DISCLAIMER: As I said in the description, this series was not written for aesthetic purposes, but to help me study for the MCAT. So don't expect epic character development, a stirring plot, or an interesting read. I also made up most of the last names of the characters, which were all taken from the first season of Pokémon, but I don't own the characters, Nintendo and Shogakukan does. I'd like to thank those two companies for making Pokémon, and also the Kaplan book for most of the science reviews. Also, a lot of the symbols like the equal sign or any of the superscripts don't appear, so this story is going to be pretty darned confusing.
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Brrring! Brrring! Brrring!
The school bell rang clearly and loudly, and the students began streaming into the classroom. Some of them were bright and chipper, while others seemed less than excited to be there.
"I don't see why we have to go to school," said young Ash Ketchum, flanked by his good friends Misty and Brock. "There's nothing that we can learn here that would help us to become Pokémon Masters."
"Well, Professor Oak did seem emphatic about it when he enrolled us. If he supports education, then it must be very important," Misty replied.
"Yeah? Well I don't like it one bit," said Ash.
They went and got a seat near in the middle of the classroom, where a wise but energetic man with a white lab coat stood near in front of a large, whiteboard.
"You're going to be our teacher, Professor Oak?" asked Brock.
"That's right. In order to aid in my study of Pokémon, I've made it my goal to get a good grasp on the physical and biological sciences. These concepts are very important to understand if you want to be a good Pokémon trainer."
"I don't believe it. Why do you need to know about science to become a Pokémon Master? It's not like you have to use physical equations in the middle of a battle," said Ash.
"It's a good thing, because if that's the case, you wouldn't even last a day as a Pokémon trainer," an obnoxious voice called out from behind.
"What? Gary? You're in this class too?" Ash cried.
"That's right, loser. You don't think that I'd miss a class taught by my own grandfather, do you? This way, I'll be ready when the Pokémon League institutes that rule about doing physics problems in the middle of battle."
"Are they really going to do it?" asked Brock.
"You'd never know."
"All right, Gary, that's enough. And I wish you wouldn't keep your cheerleaders around all the time, but I suppose they can stay as long as they're quiet," Professor Oak said demurely.
"You hear me, ladies?" called Gary. "Now you can watch while I dazzle the crowd in the classroom as well as the Pokémon battlefield!" His cheerleaders cheered.
"Oh, that Gary," Ash murmured bitterly. "I'm not allowed to bring Pikachu, but he can bring those annoying cheerleaders."
"But those cheerleaders are much more pleasant to the eyes than Pikachu is," said Brock.
"All right now, everybody calm down," said Professor Oak. "It's time for us to get started. First, let's have a roll call. Duplica Imite."
"I'm here," said Duplica."
"Ash Ketchum."
"Yeah, yeah. Here," said Ash.
"Lara Laramie."
"Present and accounted for."
"Samurai Miyamoto."
"I am currently in this classroom and ready to learn."
"Gary Oak."
"Yep! I'm present!"
"James Rocket." Silence.
"Okay, Jessie Rocket." More silence.
"Hmm. Meowth Rocket." Even more silence.
"Uh oh," thought Ash. "They can't be in this class too, can they?"
"Okay. I guess we'll give them a few more minutes. Next we have Tracey Sketchit."
"I'm here, and it's certainly great to have you as my professor," said Tracey.
"It's good to have you here too. Brock Slate."
"I'm here."
"Joe Smith."
"Here."
"Todd Snap."
"I'm here, and I can take the class picture once we're done."
"Okay, but no pictures in class. Next is A.J. Stone."
"Yeah, I'm here."
"Richie Taylor."
"I'm ready."
"And finally, Misty Waterflower."
"Present," said Misty.
"All right," said Professor Oak. "Well, nobody came in during that time so it appears as though James, Jessie, and Meowth Rocket decided not to come after all. Well, I'm glad to see all of you that are here. This class–"
A loud crash interrupted Professor Oak, as three bodies came crashing down from the ceiling. "I knew it! It's you!" cried Ash.
The three mysterious people dusted themselves off, and jumped onto the desk.
"Prepare for trouble!"
"And make it double!"
"To protect the world from devastation!"
"To unite all people within our nation!"
"To denounce the evils of truth and love!"
"To extend our reach to the stars above!"
"Jessie!"
"James!"
"Team Rocket blasts off at the speed of light!"
"Surrender now, or prepare to fight!"
"Meowth! That's right!"
The entire class stared at them silently, surprised at their sudden entrance and uncouth interruption of Professor Oak's opening statements. Only the professor seemed glad to see the trio. "Ah, you must be James, Jessie, and Meowth Rocket! I must admit, I didn't think the room would be so hard to find that you'd have to go creeping around in the ceiling, but it's good to have you join us in the endeavor of learning."
"Who's here to learn?" griped Meowth. "We're here to get Pikachu!"
"You're not getting him!" cried Ash. "And besides, I wasn't allowed to bring him!"
"What?" Jessie exclaimed. "This is all your fault, Meowth!"
"Yeah, but at least nobody would be guarding him," said Meowth.
Team Rocket made a run for the door, but to their dismay, the door was locked. "I really do apologize, but the door locks automatically during class for security purposes. Only a pass can unlock the door, but please, your presence in this class would be welcomed."
"But they're Team Rocket! They're here to steal Pokémon!" Ash objected.
"It doesn't matter," Professor Oak replied. "Nobody should be denied the right to an education no matter who they are."
"I don't remember ever signing up for this stupid class," Jessie groused.
"And why did they use a stupid name like James Rocket?" whined James. "I don't like it. It makes it seem like we're a family."
"Well, you kind of are a dysfunctional family," Misty said under her breath.
"Actually, Giovanni, the Viridian City Gym Leader himself signed the three of you up. You should be honored to be associated with such a distinguished individual."
Team Rocket grudgingly sat down as Professor Oak started over on his introduction. "As I was saying, it's good to see all of you here. This class will give you an in-depth overview of the physical and biological sciences. Some of you may be wondering why you're here. Well, I strongly believe that these sciences are very useful in the world of Pokémon training. It's a shame that so many generations of Pokémon trainers have gone without this basic education, but after several years of planning, this Pokémon Classroom is ready to begin. You are all inaugural students in this program."
"So in other words, we're guinea pigs," said A.J.
Some people laughed, but Professor Oak was serious. "You might say so, but I have worked hard with several highly respected scientists and Pokémon researchers to hammer out the curriculum, and I believe that we are ready to teach you what every Pokémon trainer should know about the sciences." He went around and passed out a syllabus. "The four basic physical and biological sciences are Physics, Chemistry, Organic Chemistry, and Biology. All of them are essential to a strong understanding of Pokémon as well as the world around us.
"Even if you don't plan on being a Pokémon trainer, these basic sciences would be very useful. For example, a good understanding of genetics and nutrition would be helpful in being a good Pokémon breeder." Brock nodded. "And an understanding of light and optics would be useful for a cameraman. Due to limitations in time, we would only be able to barely scratch the surface of these sciences, but I hope that we would be able to set a strong foundation for you to build on in your own free time.
"We will begin our study with a look at the physical sciences, physics and chemistry. These two topics are closely tied together so hopefully you can use your understanding of one to help you understand the other. After that, we will transition to the biological sciences, organic chemistry and biology. About grading, we will have regular tests and a final exam, but you shouldn't be so stressed out about these things. If you work hard to build up your knowledge of these underlying concepts, then the tests should be a piece of cake.
"Now, are there any questions?" Nobody raised their hands. "All right. Feel free to ask questions if you have any, but for now let's begin our study of science."
"We shall begin with the physical sciences, but before we do, it is important to introduce the basic mathematical concepts."
"I already know math," said Ash. "Is it okay to be excused from this class now?"
"Ah, not yet. It's very good that you know math, but these's so much more to the sciences than math. Since you know math, perhaps you can tell us what the four basic arithmetic operations are."
"Arith-what?" Ash exclaimed.
"Addition is when you combine two numbers together," said Joe.
"Subtraction is when you take one number away from another number," said Richie.
"Multiplication is when you add several groups of a number together," said A.J.
"Division is the inverse of multiplication, when you find how many times a number goes into another number," said Brock.
"Oh yeah, I know all of that," said Ash. "2+24, 4×416 and so on."
"Very good," said Professor Oak. "However, you're not always given an easy number statement like that. Very often, you'll be presented with a situation and you'll have to figure out by yourself what operation to use. For example, if Ash sends me five Pokémon, and Gary sends me seven, how many Pokémon would I have?"
"You'll have 12, because 5 plus 7 equals 12," said Tracey.
"That is correct. How about this? There are 20 Pokémon in a field, and then eight of them were caught by trainers. How many Pokémon would be left?"
"There will be 12 left, because 20 minus 8 equals 12," said Lara.
"That's very good. There are four members of the Elite Four, and each of them has five Pokémon. How many Pokémon must you defeat to defeat the Elite Four?"
"There will be 20 you have to defeat, because 4 multiplied by 5 is equivalent to 20," said Samurai.
"Correct. Finally, Ash sends me 180 Tauroses. Only 20 of them can fit in a box. How many boxes would I use up to store all of the Tauroses?"
"You'll need nine boxes, because 180 divided by 20 is 9," answered Misty.
"Yeah, I know all of that," said Ash. "Now can I PLEASE be excused from this class?"
"Us too," piped James.
"Now hold your horses," said Professor Oak. "There's much more to mathematics than this. For example, you'll have to learn how to work with negative numbers, fractions, and exponents."
"I know about negative numbers," said Duplica. "If you subtract a larger number from a smaller number, then you end up with a negative number."
"That's right," said Professor Oak. "Can anybody give me an example of this?"
"Yeah! Let's say I beat Ash in a Pokémon battle…" said Gary.
"That'll never happen!" Ash cried.
"Shut up! I beat Ash in a Pokémon battle, and he has to pay me 1,000, but let's say he only has 700. Well then, he has to pay me his 700, and he still owes me 300."
"That is very good," said Professor Oak. "In this case, 700 – 1,000 -300. You go past zero, and you have to keep going. Just imagine that there is a number line with 0 in the center. To the right of that is positive numbers, and to the left of that is negative numbers. As you add numbers, you go to the right. As you subtract numbers, you go to the left. This can create some interesting scenarios if you start out from the negative side.
"For example, if you have a negative number, like -50. If you add a positive number to it, then you go more to the right. However, the absolute value of the number would be smaller. Just think about it."
The students sat and thought about it. Misty spoke up. "So if you add 10 to -50, you'd end up with -40, because you went to the right ten times on the number line."
"Wait a minute," said Ash. "But 40 is less than 50! If you add a number, then shouldn't it be larger?"
"That's true," said Professor Oak, "but let's just take a negative number to mean owing money. Wouldn't it be better to owe only 40 than to owe 50? Therefore, -40 is actually greater than -50."
"Ah," said Richie, "on the other had, if you add a negative number to a negative number, then you'll end up being more negative."
"That's right," said Professor Oak, "but if you think about it, any time you have two signs that are different, you'd end up subtracting. For example, adding a negative number and subtracting a positive number are both equivalent to subtraction."
"So does that mean that if you have two signs that are the same, you'd end up adding?" asked Joe.
"That's exactly it. Even if you subtract a negative number, it's the same as adding. It might be difficult to think about it conceptually, but it is important to understand this.
"Multiplying and dividing with negative numbers follow the same general rules. If you multiply or divide two numbers with the different signs together, then you end up with a negative answer. However, if you multiply or divide two numbers with different signs, even if they are negative, then you end up with a positive answer."
"I get it," said Brock. "Like signs means positive, while unlike signs means negative."
"Correct," said Professor Oak.
"Next up we have fractions. Fractions may be a bit tricky to work with, but it will be important when it comes to the physical sciences. A fraction represents a part of a whole. Let's say that Misty made a pie.
"What type of pie?" asked Joe.
"I don't think that really matters," said Ash. "I don't think she can bake in the first place."
Misty grabbed Ash's ear and gave it a twist. "You may continue," she told Professor Oak.
"Okay. So Misty made a pie. We'll just say that it is apple pie. She cuts it into sixteen pieces. If she gives us each one piece, then each of us gets 1/16 of the pie. Since we all would have one piece out of sixteen pieces total. The 1 represents the part of the pie we have, and that is the numerator. The 16 represents the part of the pie that is in total. This is the denominator."
Gary spoke up. "So if I steal Ash's piece of the pie, then I'll have 2/16."
"And 2/16 is the same as 1/8, since you can divide two from both the numerator and the denominator," said Duplica. "That's what they mean by factoring."
"That's very true, Duplica," said Professor Oak, obviously impressed. "If you see that you can divide a number out of both the numerator and the denominator, then by all means do it. It will make your life much easier on the tests. For example, 2/4 is the same as 1/2. And 5/5 is the same as 1/1. If you have 1 as a denominator, then it is the same as the whole number. So 5/1 is the same as 5."
"And this is because you have five wholes?" asked Tracey.
"That is right. This idea would be useful when it comes to using fractions in arithmetic functions. When it comes to arithmetic in fractions, it is actually easier to multiply and divide. In multiplying, all you have to do is multiply the numerator and then multiply the denominator. So what would be 1/4 times 2/3?"
"The answer would be 2/12, which is the same as saying 1/6," answered Richie.
"Wait a minute, that doesn't make sense," cried Jessie. "1/6 is clearly less than 1/4. Why would you get a smaller answer when multiplying?"
"Let's just think of it this way. Let's suppose Misty made another pie. People have already eaten 3/4 of it, leaving the last 1/4 uneaten. Now you come over and see the remaining 1/4. You want as much as possible, but you don't want to eat the entire thing, so you take 2/3 from the remaining 1/4. So you end up with 1/6 of the original pie."
"I would have eaten the entire thing," said Jessie, "but I think I get it."
"So this would mean that multiplying fractions would get you a smaller answer, while dividing fractions would get you a larger answer?" asked Lara.
"That's not completely correct, but it's good to think of it that way. We'll get into the exception later. To divide fractions, you flip the fraction around so the numerator becomes the denominator and vice versa. Then you just multiply."
"So 1/4 divided by 2/3 would be 3/8," said Tracey.
"That is correct. 3/8 is larger than 1/4 because 1/4 is equivalent to 2/8," said Professor Oak. "Now, Lara, as far as the exception goes, what happens if you multiply 1/4 with 3/2?"
"Oh, I get it now. You would get a larger number when multiplying fraction if the fraction is larger than one," said Lara.
"That is correct. Adding and subtracting fractions is trickier. Before you can add or subtract, you'd have to make sure that the denominator is the same."
"Why would that be the case?" asked Samurai.
"Well, if you add or subtract a fraction, then you would always get a number that is larger or smaller, unless you're dealing with negative numbers. For example, if you want to add 1/2 and 1/3, you wouldn't add both the numerator and the denominator, because you would end up with 2/5, which is smaller than 1/2. Instead, you have to find the least common multiple of the two denominators."
"That would be six," said Todd.
"Correct, so the denominator would be 6. What would be the equivalent fractions of 1/2 and 1/3 if the denominator is six?"
"1/2 is equivalent to 3/6, while 1/3 is equivalent to 2/6," said Misty. "I figured that you have to multiply two by three to get six, so I have to do the same with the numerator. That's how I get 3/6."
"Very good. Once you have the same denominator, then all you can do is add the numerator."
"So 3/6 + 2/6 is 5/6," said A.J.
"That is correct. And what would be 1/2 minus 1/3?"
"1/6," Duplica answered.
"Correct. This is the basics about working with fractions," said Professor Oak. "The numbers would obviously be much more difficult, but the general concepts would be the same."
"With physics and chemistry, more often than not you'll be working with numbers that are very big or very small. For example, in chemistry, you'll learn about a concept of a mole. A mole is the same as saying a billion or a trillion, except that it's 602000000000000000000000, give or take a few quadrillion. When you're working with numbers like this, it's easiest to use something called scientific notation.
"Scientific notation is based on exponents. Exponents are basically a step after multiplication. It measures how many times you multiply a number by itself. So you all know that 2 x 2 is 4, and 2 x 2 x 2 is 8. An easier way to say 2 x 2 x 2 is 23. The three is the exponent, and it tells you how many times you would multiply a number. Multiplying by ten is a special case. Every time you multiply a number by ten, you just add a number by zero. So if you have 10 7, how many zeroes would there be?"
"There would be seven, since you basically multiplied ten seven times." said Richie.
"That is correct. Just think that there's a decimal to the right of a whole number. Every time you multiply a number by 10, you would move the decimal point to the right. It's the same when dividing a number by 10, except you would move the decimal point to the left. So 10 -7 would be .0000007. However, notice how this number only has six zeroes. This is because 10-1 is .1, since you only moved it to the left once."
"And 1 is 100, since you didn't move the decimal point at all," said Misty.
"Yes, Misty. This is very important, especially when it comes to multiplying or dividing exponents, but for now it's important to just understand how to get a number in scientific notation. To do so, you basically have to keep in mind that a very large number or a very small number is simply a manageable number multiplied or divided by an exponent of ten. So let's say you have a number like 3,469. That's the same thing as saying 3.469 x 1,000, or 3.469 x 10 3. Does anybody have any questions about this?" Professor Oak scanned the room, but nobody spoke up.
"Okay, I hope that everybody would be able to do these questions on the test. The reason we convert numbers into its scientific notation is so we won't be overwhelmed by numbers when we try to multiply or divide them."
Todd raised his hands. "What would you do if you want to add two numbers?"
"That's a very good question," said Professor Oak. "Adding or subtracting numbers with scientific notation is actually a tricky business. You really have to pay attention to the exponents. For example, if you have a number like 2.1 x 10 8 and 5.7 x 10 8, then you can just add the decimals before the number to get 2.1 + 5.7 is 7.8. However, if you have 2.1 x 10 8 and 5.7 x 10 7, it will not be as clear-cut. Does anybody know what you would get?"
Duplica answered. "The answer would actually be 2.67 x 10 8, because 5.7 x 10 7 is a decimal point smaller."
"That is correct. When you're adding and subtracting large or small numbers, it may actually be easier to add the numbers without scientific notation, since addition is the same no matter how many digits you have. With multiplication and division, it would be much more work the more digits you have, and scientific notation would be useful.
"The key thing to remember about multiplying numbers in scientific notation is that when you multiply them together, then you simply add the exponents. So 2.1 x 10 8 and 5.7 x 10 7 would get you 11.97 x 10 15, or 1.2 x 10 16. Similarly, if you divide these numbers, you would subtract the exponents. 2.1 x 10 8 and 5.7 x 10 7 would get you an answer of approximately .39 x 10 1, or just simply 3.9.
"Let's do a practice problem. Suppose Silph Co. manufactures over 9,000 Pokéballs every day, and they ship them all to 150 PokéMarts over the country. How many Pokéballs would each PokéMart get every day? Try to work this problem out by yourself."
The students scribbled furiously on pieces of paper, except for Ash, who looked befuddled, and Jessie, who was defiant. "Would somebody like to volunteer their answer?" Professor Oak asked when everybody finished.
"I got an answer of 60," said Misty.
"That is correct. Who else had an answer of 60?" All of the other students raised their hands except for James and the two that did not even try. "Would you like to do the problem on the board for the ones that did not get it?" asked Professor Oak.
Misty walked to the whiteboard and wrote down her steps, explaining them as she went on. "Well, this is a textbook example of a division problem, and one way to display a division problem is with fractions. 9,000 goes on the top, since that is your dividend, or the number you divide. 150 goes on the bottom, since that is the divisor, or the number you divide by. It's possible to do this problem with long division, but since we're learning how to use scientific notation, it's better to put 9 x 10 3 on the top and 1.5 x 10 2 on the bottom. Nine divided by 1.5 is six, and three minus two is one, so you end up with 6 x 10 1, which is the same as 60."
"That is very good, Misty," said Professor Oak. "And good job to everybody else who got the correct answer, even if you did not use scientific notation. Well, there are a few more mathematical concepts for us to cover, but it doesn't seem like we'll have the time to cover it today. If you've bought the textbook, be sure to read Chapter 1 of the Physics section. It will cover what we will go over next time so you'll be prepared. The topic will be basic Kinematics."
The bell rang, and the doors unlocked. Ash hurried to get out of the room, but noticed that Misty, Brock, and Richie were all waiting to speak with Professor Oak. As he waited, he shook his head and thought to himself, "This is going to be a long year."
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AUTHOR'S NOTE: I've decided to put an Author's Note for these chapters just to offer like a commentary about what I've written. Its probably pure selfishness on my part just because it's so bloody unnecessary. Anyways, this is the first chapter. I wanted to have an opening where we introduce all of the characters, not that they'd play much of a big role. In the story that I originally wrote two years ago that served as like a preview, there were only four students: Ash, Misty, Brock, and Gary. When I started this, I knew that I wanted to have more than just four students, so I racked my brain and found eight more people that were around Ash's age to be students. And then I decided that Team Rocket were important enough to be students enrolled against their will. I wanted the roll call in the beginning to be like an actual classroom, where the teacher would call out the students' first and last names. There was on problem: most of them didn't have last names. I had to make them up. Slate and Waterflower are like the unoffcial last names for Misty and Brock in the online world, so I just used them. For Duplica, I took the "House of Imite" thing and applied it here. A.J. was a Sandshrew trainer, and Sandshrew is a Ground Pokemon. Ground is kind of a stupid nickname, so I went with Stone, because they're both similar in that they're weak against water. For Samurai, I took the most obvious Japanese last name among Nintendo fans: Miyamoto. Joe, who if you don't remember was the kid the trio meet in the episode "The School of Hard Knocks" got the last name Smith just because Joe Smith is such a great name. And Richie? I just grabbed it out of nowhere. As for the actual writing, I've never been very good at prose, but I never knew how bad until I started writing this story and have it be dialogue upon dialogue. I suppose it's forgiveable in this case since it's not a very serious story anyways, but I'd definitely have to fix this if I ever want to develop my writing. As far as the science goes, I decided to start off with the basic mathematical concepts that would be useful in the MCAT, since the students would probably have to do it for real. It was pretty easy come up with interesting examples in this chapter and some of the other early chapters, but unfortunately things won't be like that.