"We're finally here!" The raven haired boy exclaimed with enthusiasm.

In front of Ash were the next two years of his life. After many protests about the dangers of travelling at such a young age, anybody who wanted to be a pokémon trainer now had to go to an academy at fifteen until they were seventeen. Unfortunately for Ash, his age group was the first to have to abide by these new laws. Anybody older than him had been a trainer for years. The last five years had felt excruciatingly long, but finally the rest of his life could begin.

"Calm down, Ashy-boy." His brown-haired friend laughed.

"You don't have to try and be cool all the time, Gary. Don't tell me you're not even a little exctied to start here!" Their redhead friend replied.

Ash, Gary and Misty were all good friends from Viridian High back in Kanto. Luckily for them, all three of them were enrolled at the Goldenrod Academy in Johto. None of them liked the idea of being apart, and where else but a prestigious place like Goldenrod City to start a new chapter in their lives?

The campus was especially beautiful this time of year. Ahead of the trio was a modern and spacious expanse, consisting of an array of buildings and a golden-brown blend of vegetation, and there were students everywhere just like them.

"You'd think we were in Ecruteak with all these leaves!" Ash said gleefully.

Misty smiled. "Yeah I've gotta admit, if we have to spend two years somewhere, this does seem like a pretty perfect place."

"Man, I am so psyched! We're finally going to be doing something with our lives which is remotely related to pokémon!" Ash practically shouted, giddy with enthusiasm.

"Not that I'm not excited, but you might not want to get your hopes too high Ash. We're still going to be stuck in classrooms most of the time," Gary reminded Ash.

"I don't care! At least the classes will be be about something I'm interested in, and anything beats having to do math," Ash remarked.

"Psh, math is easy anyway. You just suck at it," Gary teased.

"I don't suck at math! You were the one who always copied me in that class!"

"I think you've got it the wrong way round there, Ashy-boy."

"Okay, firstly, stop calling me that. And secondly, how have I got it the wrong way round? You copied Misty too! Aren't I right, Misty?"

"I think the dorms are this way," Misty said as if she wasn't listening, trying to change the subject.

"Thank God I can finally put down all this luggage soon. Hey Ashy-boy, you want to carry my stuff for the rest of the walk?" Gary asked while grinning.

"Stop calling me that! And how come you're fine for two miles but you can't carry your stuff for another hundred meters?" Ash argued.

"Well, to be fair, we haven't got to the stairs yet." Gary replied.

"I think you can manage, Gary..."

"Guys," Misty interrupted, "I've gotta go, the girls' dorms are over there. I better not have to put up with you two bickering all year."

"Can't promise anything," Gary joked.

The guys waved off Misty as she headed in a different direction. They headed for their dorms, which turned out to only be on the first floor of the building.

The two quickly found Gary's dorm, and Ash's dorm was just down the hall. Gary swiped his key card to get in, something that every student was mailed ahead of time for convenience. What he didn't expect to see was somebody already in there.

"Hey, uh, who are you?" Gary asked the guy.

The green haired boy took out his headphones and sat up from the bed that he was lying down on. He looked up at Gary and Ash, slightly surprised to see two people.

"Sorry, I couldn't hear you for a second there. I'm Drew, and one of you is Gary, right?"

"Yeah, that's me. This is my friend Ash," Gary replied, gesturing Ash to Drew.

"Oh, good to meet you guys. Gary, I'm your roommate. Didn't you know I was going to live here too?" Drew asked, confused.

"Classic Gary," Ash muttered to himself, resulting in a kick from Gary. Guess he didn't say it quietly enough.

Gary scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "Yeah, of course I knew you were my roommate... I just didn't think you would already be here." Not the most convincing lie he's told before.

"Well I'd help you unpack all your stuff now but we should probably do it later since the assembly is going to start soon," Drew replied.

"Good idea, it would probably take a while with all the stuff I've got. Ash wouldn't even help me carry any of it," Gary remarked, pretending to shake his head in disappointment.

"You're not the only one with luggage, I've got a bunch too," Ash responded. "Wait, I haven't even put any of this stuff in my room! I'll be back in a sec, guys." After that realisation, Ash disappeared down the hall.

Ash managed to find his dorm which was right at the end of the same hall that Drew and Gary's dorm was on. Gary was an idiot for not checking his mail from the academy in advance, but Ash did. He knew for sure that he wasn't sharing his room with anyone.

He opened the door to find a fairly small room with just enough space for a closet, a desk and a single bed. It didn't matter though, because that was all he needed.

Drew tagged along with Ash and Gary to the assembly where they found their seats. The hall they were in must have been packed with a thousand students at least. Ash and Gary tried to see if they could spot Misty in the crowd, but no luck. She was probably making friends of her own anyway. The boys eventually decided they should just sit down. Drew lead the other two to a row towards the back of the hall, where he realised he recognised the brunette who was sat at the end of the row on her own.

"May?" Drew called in disbelief.

"Oh my god, Drew!" The girl replied in equal disbelief as she turned to see him.

The three guys awkwardly shuffled across the empty row to sit next to May.

"I can't believe it's really you! What are you doing here?" May asked.

"I could ask you the same thing," Drew laughed. "I guess I just didn't like the look of the academies that were in Hoenn."

This seemed to be a surprise to Gary. "Wait, you're from Hoenn? What are you doing in Johto?" Gary awkwardly interrupted, which May giggled at.

"The reasons he just said..." Ash mumbled to Gary, trying to make him feel like an idiot.

"May, these are my friends, Gary and Ash. Guys, this is May, an old school friend of mine from Hoenn," Drew said.

"Yeah, me and Drew were pretty much in all the same classes at our school in Petalburg City. I didn't think we'd see each other again to be honest," May remarked.

"Honestly, me too. Do you know if anyone else from Petalburg has come here?" Drew asked.

"No idea I'm afraid," May shrugged.

A man who looked no older than thirty walked to the stage at the front of the hall. He stood in front of the microphone, clearing his throat as he adjusted it to allign with his height.

"Good afternoon everyone, thank you all for coming. I hope you all have had a chance to settle into your dorms. You will be the first of many, many students to live in them. Today marks a very special day, as all of you are going to be the first to go through the Pokémon Academy experience. Let me just say, I completely empathise with you. I can't imagine the irritation of seeing people only a year older than you be able to train pokémon at the age of ten, while you had to wait another five years just to get to this point."

Irriting is an understatement, Ash thought. Before the law was enforced, he had wanted to be a Pokémon Master before he even reached ten, so to have another five years added to the waiting list was pure cruelty to him.

"However, I don't think it is a bad thing. In two years time, you will have a far better understanding of being a trainer than anyone older than you. What you will get from this experience is knowledge beyond just that. You will understand how pokémon work, and how the worlds works around pokémon, and you will learn more about yourselves here than you will travelling for the rest of your lives. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity."

The principal of the academy rambled on for a good twenty minutes after that about all of the technicalities of the course, which Ash was slightly more interested in than being patronised about his age, but admittedly he was getting pretty bored towards to end. Eventually though, he dismissed everyone. Since everybody wanted to leave at the same time, there was a huge crowd of people flooding out of the hall.

The four stood up and decided to remain in their row for a while until the the hall was a lot less crowded.

"So have you guys eaten yet? Apparently there's a fast food place just outside the campus," May asked.

"Fast food? Count me in!" Ash responded with the enthusiasm of a child, with the other two nodding in agreement. If there was one thing that could cheer Ash up, it was some super unhealthy food that he could stuff his face with.

"Is it okay if we invite our friend Misty?" Gary added, taking his phone out of his pocket to text her.

"Sure! The more the merrier," May answered cheerfully.

The four soon became a five as Misty caught up with Ash and Gary and got acquainted with May and Drew. They reached the fast food restaurant where they got a table. Gary and Ash went to the counter to order for everyone while the other three waited at their table.

"So Misty, how long have you been friends with Ash and Gary?" Drew asked.

"Around six years now, but Ash and Gary have known each other since they were really young. What about you guys?" She asked, addressing both of them.

May and Drew exchanged a look of hesitancy. May decided to speak up.

"Dunno... I think we've known each other for six years, but I'd say we've only really been friends for like a year." Misty was surprised by this.

"Really? How'd that happen?"

"Well at school, we were always in the same classes but we were just kind of in different friend groups, we only really got to know each other a little better towards the end of school," Drew said sheepishly.

Ash and Gary came back to the table with two trays of burgers and fries. Ash couldn't help but keep an amused look on his face, he couldn't hide the fact that he had been laughing.

"Hey guys, what are you talking about?" Ash asked, still with an amused expression.

"What? What's so funny Ash?" Misty asked.

"Ash, just leave it," Gary groaned as put his tray on the table.

"Gary tried to hit on the girl at the counter and she totally shot him down," Ask said, trying to contain his laughter. Misty and May giggled at this and Gary was trying to get them to stop.

"She was cute, okay? What was the worst that could happen?" Gary replied.

"That," Ash said, still laughing.

Drew smiled sympathetically at Gary. "Don't worry man, I've been there before."

"Really? How'd you get better at it?" Gary couldn't help but ask.

"Don't know, just comes with experience I guess," he shrugged.

"Well don't worry, Gary has plenty of experience being shot down by girls," Misty teased.

"Misty... He didn't need to know that!" Gary complained.

"Oh come on Gary, he was going to realise eventually. You've always been awkward with girls."

"I don't think that's specific to girls, Misty," Ash added, which made Misty laugh.

"Please, I am not that bad," Gary insisted. "May, as somebody who's only met me today, do you think I come across as awkward?"

"I don't know, that's kind of an awkward question to ask somebody you don't know that well," May responded. Now Gary knew this debate was a lost cause.

Drew looked around to the counter, observing the girl behind it. "I can see why you tried chatting her up though Gary, she's pretty cute. Would it be okay if I tried talking to her?"

"Sure, why not." Gary knew he wasn't ever going to get anywhere with her.

"Thanks, she doesn't look busy now so I'll give it a go," Drew said.

"Drew," May stopped him before he left the table. "Are you sure this is a good idea? I mean, this poor girl has already had to reject a guy today. She probably isn't going to be interested in dating anyone right now."

"The only way we'll know is if I do it," Drew said confidently. May seemed visibly bugged about this, as if she didn't want him talking to this girl. There was no stopping Drew once he set his mind to something, though. He headed towards the counter.

"So Ashy-boy, you wanna ask her out if Drew fails as well?" Gary asked now that Drew left the table.

"No way, I'm with May on this. That poor girl is just doing her job, and anyway, I don't see why you guys think she's so cute. She looks fairly normal to me," Ash responded.

"Thank you, Ash. I'm glad somebody else sees it how I do," May said.

"He's only saying that because he isn't interested in girls," Gary laughed.

May looked at Ash, slightly confused. "Oh, are you... ?"

"No, I'm not gay or anything either, I'm just not interested in dating."

"Ohhhhh, okay."

A couple of minutes later, Drew walked back to the table with a smug look on his face.

"Guess who just got the number of a cute girl?" He smiled.

"If it's not you then this story is pretty random," Gary joked.

"Well, it was me. I'm going out with her tomorrow."

"Impressive, Drew. I didn't think you could do it," May said with a surprised expression.

Misty couldn't help but wonder if May was faking her contentedness about the situation, though. She seemed pretty adamant about him not asking the girl out. And that look they gave each other earlier kind of implied they weren't telling her something. Was something going on between those two?

The five friends had gone back to the boys' dorms to help Gary and Ash finish unpacking. It was early evening and Misty was exhausted to go back to her own dorm.

"I can unpack all this stuff tomorrow" she said aloud to nobody in particular as she opened the door to her dorm room, yawning.

Misty walked in, wiping her face around her eyes to see if what she saw was really true. There was an even bigger mess of unpacked belongings than before.

A blue haired girl, who was kneeling on her bed, was putting some photos on the wall. She looked over in response to the sound of the door to see the very girl she had been expecting.

"Sorry about all this stuff! I hope you don't mind but I've just put all of your stuff on your bed. I'll totally help you unpack your stuff as well after this." She said optimistically, smiling. "You must be Misty! It's good to finally meet you."

Hi, thanks for reading the first chapter of my fanfiction! I'm new to this site and to writing fanfiction in general, so I'm aware that there are potentially some mistakes. I'd really appreciate any feedback I could get, positive or negative, so I know what to do best for the future chapters. This chapter was only really about introducing the characters and the general academy setting, so some more interesting stuff will go down later on!

Anyway, I hope you all like this story and thanks again for reading!

-AnonT83