An Unlikely Rivalry

Chapter 1: The beginning of the end

I'm pretty excited to start this off, so let's just get right into it. More at the end.

A bird took flight from the kitchen windowsill. It flew around for a bit, trying to sense it's location, then swooped into the room above the kitchen, on the second floor.

The Pokémon then landed on top of the sleeping girl, and looked down at her. It started to peck at her, then stopped. It then walked over to her head, and proceeded to bounce on her a few times. With those few bounces, the girl woke up. As she got up, the bird perched itself on the desk next to the girl's bed.

The girl looked over at the bird. "Good morning, Fletchling."

"Fletchling!" The bird called back.

The girl started to move toward the bathroom to do her morning routine. She was interrupted by shouting from downstairs. "Serena! Breakfast is ready! You're gonna be late!"

Serena, genuinely upset she was accused of oversleeping shouted back, "I'm coming mom! I still have like 30 minutes before you need to leave!"

Serena was going to Anistar High, one of the most prestigious schools in all of Kalos. It seemed as more and more people would flow into the Kalos Region every year, just to send their kids there.

Serena came downstairs, ready to go with the exception of eating. She grabbed a bowl of cereal and sat down. Her mom sat down at the table as well. "So, Serena, are you excited for your final year?"

The girl thought. "Well, it's going to be really great for a chance to see the world after this, but I don't really want to leave. It's a pretty great place."

Her mom nodded. "There will always be time to see your friends, even if you're all at college."

"I hope so," Serena relied.

The conversation was interrupted with a honk on a car horn outside, conveniently as soon as she was done her cereal. I guess things work out, don't they? "Hurry up, Serena, that's your ride."

Serena picked up her stuff. "I'm ready. Bye mom!" Serena said, basically out the door.

"Don't forget to call every once in a while!"

Serena walked out the door to a beautiful day in late summer. There were a few clouds in the sky, and the sun was shining. Serena walked down her driveway into the car that was in front of the house. A girl sitting at the driver's seat was there to greet her. "Morning Serena!"

Serena smiled at her. "Morning, Shauna! Are you excited for your final year?"

Shauna replied, "You bet! I'm just so glad we can pick roommates as seniors. I don't think I could have stood another year with Misty."

Serena laughed. "I still think it's a wonder you got put with her the first three years."

Shauna groaned. "I think it's a wonder I didn't kill her."

They both laughed and talked more for the rest of the way to Anistar City. It was much shorter time than walking, but it was still a large amount of time on the road. I mean it's almost halfway across the region, probably more.

When they both finally made it to Anistar High, they saw two girls sitting on the bench. The two got out of the car and walked over to them. "What are you two doing? We said we'd be late, so you could go in without us."

The one girl, wearing a red bandanna and fanny pack said, "Well, if you didn't know, seniors have to have all four members of the room present to sign in. Glad you could make it before it got too dark."

Shauna sighed. "Sorry, May. I guess we needed to show up earlier."

The other girl, with blue hair, mentioned, "I guess it's good we showed up a day early."

The four of them went into the room registration facility. The lady there looked up. "Good morning you four. You here to register?"

May answered for them. "Yes, but we couldn't quite see what room we are getting. The site didn't say anything like it typically does."

The lady looked at the registration papers. "Oh, yes. You four are actually going to be in a special five-person room this year. We have a new student showing up for the last year. She's a transfer from Oreburgh High. e figured you four would be a good roommate to have as you are all such great students."

"Please," Shauna laughed. "Just because Miette's basically already the valedictorian doesn't mean that we are all good students!"

Miette got slightly red. "Aw, stop it. If someone's coming from Oreburgh we can't be sure. That's a really great school, isn't it?"

The lady looked at Miette. "It's certainly not as great as ours." She gave Miette a wink. A really obvious one. Like, really obvious. "Anyway, here are everyone's keys. Don't lose them!"

"We won't!" They all replied.

"Oh! One more thing," The lady said as they were walking out. "Serena, your schedule basically matches hers for the first quarter. Could you help her out?"

"Sure!" Serena replied enthusiastically.

The room was absolutely spectacular. The beds were made perfectly, everything was pristine. The beds were arranged against the wall, with the foot of each bed facing the middle. There were two smaller windows at the end of each side, and one large window in the middle that could overlook half the campus. "According to the room details," Miette started, "This room was made for some sort of elitist council from 20 years ago. The council was made up of students who did service to the school. Three of them teach at the school, uh, now."

They all spent a bit of time speculating who the teachers were. They all talked also about what each of their breaks were like. "So Shauna," May asked, "Did you do anything with Trevor over summer break?"

Shauna got a little red, although she had no need to. The two have been dating for around two and a half years, and everyone thought they were cute together. Even Misty. "Well, he lives pretty far away, so we didn't do a lot. We went to a fair or two, and watched Master Class together."

"Oh really?" Serena enthusiastically asked, "You saw it live? How was it?"

The two had already agreed to be competing rivals once they graduated. Serena and Shauna have been taking a few extra-curricular lessons for the past two years to improve their abilities as performers. "It was pretty cool, really. This newcomer, her name was Jessilee, I think, she got second place overall. She's very impressive, considering it was her first showcase season."

"Guess the competition will be tough when you get there," May said. The two girls nodded. May then took a turn, so her eyes met Serena's. "Don't think we forgot about you, Serena."

"What?" Serena asked, already knowing exactly where this was going. They taunted her about it nearly every day.

"Did you do anything with Ash over break?" They all almost asked at the same time. (synchronization at its finest)

"Guys, Ash lives in Kanto in the summer. Nothing, that could've happened, would happen."

Miette spoke up. "Impressive question dodge. Where'd you learn that? Ash's Pikachu?" Everyone laughed at this comment, except for Serena.

"Guys, stop! We aren't dating, and it won't happen! He's too dense to figure out anything anyway." Serena became sad, contrary to her typical enthusiastic self.

"Well," May started, "Would you think he'd be too dense if someone, I don't know, blatantly told him?"

"You what?"

May laughed. "Only kidding. But seriously, it's your last year here. Your last chance. Maybe you should do something about it."

Serena nodded. "I think I might. It, just, doesn't seem like he likes me back."

Shauna put her hand on Serena's shoulder. "We'll help you out, ok? I think he's just too dense to know anything, really. Come on, let's get unpacked."

As they were unpacking, they heard a knock on the door. "Hi, it's me again." They deduced that it was the lady from room registration. They opened the door, welcoming her. "I'm glad you all found the room alright. With all the room stuff to figure out for you four, I completely forgot to check in your Pokemon. You all brought one, right?"

Starting from junior year, everyone was allowed one Pokemon to keep with them. "I have mine!" Serena said, tossing out a Fennikin.

One by one, each of the four sent out their chosen Pokemon. May had a Beautifly, Miette, a Slurpuff, and Shauna had brought a Bulbasaur. The lady started to write down which Pokemon belonged to which trainer, so in case of bad circumstances, everyone knew who belonged to who. "Alright, done! That should be all I need. Now, you are some of the many people here early today, so dinner is being served at the dining hall. Oh, and your roommate contacted us, telling us that she would be here tomorrow at 7am. Please make sure you are all awake."

"Will do! Thanks!" Shauna spoke for the room.

The lady left, and the door closed. "Well, girls, it's us for this year. No Misty, no one to cause trouble. No-"

"We get it Shauna, you hate Misty," Miette said.

"How can you not? Not only did she try hitting on Trevor- twice, but she also tried to ruin Serena's chance with Ash over the summer!"

This got Serena's attention. "What? What did she do?"

"Well," Shauna started in a very annoyed and angry voice, "She tried dissing our friend group completely. She claimed she was 'so much better than us' and if anyone should be helping out this new girl, it's her, not us, because this girl has a Piplup, and we all know Misty is the 'best water type trainer in the world'. Because hardly anyone who's here lives in Kanto over the summer, Ash and Gary got the brunt of her 'gossip' (she had very heavy air quotes for this one). She tried starting rumors about you, Serena, but Gary stopped them." Shauna took a big inhale, then sighed, out of breath from her small rant.

"Rumors?" Was the only question Serena could get to. "What rumors?"

"To be honest," Shauna said. "I don't know. Ash was talking to Trevor about it, that's how I figured it out."

"What did Ash think of what Misty was saying?" Serena asked, desperate for answers.

"He said something along the lines of, 'I didn't believe her for a second', but he kinda just let it happen. Sometime around August, him and Gary stopped her because they were just annoyed."

"I guess that's a bit of a relief," Serena said, stressed about what she just heard still.

"Don't say anything about this," Shauna went on. "This is now dirt I have on her, don't take this away from me."

"Ok," Miette said. "We won't interfere with your unusual and relatively scary hatred for this girl."

They all laughed. May looked at the clock. "Alright, let's go to dinner. Maybe we'll see someone there from before."

Serena stopped May while she was putting her coat on. "Now, May, it would have been insensitive to have forgotten about you and Drew!"

May turned red. "We're just friends I swear!"

The four of them walked down to dinner, teasing May about Drew. They had a wonderful time at dinner, and made it back to their room some time around 9pm. Pretty tired from move in day, they all went to bed quickly.

"Guys, it's like 6:15. We need to get up for that new girl." Miette said sleepily.

One by one, each of them rolled out of their beds. Serena, being the heaviest sleeper, came out last. She wandered around, thinking of all the places she'd show this new girl today, to make her ready for the first day of classes the next day. She stopped at the window, looking outside. I wonder what Ash is doing, she thought.

A knock was heard on the door, as soon as they were all done getting ready. I guess things work out, don't they? "I got it!" Serena shouted. She went to the door, and opened it up. The girl looked up, shyly. She was wearing a blue shirt, and black leggings with white shorts on top. She had a white backpack on, which surprisingly went really well with her top. In her arms was a Piplup.

"Hi," she said. "I'm Verity. I think I'm staying here this year."

I forgot how tedious intro chapters can be, and all the plot I have to establish, and all the background. I guess I never did that in Him. Maybe that's why it failed. Huh

The Secret Mega should be out now. Check out that, and my other stories, I guess. This fic will be updated two times every three weeks, so every one and a half weeks.

If you've ready my writing before, I like to be (or try to be) funny at very unconventional times. If you don't like that, I'll try and control it.

Let me know what you thought, and I hope to have some comments to reply to in Chapter 2. Chapter 2 will be almost the same time as when this ended, timeline speaking. So see you there, I guess.