Disclaimer: I don't own any canon characters.
The plane ride had taken its toll on each student. Most students were giddy to relieve themselves of the dreaded plane ride and welcomed even the plain school.
Ash took in the view of Elite Academy. It was nothing compared to what he expected. Inside the gates, the buildings were visibly dull and boring compared to the brightly colored, Castelia City. Plain buildings with fading paint dotted the campus, surrounded by dry grass. It turnout of this prestigious academy was no better than any local high school. Older students walked together with their friends, dragging their luggage towards their dorm rooms. Freshmen were all crowded around the gates, standing awkwardly against their suitcases, gawking at the massive school buildings until a strict voice rang out above all the nervous chatter. The voice was deep, and showed not even the slightest hint of humor.
"Attention freshmen, I am Professor Rowan, and I will show you all to your dorms. You will leave your luggage and meet me here immediately outside your dorm buildings, understood?" the man asked. A chorus of quiet "yeses" was given from the students. Judging from his tone of voice, most of the students were able to tell that he would not be a teacher to mess around with. His scruffy beard and mustache completed the look of a stereotypical science professor.
As Professor Rowan led the way while explaining the ways of the school, Ash was daydreaming of what adventures he would have in high school. He thought about the new friends he would make, the teams he thought about trying out for, the clubs he'd join, and maybe a few girls he'd have a crush on later on in the year. However, his face was soon met with a wall of thick purple hair. Ash immediately jumped and pulled back, but the stranger with the unusual colored hair stood stiff and still, slowly turning his head to face the other student.
"Watch where you're going, or next time I won't be so easy on you," he said in disgust and whipped his head back the other way, disappearing into the crowd of new students. A hot feeling was bubbling deep inside Ash's chest as he walked on. It was anger. Ash felt the hot, bubbling anger rising in him, all directing toward the purple-haired stranger. It was only an accidental bump. The guy didn't even give him a chance to apologize. Who did he think he is? Questions and statements of frustration and anger raced through the back of the raven-haired teen's mind. In his state of mind, the purple-haired boy had risen one level above "stranger"; he was instantly a rival.
A hard shove from someone behind him broke Ash away from his thoughts. He looked up and was immediately met with the harsh gaze of Professor Rowan. He shrank back a little, glancing around to notice that he was the only boy in the midst of a group of freshmen girls. From the corner of his eye, he saw a single male figure rolling his suitcases the clear double doors of the boys' dormitory. Realizing his mistake, Ash felt his face heat up and smiled nervously up at the professor, pulling his the flap of his signature cap over his face to hide his embarrassment. He quickly grabbed the handle of his suitcase and sped-walked towards the towering building.
Upon entering through the doors of the dorm, Ash gazed around the interior of the building. The floors were thinly carpeted burgundy, while the walls were painted a solid white. The first floor was the boys' common room. There was a large TV in the middle of the room, accompanied by a few sofas, couches, and tables. Ash reached into his right pocket and dug around for a specific sheet of paper he had dropped in before he left Pallet Town. Finding his target, he pulled out a small, crumpled slip of paper with all his class schedules, his dorm room, and his roommate. The student stared at his piece of paper. 624, he thought, Should be on the sixth floor. Dragging his luggage with him, Ash headed up the stairs.
The staircase was covered in the same thin layer of burgundy carpet, with a waxed, wooden railing. By the time he had lugged his things up to the sixth floor, his arms were sore from the weight of his luggage, making him wish that he had packed lighter. Large mahogany doors were lined along both sides of the walls. On each door was a white sheet of paper printed with two names. Ash walked down the aisle, looking left to right, searching for his room number engraved onto each door. Most doors were closed, such as the one in the middle of the aisle, where the blonde guy Gary had sat next to on the bus was pulling frantically and turning the door knob, shouting something about fining someone. Others were opened slightly, probably the ones with people unpacking, still more were wide opened with students greeting each other or unpacking. Finally, at the end of the aisle, he found his room, with his name, along with another, on the paper. Wonder who this Ritchie guy is, he thought, as he stared at the sheet of paper.
The door to his room was slightly opened, revealing only a crack of what lay beyond the large door. He turned the door's cold, brass handle and pushed the door back, seeing what his room looked like for the first time. The room, his room, was by all means huge compared to his tiny bedroom back home in Pallet Town. The floor of the room was encased in a cream colored carpet, the walls painted beige. Close to the door, was a closed door in which Ash assumed was the bathroom. A moderate-sized flat screen TV was pinned to the wall, above a cabinet, opening up to a mini refrigerator. Headboards pressed against the opposite wall, were two full-sized beds, both neatly made, one with a backpack already resting on the covers. Two simple desks sat at two corners of the room, both in line with the TV. Ash left his luggage against the wall, in front of the dresser beside the unoccupied bed, and continued to take in the room. The long curtains were pulled back to reveal the bustling sight of students wandering about and hanging out with friends. Looking down through the floor-to-ceiling window, he saw a small group of young boys gathering at the edge of their dorm building. At the sight of this scene, the thought hit his mind. He was supposed to meet down there with the other boys after dropping off his things. With his priorities straight, Ash dashed out the room, shutting the door of his room behind him.
Walking down the same flight of stairs again, Ash reached the common room, and pushed through the clear doors once again.
After dropping the boys off at their dorm, Dawn had continued on with the other girls, following Professor Rowan. He led them past, a large, building with a rounded ceiling. He didn't have to explain what exactly the building was, because it had the words GYM printed right atop the door. The girls' dormitory wasn't much different from the boys'. Both dorms had the same outlook; each with a sign in front, stating the difference. The girls were given the same instructions as the boys: drop off their luggage in their dorms and head back down stairs. The old professor had already left, heading back towards the direction of the boys' dorm, assuming that they had all returned downstairs.
She rolled her pink suitcase up to the door with the other girls and entered through the identical double doors. Once inside, she looked around and let out a gasp. The first floor, the common room, had a simple but clean type of outlook. Its light gray carpet matched well with the light pinkish cream wall. A few girls curled their lips in disgust at the magenta sofas and couches. A large red-brown table stood in the middle of the room along with two small flat screen TVs hung at two opposite walls. Freshmen started dragging and carrying their baggage up the staircase or waiting outside the elevator and looking at their schedules, but Dawn couldn't help but watch one of the older students struggle to carry multiple bright pink suitcases up the stairs before a familiar orange-haired girl groaned and helped her carry some of her things up the stairs. Dawn chuckled and slipped off her backpack.
She took out a slip of paper kept neatly inside a folder. Walking up to the girls' dorm keeper, the blue-haired teen received her room key. Hmm…502, Dawn thought, I wonder where that is. Looking around, she saw a girl, much older than her, with dark, wine red hair and a light brown headband. Her ice blue jacket was cropped just below her chest with a mandarin collar and gold buttons looped together over a white tank top reaching down to her midriff and ending with a think brown belt. Her swaying white, silk skirt skidded to a halt as she fumbled in her bag for something, the metal rings of her bag, clanging with the swirled metal golden hem of her skirt. She had no luggage next to her; Dawn assumed that they were already in her dorm, since she was older than her. Dragging her luggage behind her, Dawn approached the girl and tapped her lightly on the shoulder.
"Excuse me, could you tell me where room 502 is?" she asked with a small smile, hoping to make a good impression.
The girl's amber eyes looked up, and she stopped what she was doing. Pointing to an elevator at the far end of the room, she answered, "Just take that elevator up to the fifth floor and make a turn to your right. It shouldn't be too far until you find it." However, before Dawn could thank her, the redheaded girl had already run off, scurrying out the clear doors.
Clicking the "up" button outside the closed elevator doors, she patiently waited with a couple other girls her age, both of them quiet, as none of them probably knew each other. At last, the elevator doors slid open and all three of them squished into the large compartment, making as much room as possible, for the luggage. The numbers atop the doors grew larger at a steady pace as the elevator rose up the building. By the time it reached the fifth floor, her floor, one of the girls had already got out, leaving only the other one by herself. Remembering the girl's instructions, she turned to the right after stepping out of the elevators and continued down the hall. On each mahogany door was a piece of paper, with the names of the girls who would be living inside. It didn't take a long time to find her room, located on the right wall of the hallway. Checking the paper to be sure it was the right one, she nodded and slid her room key through the opening and pushed open the door.
Looking around the room, she saw that her roommate was already in here, claiming her bed, the one next to the window; the bed that Dawn had wanted. She gave a small frown before smiling at her roommate. Her dark pink pigtails were curled to large ringlets and tied with purple ribbons. She wore a blue dress with a white cardigan, tights and heels. Smirking, the girl introduced herself as Ursula. Before Dawn had a chance to explore her dorm, Ursula stopped her.
"We should head back downstairs. You can explore the room later, 'cause I definitely do not want to miss the opening day activities," she explained as she walked out the door. Dawn quickly grabbed her key from her bed and placed it in a pocket before following her.
"What opening day activities?" asked Dawn curiously. No one had told her about any activities on the first day.
"Uh…how do you not know? It's a gathering of all the clubs and you sign up for everything you want to join. There aren't a lot of clubs here, that's why everyone tries out for the social clubs. I am definitely joining Rocket, I mean, it's the club with the coolest and most popular students."
As they met outside with the other freshmen girls, Dawn pondered in Ursula's words. Rocket had all the popular kids at school, she thought. This year, she wanted to make a difference. She wanted to be popular for once instead of being called Dee Dee. She imagined herself popular, surrounded by friends and other students who looked up to her. Crowds of students followed her and wanted to hang out with her. She was snapped out of her thoughts by the booming voice of Professor Rowan as he addressed all the freshmen, telling them all to follow him to the gym. It wasn't until she started walking that she noticed the boys were also there.
As the large group of freshmen stood in front of the gym, Professor Rowan made another announcement. "Behind the gym doors are the opening day activities. You are free to sign up for any clubs you wish to join. If you wish to leave the gym, you are free to have the rest of the day to yourselves. Lunch and dinner will be served in the cafeteria at 12:00 and 7:00." He pushed open the doors of the gym, as the large wave of freshmen walked by him and into the room.