their own brainwashing academies where they brainwashed people into joining their group. Though the Hoenn region, where May was from, had yet to be invaded, it was only a matter of time before the Oppression made their way there. For that reason the Defiance was created, in order to protect the remaining regions from the evils of the Oppression. They also created special academies where they trained kids from ages 14 to 18 to be skilled in Pokémon battles to join the Defiance when they graduate.
The academy May attended, Black Thorn Academy, was the first school created for the training of future Defiance recruits and they only accepted the best of the best. Though sometimes May wondered how half the kids there even got in, due to a lack of backbone as Leaf liked to call it.
May finally stood up from her position under the tree as she looked down at her friend.
"Well, let's get this over with," she sighed as she offered her hand to Leaf.
Leaf gratefully took her friends hand as she too stood up and dusted off her uniform which consisted of a black skirt that ended just above her knees, a grey and black vest with a white polo shirt underneath and a blue tie around her neck that signified she was a junior, soon to be senior. May eyed her friend's uniform and looked down at her own. She straightened her own blue tie so as to avoid being scolded by the naggy professors. She stared hard at the school's crest that was so delicately stitched on her vest and once again loosened her tie, if only to show a small amount of rebellion. With that they started walking to the school's auditorium.
May hated her school and everything involving the war, mostly because she was forced by her parents to attend the academy and soon after, join the war. Since she was born and raised in Hoenn, she didn't know why she should go out to a different region and fight someone else's war. Leaf on the other hand lost her parents when Kanto was taken over, she managed to escape the region and joined the academy as soon as she was old enough. She wanted nothing more than to join the war efforts in an attempt to avenge her parent's deaths. May of course sympathized with her friend, but still lacked her own determination. If not for her amazing talents as a trainer, May probably would have been kicked out of the academy a long time ago for her lack of participation in basically every class.
When they finally made it to the entrance of the auditorium May saw a certain grass head standing to the side talking with his spiky haired friend Gary Oak. As soon as said grass head saw her, a smirk made its way onto his face.
"Well look who decided to show up. The sleepy Snorlax decides to grace us with her presence." He mocked with a flip of his oddly colored hair.
"Drew," May huffed. "I see you stepped away from the mirror long enough to make it here yourself."
Drew's smirk grew, "When you have a face as good as mine it's hard not to admire it."
"I seem to manage," May replied.
Leaf looked back and forth between the two and she could almost feel the animosity between them. May and Drew had been rivals since their first day at the academy when Drew beat May in a practice battle during battle class. It was their rivalry that kept them motivated and made them the top two students in their class, and possibly in the school.
"Sometimes I feel like the day isn't complete without those two at each other's throat." Gary said as he watched the scene before him with Leaf.
"I wish they'd just admit they're in love with each other already," Leaf sighed.
"So when are you going to admit you're in love with me?" Gary asked as he leaned into her.
Leaf wrinkled her nose at his comment as she muttered an "As if." She turned her attention back to her best friend as she and Drew were now completely lost in their bickering.
"Why can't you just admit you think I'm attractive?" Drew asked.
"Because you're just about as attractive as a Muk!" May retorted.
Leaf rolled her eyes as she felt a presence behind her and turned around to find her Pokémon Care professor had made his way onto the scene.
"As much fun as it is to listen to you argue, we'd like to get this ceremony started. So if you'd please make your way inside, that would be very helpful." Professor Brock said as he pulled the two away from each other and shoved the group inside the building.
As soon as they were seated, Brock nodded his head to the stage in the front as an indication to start. With that, the head master stood up and made his way to the podium. He was tall and well built with spiked red hair on top of his head. He was rather young to be a head master and could have been no more than 25. Despite his high authority in the school he wasn't one for formalities and he required every student to simply call him Lance.
"Students, today marks the day that you are no longer blue tied Junior's. Instead you are now the ones that the juniors look up to. You're the ones who in the next year will prepare yourselves to go out and fight for friends, fight for this school, and fight for your freedom. I hope that as seniors you will continue to grow with your Pokemon and become the best you can be." Lance finished his speech and the crowd of students let out a series of cheers and whoops.
With that they called out each students names to have them walk up and accept their red ties that indicated they were now seniors. After accepting her tie and returning to her seat, May stared down at the red tie and thought about what Lance had said.
"Fight for freedom huh…" She thought to herself. "What freedom?" She clenched her new tied in her fist as she glared at it.
The next day started the beginning of their senior classes and May let out a sigh as she tied her red tie around her neck. Leaf on the other hand sported a huge grin as she tied her own tie and gave it a once over in the mirror.
"How do I look?" She asked from across the room.
May looked over at her roommate and laughed. "Gee I think the new color just makes the outfit look like a whole new uniform!" She said sarcastically as she tied her red bandana on her head.
"Well at least your tie will finally match your bandana. The green tie sophomore year really clashed." Leaf mocked. May felt a smile creep onto her face. Leaf always had a way of making her smile. It was no wonder they were roommates and best friends.
Despite her bad mood, May was actually excited for her first class of the day, which was battle class. It was the only class that she never missed because if there was one thing May loved more than sleeping, it was battling.
Every student had their own partner Pokémon which they received as an egg when they were children. This Pokémon is the only Pokémon they would ever have and the Pokémon that hatches from the egg will determine their future careers and lifestyles. However, some choose to try out for the war efforts instead. If their Pokémon is strong enough and they're good at battling, then they were accepted into an academy where they are trained to fight.
May's partner was her Blaziken. It was never their goal to join in the war, but her parents left her with no choice and so with Blaziken's help, she was easily accepted. She loved nothing more than battling with Blaziken by her side and if she had it her way she would take that class all day.
This year however, luck wasn't on her side as not only was Leaf not in her class, but she noticed a certain grass head was. As soon as she walked onto the battle field with Blaziken she noticed him petting his Flygon with a rare smile that he never seemed to show anyone except for his Pokemon. She chose to ignore him as she saw a familiar face.
"Hey Ash!" She called out to her friend.
"No way, you're in my class this year May?" He exclaimed as she ran over to him.
"It looks like it," she smiled as she looked up at the Pikachu hanging onto Ash's dark messy haired head. "I see you still haven't evolved Pikachu."
"Heck no, Pikachu's fine just the way he is."
"That's something a loser would say." Gary stated as he walked up to them with his Arcanine behind him.
"What did you say?" Ash asked in instant anger.
Ash and Gary were both from the same home town and were in a strange way friends, but also rivals, though Ash usually always lost.
"Just stating a fact Ashyboy." Gary said using his old nickname for Ash.
"I'll show you who the loser is," Ash threatened only to be interrupted by the professor making his way toward the group with his Luxray following close behind.
"Good morning class," he said with a smile as he looked the class over as if to size them up. Professor Volkner was well known in the academy as being the toughest professor who taught only the seniors. May had been excited to finally have a change due to the fact that she had the same battle professor for three years, it was time for someone different.
"He doesn't seem scary at all," Ash commented next to her. As soon as the words left his mouth a surge of electricity hit the ground in front of his feet making him jump back in surprise and fall to the floor.
"Did I say you could talk?" Volkner asked with a glare on his face as his Luxray emitted sparks left over from his attack on Ash. They instantly froze at the terrifying man before them. May couldn't help but wonder how the seemingly nice man from a minute ago had turned into the scary professor who was now glaring in her direction.
"Maple, step forward." He demanded. May quickly scrambled forward.
He stared down at her with his harsh gaze. "I've heard a lot about you. You should stop hanging around riff raff like that, his stupidity might rub off on you." Volkner stated as he point toward Ash who was still on the ground.
Gary snickered as May looked back at her friend as Pikachu attempted to help him up. "With all due respect sir, Ash is a very competent trainer, and who I hang around shouldn't really concern you." She replied with a steady gaze as he stared her down.
The class was silent as they watched the stare down.
"So you trust his abilities as a trainer?" Volkner asked as he crossed his arms over his broad chest. May nodded her head without missing a beat. "Then let's see it." He turned his head to look back at Drew. "Hayden, front and center."
Drew jumped at the sound of his name, but stepped forward with a "Yes sir."
"Let's have a battle, Drew and Oak will go against Maple and Ketchum." May's jaw almost dropped at that. With Flygon being a ground type, Blaziken and Pikachu were at a serious disadvantage. She looked at Drew to find a smirk planted on his face.
"We haven't had a battle in a while Bandana." He said as her eyebrow twitched from the nickname.
"Then this should be interesting Grass head." She replied and his smirk fell as he turned and walked away to take his place by Gary on the battle field.
Ash slowly made his way over to May with a frown. "Sorry I got you into this." He said with his head bowed.
"No worries, it was my fault. Besides, we've got this." She assured him.
Ash didn't seem to have the same confidence as May, but he reluctantly made his way to stand next to her on the field. Their Pokémon all took their places on the field as they waited to start. May started the battle off with a flamethrower aimed at Flygon who easily avoided the attack.
"You should know better than to attack like that May. Flygon, use earthquake!" Drew called out.
Thinking quickly May responded, "Blaziken grab Pikachu!"
Just as Flygon slammed into the ground causing the field to break apart, Blaziken grabbed Pikachu and managed to jump from rock to rock and avoid the attack. Unfortunately Arcanine sent out a flamethrower that caught Blaziken off guard and sent him flying.
"Blaziken!" May cried out as her Pokémon hit the ground hard.
"Pikachu, use thunder bolt!" Ash called out in an attempt to back the opposing Pokémon away. Pikachu's attack forced the opposing Pokémon to back away as Blaziken stood back up. May glanced over at Pikachu. His electric attacks wouldn't have any effect against Flygon so she knew that she had to take care of him.
"Ash, focus your attacks on Arcanine." She informed him and he replied with a quick nod.
"Blaziken, use another flamethrower on Flygon!" She ordered and Blaziken quickly followed her command. Flygon once again dodged the attack. Meanwhile Arcanine sent a flamethrower toward Pikachu.
"Dodge it with quick attack!" Ash yelled. May looked over to see Pikachu dodge the attack with ease and slam himself into Arcanine, but because of how small he is, Pikachu's attack didn't do much damage.
"Aracanine use bite!" Gary called out and the canine Pokémon clamped his jaws around Pikachu causing him to cry out in pain.
"Blaziken!" May yelled out. Blaziken started to move toward the struggling Pikachu, but was cut off by Flygon.
"Ash, do something!" May scolded as Ash seemed frozen.
Ash seemed to collect himself as he finally made a move. 'Pikachu, use thunder wave!"
Pikachu sent out a wave of electricity that instantly paralyzed Arcanone on the spot and allowed the small rodent to break free.
While Drew seemed distracted by his partner's Pokémon, he failed to remember his own and Blaziken hit it with a sky upper cut. Drew realized he needed to counter attack and had Flygon use a dragon tail that caught Pikachu off guard and sent him flying. Blaziken jumped up to grab Pikachu before he hit the ground and suffered any more damage.
"Blaziken use blaze kick!" May ordered as Blaziken set down the dazed Pikachu. Blaziken quickly jumped up and sent a flurry of fiery kicks at Flygon who barely managed to dodge.
"Flamethrower!" Both trainers called out and the attacks hit each other causing a large explosion in the middle of the field. Neither Pokémon looked like they were going to back down.
May realized the only way to get Flygon was if she could some how get above him. With that thought she had Blaziken use another sky upper cut. The attack missed, but it put Blaziken right above Flygon.
"Now use blaze kick!" May ordered. Drew realized it too late and his eyes widened, however, just as Blaziken was about to execute the attack, he was hit by a flamethrower. This time Blaziken slammed into the still recovering Pikachu and knocked him out. Blaziken started to stand back up, but was hit by a combined hyper beam from Arcanine and Flygon, sending him back to the ground knocked out.
May stared in disbelief at her now fainted Pokémon. The class let out a cheer at the intense battle and went to congratulate Drew and Gary.
"I'm sorry," Ash said to May as he picked up Pikachu.
May ran Blaziken, who was slowly standing back up, and turned to Ash. "What for? That was a good battle." She replied with a smile. Even though she lost, May still enjoyed herself. Nothing beat a good heated battle.
May took out her Pokémon aid kit and went to work taking care of Blaziken's wounds while Ash did the same for Pikachu. After she felt he was patched up nice, she sent him back to the Pokémon housing area to rest.
"I want you all to take notice, because that is how a battle should be." Volkner said with a smile as he gripped May and Drew's shoulders causing both teens to flinch from his strong grip.
"I want an eight hundred word paper about it due tomorrow!" He finished cheerfully causing the class to groan. With that the class was dismissed and May made her way to her next class.
May's next class was also one that she enjoyed, and that was combat training. It was not only important that their Pokémon were strong, but the students also needed to know how to defend themselves. Luckily for May, Leaf was in this class with her, but much to her dismay, so was Drew. Their professor was Lt. Surge who was the same professor she has last year. He was a very well built man, and May questioned whether or not he was on steroids based on the size of his massive arms.
"Alright you all know the drill. I'm going to pair you up with someone who I feel will help you learn and improve, and that will be your partner for the rest of the year." Surge said as he looked over a piece of paper in his hand. "Leaf and Misty," He read off. May felt a pang of disappointment as Leaf waved to her as she walked over to Misty. "Dawn and Iris," May was now pleading that she didn't get stuck with a certain someone. "Since we have an odd number of girls, May will be partnered with Drew." May's heart sank as she eyed her "partner." Drew gave her an innocent look as he played with the weapon in his hands. Drew was very efficient with a sword and May swallowed a lump in her throat. While she could manage well enough in hand to hand combat, she was better with a bow. Her hope was that she would be partnered with someone less advanced.
"Um professor, I think you made a mistake, I'm usually partnered with someone who works with distance weapons." May said to Surge. He looked down at her petite form and grinned. "There's no mistake, you need to be efficient in all types of fighting and I feel that Drew will be very helpful to you."
May reluctantly made her way back over to Drew who was waiting patiently by the wall of weapons. "Here," he said as he handed her two small daggers. "I think it would be too much for you to try using a sword, so its best to start off with a simple weapon.
"I know how to use other weapons besides a bow!" May seethed as she snatched them from his hand.
"Well excuse me." Drew muttered under his breath. Of course Drew knew May had no experience with other weapons, but he figured he'd let her embarrass herself if she wanted.
"Ready?" He asked as they positioned themselves. May's only response was getting into a battle stance. Drew smirked and that's all it took to set May off, and with that she charged him with a flurry of attacks. Drew easily either dodged them or blocked them with his sword. It bothered her that while May was trying her best, Drew just seemed to be playing with her.
While they were evenly matched in Pokémon battling, Drew always seemed to be ahead of her in everything else. This of courses irritated May to no end, and she was so lost in her frustration she completely missed a swing giving Drew the chance he needed to swing his sword and knock the dagger out of her right hand. With that he swung his sword under her feet completely knocking her onto the floor. May looked up with a glare to find the tip of a sword pointed directly at her face.
"Lesson number one: It's important to keep a cool head," he said as he flicked his hair. May huffed as she stood herself up.
"We'll see how cool your head is when I put an arrow through it!" She threatened. It was one thing to lose to Drew once, but twice in the same day was too much.
"Bring it on Bandana!" He replied.
Before the two could attack each other for real, Surge decided to end the class. Both teens glared at each other before stomping away.
The rest of the day seemed very uneventful for May as she went from class to class. To her, senior year seemed pretty pointless. All of her classes were slightly more advanced repeats of classes she had already taken. Most of it was pointless information she already knew. By the end of the day she was practically jumping out of her seat in anticipation for it to be over. As soon as the class ended she jumped from her seat and headed for the door only to be stopped by her professor who informed her that the head master wanted to see her.
May bit her lip as she wondered what the man could possibly want from her, it wasn't like she'd done anything bad... recently. Of course even if she had, she'd never been called to Lance. Usually she'd just get a short lecture from someone like Professor Brock. She stood outside the door to Lance's office as she thought about running in the opposite direction. Before she could make her final decision the door opened.
"Are you going to stand outside my door all day?" Lance questioned as he looked down at the brunette. She quickly made her way into the room as he shut the door and returned to his desk.
"Am I in trouble?" She asked cautiously as she lingered by the door.
Lance eyed her nervous form in amusement as he folded his hands in front of his face while leaning on his elbows.
"Fortunately for you, this time, no you're not in trouble." He finally said and noticed her instantly relax.
She made her way from the door to the chair in front of his desk and plopped herself down.
"So why am I here?" She asked.
Lance's eyebrows shot up. "Don't tell me you forgot that every senior is required to have a meeting with me discussing plans for when you graduate?"
May gave him a blank expression indicating she had never even heard about it.
"Honestly, do you pay attention in any of your classes?" Lance sighed. He had heard about her ditching class a lot, but he had no idea she cared so little about them. He half wondered how she managed to pass.
"Of course, I got an A in battle tactics." She stated proudly.
Lance rubbed his temples in frustration. The girl may be talented in fighting, but she was certainly going to be a headache for whoever gets her when she graduates. IF she graduates anyway.
"But the thing is, I don't really care where I go after graduation." She said in a low voice.
Lance looked up to see a sullen look on the girl's face. A realization hit him. All this time he'd thought she goofed around and wanted out of the school because she was eager to be in the war. It appeared to him now that it was quite the opposite.
"Is that so? So you have no preferences?" He questioned.
May was silent for a minute as she thought about it, "I guess wherever my friend Leaf goes." She finally said. Lance nodded his head.
"You're a loyal friend," he said as she watched him write something down in the notebook on his desk.
"So is that it?" She asked as she stood up eager to get away from Lance's intense gaze. He simply nodded and she quickly bolted from the room.
Lance watched the small girl race out of his office with one thought. There was more to May Maple than just a rebellious teenager. He could tell she was certainly destined for great things.
So this idea has been on my mind for a while now and I finally decided to write it up and see how it goes. I'm also planning on refraining from using any OCs in this story. As such that means that I own none of the characters, much to my dismay! ;) Not sure how far I'll take this story, but I'm already pretty far with the second chapter so there's that. And now that I'm done talking please feel free to leave review or favorite, if you want to that is.