Hi everybody! Somehow, I wanted to write a pokemon fic so here it is. The idea is well known, but this fic will contain (I hope) some of the aspect of university life as I see it. Well, just read an hopefully you will like it . See you at the end

Chapter 1: Welcome to the Pokemon School

My name is Ash Ketchum, I am 14 years old. Since I was a little kid, I have always wanted to become the greatest Pokemon master of all times. This is exactly why my mother, Delia, and I, moved to Pallet Town. Many incredible pokemon masters were born here. This small town is where it all began for them. In their honour, a school was build there, but it is no ordinary school. Be it battle, breeding, contests or just scientific knowledge, just could learn absolutely everything about pokemon in this one place. People would come from all over the world, including foreign country like Johto, Hoenn or Sinnoh to study here and I was one of them. The term was going to start the next day and I could hardly wait for the opening ceremony.

That morning, I woke up quite early, the reason for that was that I had almost not slept at all. I had a quick look at my bed and saw that my best friend, Pikachu, was still asleep, comfortably installed on my pillow. I decided not to wake him up, both of us still had a lot of time before leaving. I headed for the kitchen and find my mum was already there, which was a little bit strange, considering that it was not even seven.

"Hi mum" I said "You're up early today."

"Of course! Today is an important day for you. I thought I could I least prepare your breakfast and lunch"

"You could have left Mimey do that. It's just the beginning of the term you know"

"No way! This is the school you have always dreamt to go to"

"Well, I guess you're right".

This being said, she served me a hot chocolate followed shortly after by eggs, sausages and beans, typical English breakfast. I ate slowly, letting myself thinking on how my future school life would be, although I had spent most of the night on that topic already. When I finished my meal, it was already about time to get prepared. I went back to my room, woke Pikachu up and changed into my day cloths. I picked up my bag and rushed downstairs, Pikachu on my shoulder. As I was about to leave, I heard my mum.

"Ash!" I stopped and faced the kitchen door where the voice had come from.

"You forgot your lunch" She said as she handed me a small blue box.

"Thanks mum"

"Well, I guess you're going then. Have a good day". I then left the house but, as I was running on the road, I could hear her

"We're having a party for you tonight so feel free to invite some of your friends, okay?"

"Sure" I shouted and began running my way to school again.

Pallet Town School had been built a little bit away from the city itself, so that it wouldn't disturb the citizens and even if it was famous, the city had remained a pretty small town with very few transports. It was about twenty minutes walking from my home but only fifteen if you were running. I was not really in a hurry but I was just too exited to calmly walk.

When I finally arrived at the school gate, I saw a girl about my age, with short orange hair and dark eyes. I knew only one person with that look: Misty Waterflower. She was a Water-type pokemon trainer, heir of the prestigious Cerulean Gym and a childhood friend of mine. When I told her I was moving to Pallet Town, she admitted she had always wanted to study there too. After getting her sisters' approval, she moved at the same time as we did in a house her family had here.

-"What are you doing here, Misty?" I asked "Waiting for me?"

"Of course! Unlike a certain acquaintance of mine, I came to open days so I pretty much know the school already. This place is huge. You're so stupid you would get lost you I wasn't with you" That sounded exactly like Misty. Harsh language, almost like a guy's, always here to turn me down whenever she could.

"Don't call me stupid. You know I couldn't make it to open days. Besides, I came early, I was just planning to follow the crowd"

"Yeah yeah. Whatever" She was not looking at me anymore as she said that and had already began walking toward the School Coliseum where the opening ceremony was going to take place.

The Coliseum was quite impressive, big enough to contain five thousands spectators We were all standing inside the stadium, listening to Prof Oak, the school chairman and one of the world's most important pokemon scientists. He was talking about how prestigious and important the school was and that he hoped we would honour the name of the establishment, but I was only half listening to what he was saying. I thought, of course, about all these battles I had seen on TV that had taken place here but more than this, I thought about all the great fights that were yet to come. It was the dream of every student to stand on one of these two platforms made especially for participants, be it contests or battles. We then all took a sit and watch the pokemon parade. Students from all departments had done their best to make it memorable: aerials figures by a heard of Fearow, thundershock attacks taking forms of different animals, aquatic show from the stadium's pool and much more. When it finished, we went out of the stadium. At the exit, we were asked to join our section. I quickly found the staff member from the Training Department and said goodbye to Misty, as she was part of the Aquatic section.

I followed my group though the school until we reached a big grey building. Nothing was special about it, except for the eight giant balloons on the roof, forming the word Trainers. We went inside and the newcomers were guided to the department theatre. The staff members then left and the other students began wondering what was going to happen next. After a few minutes, all the chatting suddenly stopped. I turned my head to the theatre's entrance and finally understood why. Long blond hair, all dressed in black, even for her two hair ribbons, It was Cynthia, the current Sinnoh champion. What could she be doing here?

"Hi everyone! Let me introduce myself: I am Cynthia, and I will be your teacher for this year"

Cynthia? My teacher? There had been rumour that she wanted to teach to young trainers but nobody believed it since a Champ had already quite a lot of things to do. But reality was that she was right in front of me and that she said she was going to teach me. Well, not me in particular, but I would still be able to learn a lot from her, that was for sure. She went on with her speech, explaining the department's policy, how things were going to happen, what subjects we would study and then moved on to the timetable.

"As you see" she said "most of the time, you will be studying in the classroom. However, every Tuesdays starting tomorrow, you'll have practical classes. So, if you guys could follow me"

We all got out of the theatre, walking behind Cynthia as she went turned and went upstairs. She only stopped once we arrived at the roof.

"What are we doing up here, professor?" asked one of the student once we were all here.

"This place" she said answered "is our training ground. Students here are only having practicals once a week. That's non sense. A trainer and his pokemons have to work hard every day to improve. Naturally, I complained about that, but they couldn't give me the facilities: we only have them on Tuesdays as I already mentioned. So, I decided that on every other school day, I would have practical classes here, after your lessons, from six to seven. Of course, these sessions are not mandatory, but know, at least you all know they exist."

She paused, slowly turn her head to look at the scenery. A little smile made of pure joy could be seen on her face

"Besides, the view is great from here"

I had to admit she was right. Viridian forest on one side, Pallet town on the other, it was really breath-taking.

"Well, I said all this stuff about training daily and all, which really is important, but proper facilities still are the best so, I want all of you to be ready for tomorrow and for that, I will come and see all of you individually to check your pokemons. You are free to leave after this"

As I sat on the roof, waiting for my turn, I noticed everybody had at least three or four pokemons and many had already six. No doubt they had some more waiting for them somewhere. I, on the other hand, only had Pikachu. As I began to worry about that I heard somebody call me

"Hi, fellow trainer!" it was a boy around my age, wearing green vest and trousers and a blue cap.

"Is this Pikachu yours?"

"He wouldn't be staying all day long on my shoulder if it wasn't, I suppose"

"True. Stupid question I asked. Can't you just leave him in his pokeball?"

"He doesn't like it so I just let him be. By the way, why do you ask?"

"Well, that's because" He took a pokeball from his belt he threw it in the air

"Come to me, Sparky!" Another Pikachu came out. Mine suddenly jumped to the ground and the two of them began playing together.

"Looks like these two will get along" I said

"Yeah. By the way, my name is Ritchie"

"I am Ash, pleased to meet you. So you got a Pikachu and what else?"

"I also have a Charmander and a Butterfree, how about you?"

"Pikachu is my only pokemon"

"Oh! Can I have a look at him then, please?" It was Cynthia. She had suddenly appeared out of nowhere, right in the middle of our conversation.

"Sure professor"

I called Pikachu and she took it in her arms. I was actually quite surprised he didn't use a thundershock attack on her, which was what he usually did to any stranger trying to get too close to him. She took quite a long time, looking at him from every angle, whispering "I see, I see" to herself then she finally handed him to me.

"It is a very interesting pokemon you have here. I can't wait to see what he's capable of tomorrow. However, only one pokemon will probably not be enough" She handed me a couple of pokeballs.

"Use this and try to capture one or two pokemon for tomorrow. Of course, you won't know them well, but I will still think it's still better than with just Pikachu" She then moved on to check another student.

"Well, do you want to go to Viridian Forest, there are many pokemons that you could catch there" asked Ritchie

"Sounds good"

"If you don't mind, can I come with you?"

"Sure, some company would be better"

Once again, Misty was waiting for me at the school gate. I introduced her to Ritchie and told her we were going to Viridian forest. She said she didn't have anything to do anyway and decided to tag along too.

"So, how was your first day in the aquatic department, Misty?" I asked as we looking for pokemons in the forest.

"It was pretty good, although it hasn't really started yet. We just had an introductory lecture and visited the facilities. You really should see the department's aquarium. It's really huge and filled with rare water-type pokemons"

"Maybe I'll come someday, when I have time"

"Sure. I'm really glad I finally got to meet Lorelei too"

It was well known that Lorelei, member of the Kanto Elite Four and an ice type specialist, was at the head of Pallet Town School Aquatic Department. She was Misty's idol. In fact, she was one of the main reasons Misty wanted to study here.

"Good for you. Did you know, our teacher is Cynthia"

"Cynthia? The Sinnoh champion? Really?"

"Herself. All of us were quite surprised, but it's not like any of us would complain. I mean…"

"Somebody help me!"

It was a girl's voice, and it came from deeper in the forest. Before I realised it, I was already running to where it had came from. When I finally arrived, I saw a girl being attacked by a Weezing and an Arbok.

"Stop it!" I shouted at the two trainers dressed in white: one guy with short violet hair and a girl with long red one.

"Ash! What's going on here?" Misty and Ritchie had caught up with me.

"Well well, what do we have here? Three little twerps trying to save another twerp?" said the guy "Shall we take care of them first, Jessie?"

"Good idea you have for once, James"

"No! That little girl comes first. Finish quickly with her and we will deal with the others after" A Meowthhad just talked, but I paid almost no attention to it.

"Pikachu, prepare for battle. Ritchie, lend me hand, will you?"

"Of course. Go, Zippo" and his fire-type pokemon came out

"Well, looks like the brats want to start a fight, no choice then. Forget about that girl, Arbok, use bite on Charmander" ordered Jessie.

"Weezing, tackle on that Pikachu".

Both our pokemon managed to dodge it, Charmander counter attacked with amber but Arbok buried itself.

"Careful Ritchie, this could become dangerous"

"I know" That is when Arbok came out, wrapping Charmander.

"Pikachu, help Charmander, quick attack" Pikachu rushed into Arbok who lost its grip on Charmander.

"Weezing, another tackle"

"Pikachu, Iron tail" Pikachu's tail began to glow and he hit the charging Weezing, sending him right on Arbok: a nice opportunity for us.

"Pikachu, use Thunderbolt now!"

"Charmander, Flamethrower"

That is when James ordered his Weezing to use Haze. Being unable to see anything, our pokemon hadn't launched their attack. By the time the Haze effect disappeared, Jessie, James and Meowth had already left, no sign of them. Ritchie recalled his pokemon and I turn around to see if the girl was alright. Misty was already by her side trying to comfort her. She looked a little bit younger than me, maybe eleven, but I thought she was really cute: a black t-shirt with a pink skirt; a red scarf, a white hat on her shoulder-long blue hair and the most beautiful blue eyes I had ever seen.

"Are you alright?"

"Yes, I'm fine, thanks to you…" I realised immediately why she was hesitating

"Ash Ketchum" I said "and these are my friends Ritchie and Misty"

"Thank you very much. My name is Dawn"

"Well, that was nothing. But who were these guys anyway?"

"Some second year students at Pallet Town School. They noticed I was from Sinnoh and, since they have never been there, they wanted to 'have a look' at what kind of pokemons I had. 'Stealing' is probably more appropriate. When they attacked me, I was too scared I couldn't even call my pokemons"

"Maybe we should just go and complain" I proposed

"No, Ash, we have no proof or anything" said Misty. She then turned to address to Dawn "It's pretty dangerous for a girl to walk in the forest alone you know? You should be more careful"

"Actually, I wasn't alone. I came with my friend, but we got separated somehow. Oh! That's her".

A girl about the same age as Dawn was coming running to us. She was wearing a red t-shirt and black short and had a red bandana one her brown hair.

"Dawn, are you alright? I'm so sorry. I heard you scream but was too far to help you"

"I'm okay, these people helped me. Ash, Ritchie, Misty, this is my friend: May"

"Pleased to meet you and thank you all for helping Dawn earlier" She bowed. I felt a little embarrassed by that

"Hey, no need to bow like this. I mean, we are all about the same age no?"

"I guess so" she answered.

"Ash, with all of what happened you didn't catch anything" reminded me Ritchie and it was true. I had totally forgotten about it

"Cynthia is going to be mad at me but I suppose it can't be help. My mum is organising a party tonight so I have to go back and help her. Now that I think about it, she did say I could bring some friends so how about you all come to my place have dinner?"

"Sure. I wouldn't miss a meal cooked by your mum, I just love it" said Misty.

"Count me in too" was Ritchie's answer and "Sounds good" was the girls'. As we were walking back to town, I found myself a little behind, alone with Dawn.

"Are you sure it's okay if May and I come?" she was looking at her feet and sounded like she was a little disturbed "I mean, we just met and all"

"It's okay. I met Ritchie only a few hours before you. The more the merrier. And I bet my mum has probably bought tons of food anyway"

"I'll come then, see you soon" She raised her head, gave me a smile and then ran to catch up with her friend.

As we reached the town, Dawn and May left us. Ritchie wanted to have his Charmander checked at the pokemon centre. Misty and I each went to our house.

As expected, I found my mum in the kitchen and a mountain of food on the table.

"Mum, don't you think that's a little bit too much?"

"It's fine! I bet you have tons of friends coming anyway"

"Not that much. Misty is coming, as well as three other people. I just met them but they're really nice"

"I'm sure they are if you befriended them so quickly. Looks like things went well for your first day"

"Actually, I only one of them is my classmate. I met Dawn and her friend while I was in Viridian Forest, looking for pokemons" That was a huge mistake on my part, and mum took advantage of it. 'Why the hell did I have to say her name?'

"Dawn? A girl ?"

She had put on that little smile of hers that meant: tell me more about her, is she cute, how did you meet and many other implied things. She was always like this when I mentioned a girl, except for Misty and I usually would just answer by denying it. But this time, I felt something was different, I didn't want to talk about it with her now so I quickly fled to the dinning room and slowly set the table. I then went upstairs to take a rapid shower and decided to clean the living room a little bit before our guests arrive. The bell rang not long after. My mom went to open the door. It was Misty. Both of them returned to the kitchen. Misty had come so often to eat with us that she had taken the habit to help with the cooking. A few minutes later, Ritchie arrived. I gave him a little tour of the house, showing him my room, the garden etc… It finished as we reached the living room. We took a seat and began chatting.

"So, you're from Frodomar City?"

"Yes, my family still live there. I left a couple a months ago so I could walk all the way to here"

"Why would you do that?" I was a little puzzled

"I wanted to travel with my pokemons before I arrive here. Sure, we can learn a lot here, that's the reason I came, but I think experience is also a key point. The sooner you begin, the better" It hurt me because I realised that, although I had always wanted to become a great trainer, all my life, I had merely spoken about it and never taken real action.

"You are really great, Ritchie. You have journey with your pokemon, and battle couple of time already. I, on the other hand, am a complete beginner"

"Don't tell me that was the fist time you were in a pokemon battle!" Ritchie looked quite surprised by my revelation

"It was, in fact, except for the different sparing I had with Misty. Was I no good? I should have known that just training Pikachu was not enough"

"No, you did really great for your fist battle. I mean, your Pikachu sure can fight and it looks to me that you know perfectly how to use him. Just to the same tomorrow and I am sure you will be fine"

The bell rang again and since mum was busy in the kitchen, I had to go myself. When I opened the door, I found myself face to face with Dawn. She had abandoned her hat and was wearing a large doll-like pink robe. I was so surprised I think I just stood there, staring at her. After a few seconds, we both looked away.

"Dawn! I told you there was no need for all of this" May said. She was hidden behind her friend. She went on "I'm sorry we are a little bit late. But this girl here absolutely wanted to get changed before coming so we had to go to her house."

"No no, it's alright. Dinner isn't ready yet" I then turn to face Dawn once again "Besides, it was worth going, I think. This dress really suits you. I'm glad I could see you all dressed up like this"

"Thanks" Maybe it was just my imagination, but I think she blushed.

"Well" interrupted May "she loves to dress up for all kind of occasions so you'll probably see more of her outfit soon"

She passed through me to enter the house with a little smile. It kind of reminded me the one my mother had had about an hour ago. I showed the house again to the girls. By the time we finished, mum called us for dinner. Since it was supposed to be a party for my first day, my friends insisted that I had the president's chair with Misty and Ritchie on my left, the two younger girls on my right. Mum arrived with a huge pot of soup and to my surprise, she went straight to Dawn.

"You must be Dawn, right?" she said with a gentle voice as she served her. I probably was the only one who noticed there was something else to it.

"Yes, I am. Thank you for having us tonight Mrs Ketchum" she made a little bow with her head

"Delia is fine. Don't you wonder how I knew your name?" I now knew what she was planning to do but at this point I just wished really hard that she would stop there; which, of course, had no chance of happening.

"I suppose Misty told you while you were cooking" Mum put on her devilish smile. 'Welcome to hell Ash' I told myself

"No, absolutely not! Ash told me he met a cute girl in the forest. I thought it had to be you. You're absolutely his kind of girl" I could tell Dawn was embarrassed, but not possibly as much as I was, especially when what she had said was true. I had to make it stop somehow.

"I never said she was cute" I argued, but I knew it was a lost cause against my mum.

"But you think so, no?" She had just finished serving Dawn and May and was moving toward the other side now. "You know what?" she addressed to my blue-haired friend "that boy never speaks about girls, with three exceptions: great female pokemon trainers, his fights with Misty and girls he's interested in" I wanted to hide under the table by now, but I had my dignity to keep.

"Really?" Dawn's ton had changed, but I couldn't really tell what it was.

"Well well, I'm finished here. I'll let the young have fun together" Had mum noticed the change in Dawn's voice. It was just not like her to give up on these kinds of things. Anyway, I was glad it had ended.

The rest of the dinner went peacefully, except maybe for the 'who can eat the most' competition there was between me and May. I had never imagined such a slim girl could eat that much. We spoke more about basic stuffs. Misty and Dawn mostly spoke fashion. Needless to say I knew nothing about it, so I chatted more with Ritchie and May. He seemed very interested in Hoenn and kept questioning her on all kind of things: landscape, food, people and, of course; pokemons. I assumed he would soon want to go there, maybe next break. It seemed like a good idea. When dinner finished, while everybody moved to the living room to chat some more, I went to the porch. I had always loved to stay there, just staring at the sky. It felt even better after a good meal. I was beginning to daydream when a Dawn's voice brought me back to reality.

"Your house is really nice" She sat next to me "especially this porch"

"Yeah, I just love it" None of us spoke; we were just taken away by the feeling of the place, looking at the sky. After a few minutes, she broke the silence.

"You know, I've been thinking about a way to thank you" she stood up and was now facing me

"No need for that. You needed help, I only did what I had to. Plus, you came here tonight"

"Well, it's normal. We're friends now, aren't we?"

"I guess so". Friend, I thought, was I so glad I met her because I had new friends? I couldn't really answer

"Anyway, you mentioned you were looking for pokemons back in the forest no?"

"Yes, but why are you asking?" She smiled and came closer to me

"Your hand" I presented it to her, she took it. I sensed a little ball as our hand parted. I looked at it

"Dawn, is this?"

"Yes, it is a pokemon. Come on, open it" I threw it into the air and a green lizard pokemon came out from it.

"Treecko?" I asked, a little puzzled.

"Yes, the Hoenn grass type starter. I'm so sorry I couldn't find a pokemon myself. I asked May since her family is very close to Prof Birch. We explained the whole situation to him and he agreed to let you have this pokemon"

"Thank you very much, Dawn"

"I couldn't have done it without May though" She looked really sorry about that.

"You're still the one that gave him to me"

"Got an idea!" She had suddenly cheered up "How about I perform Dawn's special show for you?"

"Special show?" I asked, a little puzzled

"Oh right! I forgot to mention: May and I are part of the Contest Department. We're amateur pokemon coordinators, so, how about I show you some moves?"

"Sounds really good" I smiled. She took three pokeballs out of her belt and threw them. A Piplup, a Buneary and a Pashirisu came out. Pashirisu aimed a thunderbolt attack at the sky and it suddenly exploded into a dome of light, Piplup performed a water gun attack and then crystallised it, turning it into an ice rain and Buneary was on the side, dancing. This is how my first day at Pallet Town School ended as I watched Dawn playing with her pokemons.

End of chapter one! Hope you liked it! If you did, please review. First time posting my text here, somehow it looks a little bit weird, don't you think? Should I change the presentation?

Practical classes for the next chapter so, get ready for some pokemon action! Although I don't really now when it will be ready. Soon, I hope.