The Way I Was

Chapter One

"Alright kids, off the bus!" The driver yelled, which was the first thing I heard after slowly waking up. Next thing I knew, the bus became loud and cramp as everyone but me and my stupid rival and now roommate's row. Ash had slept against the frozen window the entire trip, and as when he woke his face was half red. "Really, Gary? You decided to fall asleep now?" the idiot asked. "Can it, Ashy-boy, you kept the two back rows awake with your snoring. I'll move once everybody else gets out of the way," I responded, cranky and aggravated. Everyone finally moved up enough for me to get out of the row and stand in line, with Ash behind me. As we emerged from the freezing cold bus, we saw a giant black gate with a Poke ball on the front, with a bright blue arch holding it. The hinges creaked as it opened, and a hyper-looking man in a suit came over and announced, "Welcome to Celadon Greens University, the one of the most advanced of Pokemon colleges, given the many subjects to study! The majors include research, battling, coordination, arts, and medical!"

"You should have your dorm papers with you, to know who your roommate is! Some have already signed up together, and others have been randomly selected, the next group from Pewter and Cerulean City from Kanto, along with Hoenn and Sinnoh students with scholarships, should be here next week. will be here at approximately 10 AM tomorrow." Ash lit up as he heard that, as Dawn, Drew, and Misty had been on those lists. I was there for that, and Drew explained how his girl May had become a sad sack because they were in different regions for college. Anyway, I elbowed Ash and asked, "Your girlfriend coming?" He punched me in the arm and said, "Shut up, Misty and I aren't dating, so stop being dumb and listen to him." He kept blabbing about classes starting the day after tomorrow, as the rest of the students had been coming the next day. Dumb how we had to arrive at 4 AM. Ash raised his hand because he asked if we had questions. "When will the rest of our luggage or any of our Pokemon arrive?" He asked. That got people talking, and they grew angry. "Nice one, Ash," I smirked. "What?" He asked. "Nothing," I responded, laughing. I was about to bet him five bucks Pikachu freaked out and put under sleeping pills or something since he hated Poke balls, but I was interrupted by the man's answer. "They'll be here in about and hour and a half. They'll be here for pickup by the time the meet-and-greet begins, so we have an area for that," he answered. If I had my Pokemon, I'd ditch this place. "Well, I'm sure you want to sleep at least a couple hours, so get to your rooms," He said, as he then disappeared.

I sighed as I walked off with the rest of the crowd. Ash followed. I followed the stupid numbers and after 15 minutes of walking, we found our room. I didn't care what it looked like right then, so I went ahead and passed out on the closer of the two beds. Ash was sensible enough to actually position himself, because I had slept upside down on the bed.

I had woken up to loud beeping noise, presumably a stupid alarm they set for me. I checked it, and it said 9:00 AM. I figured I got enough sleep and sat up. The room was a light gray color, with two desks on opposite sides of the room. The beds were also that way, and there was a couch, a TV, and a minifridge in the center and front. The "meet and greet" was at 11 o'clock, so I decided to leave and check out the place. I opened the door, and left.

While I checked out the place, I saw many people I remember a while back. I saw the kid who beat Ash in the Indigo League, Ritchie, but he ran off before I could say anything, I was gonna say something arrogant, so it didn't matter. There were the labs and everything near a big statue of Gramps. I spit on the statue and walked away. I smirked, and I guess a girl saw me. She gave me a disgusted look. I just smiled at her and kept walking. I looked at the battle arena, where some kids were sitting at, talking. There was a snack bar where people were also sitting at. I walked to the art/coordinator building. The windows were blocked and the doors were locked I saw a bunch of people near the bus station, I guessed the other buses were to arrive soon.

I sat and waited for a quarter of an hour, then saw a bus, with a neon sign saying "Cerulean and Pewter students" on the side of it. Suddenly, a flood of students ran out of the bus, some falling in the process. I laughed at them, specifically a redhead I once knew. I walked up to her, still smirking. She was getting up, so I gave her a hand and helped her. I laughed a little and said, "You took quite a fall there, Red." "Yeah, nice seeing you too, Gary Oak," Misty replied. Her luggage was on the ground too, in which she grabbed. "Sounds like you haven't seen your boyfriend in a while, why don't you pay him a visit?" I asked. "As much as I want to see Ash, he isn't my boyfriend, and you'd be bothering us anyway," she replied. "I'm not THAT big of an idiot," I retorted. Misty had walked off before I finished saying that. I had about and hour until everyone meets at the middle of the dorm complex. It's indoors, so I thought of it being very cramped. I decided to go back to the dorm room to relax and see what Ash was up to. I guess we were a little friendlier to each other, but we were still rivals to the bone. I walked down the steps to the main dorms, then opened the door to a sitting Ash. "Hey Gary, what's going on?" Ash asked.

"Just explored the campus. Misty is here. I don't doubt your coordinator friends will be here soon," I explained, as I sat on the orange couch. "What are you watching there, Ash?" I asked. "This show about legendary Pokemon battles from years ago," Ash replied. "Are you ready for college? I asked. "Kind of. I'm not sure," Ash responded, "Well, we're already here so, I guess." "Whatever, I don't really know if I'm ready," I added. We soon got a knock on the door, and I got up and answered it. It was Drew with the same flipped up green hair, same baggy clothes. "Oh, hey Gary. Is Ash here?" He asked. "Step inside," I replied. "Hey Drew, I see you arrived. How are you?" Ash asked. "Pretty good," Drew replied. "Has the blue-haired girl arrived yet?" I asked. "Yeah, Dawn's bus was behind ours," Drew said. "Ugh, another annoying person to argue with," I complained.

"Well, the meet-and-greet should be starting in a couple minutes, wanna head down?" Ash asked. "Sure," Drew said. "I guess," I decided. We left the room and headed down the hall toward the main room. People started to show up fast. I tried to talk to people, but I guess they knew who I was or went to talk to others. Ash and Drew were at least a little cool with me, but I still felt uneasy. I finally felt bad for something. I shrugged it off though and went to go get some punch. Ash followed, and got my attention. "Hey, why aren't you talking to your old friends? There are a ton of them here," He asked. I sighed, and turned. "I guess they realize I'm still an arrogant jerk, or the real jerks think they are better than me because they are battlers. I mean, I have my moments," I answered. "Well, you're welcome over here with us if you want," Ash pointed out. "I'm okay. But if I do save a spot for me wherever you are," I said back. He walked on back to talk to Drew, as they waited for Misty and Dawn to show up. I stood against the wall, and drank about three glasses of punch before I gave in and walked over to Ash's group.

As I showed up, they stopped talking and looking at me. "Hey, it's Gary," Ash said, with a smile. Misty gave me a death stare as Dawn rolled her eyes. "Oh come on Misty, just because I laughed a tiny bit when you fell doesn't mean you need to give me a look. I haven't even said anything," I explained. "So what? You just come back to ridicule Ash and us," Misty retorted at me. "What? No! He hasn't done anything to me that really has bothered me for months. We may poke fun at each other but that's really it," Ash intervened. "Thank you, Ash," I said. "Anyway, what are you here for?" Misty asked, in an irritated tone. "I invited him," Ash answered. They turned to Ash. "I'm fine with him," Drew said. Dawn hadn't said anything. She gave me a nervous look, and then she looked at Misty and said, "He hasn't really done anything to me, just a couple arguments with Ash in Sinnoh." Misty gave in, and asked, "Fine, what were we talking about again?" It was just plain, boring small talk about what each of us are doing in college or wherever everyone else is. Until, the same man from last night, which apparently was the principal, walked to the middle of the crowd to speak.

"Hello, students and staff! Welcome to the Celadon Greens University Annual Meet and Greet! This year is going to be new to older students along with the new students, due to the technological advances on campus. Last year's carnival raised some much money we earned enough to build a virtual battle arena and we put computers in everyone's dorms! We've also planted trees around campus! Anyways, your Pokemon are available for pick up in the healing room, and class schedules have been emailed to you. Have a nice day!" he announced. Ash was already gone. He was desperate to grab Pikachu. I motioned toward the room, but the entire crowd decided to leave, so I waited awkwardly with Ash's group. Ash came back with four other bags, while Pikachu held Ash's.

"Here you guys go," Ash said as he gave us our Pokemon. He tossed me a bag with my name on it, and in it were Blastoise and Electivire, my biggest and strongest. I only brought two because I wanted to catch some in my free time. Drew brought his trusty Roselia and Dawn brought Piplup and Buneary. Misty and Ash went all out and brought ALL six Pokemon, which I am guessing they are battlers. I've decided to go back to that too. While Dawn and Drew are in coordination and arts. I thought lowly of those people, because only fighting was competition, not quality of looks. It was kind of dumb. But people are people and you can't change that. "Well, we gotta head back to the dorm for our schedules and computer set up, see you guys later," Ash said, signaling me to follow him. I did so, until we reached the door. "I have to apologize about Misty, it's just she still wants what she used to have with us when we were kids. It was more awkward before you came then after you began to argue," Ash explained. "That's okay, I'm sorry if I interrupted you and your girlfriend catching up," I said, laughing a little. He laughed a bit too. Ash opened the door and sat to relax. I went up to my side of the room where my computer sat. I sat in the desk and turned it on. It wasn't even close to the old and crappy computer I had back at the lab. It was way nicer and way faster than it. It booted up in about 3 seconds, and in bright, bold letters, it said: SCAN FINGERPRINT. Suddenly, a flat tray with a screen slid out of the computer, which began to flash a bright blue oval shape. I pushed my thumb against it and the tray sucked back in and the computer said on the screen: Welcome, Gary Oak. It then booted the desktop up, which included the internet browser Pokenet, the document writing program, and other programs. I clicked Pokenet and it immediately took me to a set of programs on the internet the school uses, and a search bar. I clicked on the mail icon and on there was my class schedule. There were all the classes I applied for, including Battle Strategy, Battle Logic, Healing, and other minor classes I need to take. Ash had the same major classes, because Gramps had put Ash in my classes due to Ash and I having the same battle skill and recommended lists. What a coincidence. All the other emails were about campus rules and dorm policies. Ash came over and looked at his schedule on my computer, because each dorm room was sent the same email. "So, you and I are in the same classes, huh?" he asked. "Just the majors, not like history or math that we so NEED," I replied angrily.

We did nothing for hours, I started to get bored. "Stupid college has nothing to do. They closed the gates for the rest of the night," I complained. "There's got to be something to do this late," Ash suggested. His Pikachu had been digging through the closet, to find a so-called "hatch" that Ash heard from one of the staff members at the party. "Your friends probably don't want to do anything with me, or at all," I groaned. "No, they're fine," he replied. "Oh, I know! We can head to the arena and hang out, actually catch up on things," Ash suggested. "Nah. Pretty boring, and the place is probably closed," I complained again.

"It's getting late and I didn't get much sleep, so I better call it a night," I said, laying on the bed. "You know Gary? You're not that bad after all," Ash pointed out. "Whatever," I replied. I didn't want to go to this stupid school. I was fine with staying home, fine with being a loser. Not like I had anyone here to talk to, besides Ashy-boy. I liked when we picked fights like the stubborn kids we were. Well, shoot. Looks like I miss Gramps' lab after all, I thought. I soon fell into a deep sleep.