I swear…ramen soup really should be labeled as an ultimate cure to sickness, depression and writers struggle. If not that, then chicken soup and miyazaki movies.
Hi guys! I've got donuts for you all! Read, review and enjoy!
(-)(-)(-)(-)(-)(-)(-)(-)(-)(-)(-)(-)
"I think I lost my hearing…"
Kate watched as a young woman was lecturing a man. Her ears hurt a bit from their intense yelling. Something about not teasing the students? Kate couldn't tell. The pikachu Kate captured for her test earlier scurried off as soon as the loud voices penetrated the air.
"Get used to it." A woman beside Kate sighed. "Nothing around here ever stays normal."
"I can handle anything you thrown at me." Kate confidently assured.
"Atta girl." The woman shook Kate's hand. "I am one of the ranger instructors, Ms. Claire. The one who tested you and is getting yelled at is Mr. Kaplan. We're both here to make sure you students are in tip top condition to be rangers!"
"What about operators and mechanics?" Kate asked, curious.
"It can't hurt for them to get some exercise." Ms. Claire shrugged. "Oh and word of advice, don't believe Kaplan's conspiracy theories. It's just a thing with him."
"No problemo." Kate smirked.
The young woman came over to Kate, calming down relatively fast (as opposed to the frazzled Mr. Kaplan).
"Congratulations about being accepted! My name is Ms. April." She introduced herself. "I'll be your new teacher. Pleasure to meet you."
"Same here." Kate nodded.
"We better get going. Your classmates are waiting." Ms. April said.
"Awesome!" Kate followed Ms. April out of the room.
"Watch out for aliens! They're all over this place!"
"KAPLAN!"
(-)(-)(-)(-)(-)(-)(-)(-)(-)(-)(-)(-)
Kate had to stick around a few extra minutes to listen to a repeated lecture Ms. April was giving Mr. Kaplan. Way too hilarious. Somehow, Kate suspected this wasn't unusual. Luckily she used the time to get an explanation about captures and target clears from Ms. Claire. Kate managed to understand the basics when Ms. April walked her back outside. Thankfully, Mr. Kaplan kept his mouth shut that time.
"Sorry about that, Kate." The teacher said as they walked through the courtyard. "I'm not too fond of Mr. Kaplan giving our new students panic attacks."
"I've done all sorts of dangerous stunts, seen many things…nothing really fazes me anymore." Kate said, proudly.
"Oh we'll see about that." Ms. April chuckled. "I think you'll have no issues fitting in here. And lucky you, all the students here are your age."
"Yep." Kate replied. "Just turned sixteen a few days ago."
"Happy late birthday!" Ms. April congratulated. "And here's the door! Ready to start a new school life?"
"Always ready."
(-)(-)(-)(-)(-)(-)(-)(-)(-)(-)(-)(-)
"Good morning class!"
"Good morning Ms. April!"
Keith had been wondering where Ms. April was. She hadn't been yelling at him all morning for one thing or another. At least she seemed upbeat. There has to be some good news on the way if Ms. April was like that.
"Sorry I'm late! As of today, we have a new student!" Ms. April announced.
Ah so that was it. Keith listened in on the questions that flew around the class. Boy or girl? Good looking? Are they a celebrity? Heh. None of that mattered too much. Keith was still reigning champion student. Some new kid that arrived three weeks late wasn't going to throw that off.
"You'll get to find out about the new student yourselves!" Ms. April looked at the door. "Come on in!"
Everyone turned to look as the door opened. Keith watched a girl walk inside. Spiky brown hair in pigtails, blue eyes, light skin…maybe a tad cute. Probably nothing special. Something did seem odd about her though.
"How about you introduce yourself?" Ms. April asked. "Your name, where you grew up and what you came to this school to be."
"Oh I moved around a lot. The last place I came from was Canalave City, Sinnoh. I'm Kate River and I'm here to be a ranger." New girl spoke to the class.
Hold up a sec. A ranger? None of the other girls this year were ranger students. It was just the guys who were. Huh…weird…well she would never be able to beat Keith. Not by a long shot.
"Hey new kid!" Keith called out. "Forgot your name and reason I care but how long did it take you to capture that Pikachu? An hour?"
"About two and a half minutes, actually." Kate replied. "Let me guess. You're the class clown? Cause your hair certainly suits the part."
A wise guy, eh? Keith certainly wasn't going to go easy on her. Ms. April assigned the desk next to him as Kate's seat. Perfect! Let the endless torment begin. While the teacher went over some basic stuff, Keith scribbled a note and flicked it at her head.
Keep this in mind. I am the best damn ranger in the entire school. And some spiky haired, boob-less girl is not going to throw me off.
That written remark earned him a harsh kick to the knee. Yikes that hurt! What was in those shoes, steel plates? It took a lot of endurance not to yell in front of the class. I overheard Ms. April assigning Rhythmi to show Kate around school. Before leaving, the teacher said to use the day to study.
Rhythmi then started blabbing on and on, dragging Kate out of the room. Hmmm…fiery, cute when mad, confident…Keith couldn't help smirking. This outta be interesting.
(-)(-)(-)(-)(-)(-)(-)(-)(-)(-)(-)(-)
Kate took in the sights that Rhythmi showed her and listened to the tips. The dorms were nice, especially the lobby in front of it where everyone could just hang out. Principal Lamont was a good guy, genuinely passionate about being principal to the ranger school. Unlike Kincaid who seemed pretty mean. Unfortunately, Kate loved running in the halls. She had a suspicion they'd be disagreeing over the topic several times. That is if she didn't pass out from the excessive hairspray fumes first.
"And this is the library!" Rhythmi showed.
A lot bigger than Kate expected it to be. Bookshelves stacked to the ceiling with all sorts of books on the shelves. Several tables were placed about with chairs.
"Issac! Ponte!" Rhythmi waved to two guys in the back. "Meet our new student, Kate!"
"Hey! I'm Ponte!" The dark green hair greeted. "School's conflicted marshmallow boy and all that. Nice to meet ya."
The blond mushroom cut boy was staring intently into a book, didn't even seem to notice what was going on. Rhythmi sighed and walked over.
….
"ISSAC!"
"Rhythmi!" Issac whirled around, scared out of his wits. "Please don't do that!"
"Sorry but I wanted Kate to meet you." Rhythmi gestured to Kate. "She's our new student."
"Always a pleasure to meet someone new." Issac said to Kate. "Where are you from?"
"Here, there, everywhere." Kate replied. "Moved around a lot."
"Really? Like where?" Ponte asked.
"I've been to Hoenn, Kanto, Johto, Unova and more recently, Sinnoh. Spent a little time in Fiore and Sevi Islands." Kate answered.
"Wow, that's a long list!" Ponte exclaimed.
"My family never liked to stay in one place too long." Kate told him. "So I've gotten a lot of 'worldly experience' but not enough of a normal life."
"Well life's never normal around here." Rhythmi joked. "I'm guessing you didn't have a lot of friends since you moved quite a bit."
"Not counting rangers or pokemon, no." Kate sweatdropped.
"How about we become a group? We'd be happy to have you with us." Issac suggested.
"Yeah! Great idea Issac!" Rhythmi cheered. "It'll be so awesome!"
Issac turned a little red at the remark.
"Thanks guys." Kate said.
"Oh! I forgot to give you the outside tour!" Rhythmi remembered, hurrying Kate out of the library. "We'll meet up later, kay?
"Got it!" Both boys called out.
(-)(-)(-)(-)(-)(-)(-)(-)(-)(-)(-)(-)
Dreary. Agonizing. Ridiculous.
These were some of the many words Keith used to describe being lectured by Kincaid. Another one of the infamous 'running in the hall' speeches. Oh joy. Keith yawned his way through the entire thing, thinking if the man were king (thank arceus he wasn't) then the world would be subjected to this insane law. For a brief moment, Keith saw the girls on their way outside. He envied them a little; for being away from the hall-running rant.
Once Kincaid was done, noises came from outside. Keith, being curious, opened up the front doors and was surprised to see chaos. Janice stood in the middle of the courtyard, with bidoof were running all over the place, freaking out over something or another. The redhead smirked when he saw Rhythmi and Kate nearby.
"Heh. I was wondering what all the ruckus was about." Keith snickered.
Ruckus? Who uses that word anymore? Either way, he stepped out onto the grass, looking out at the entire mess.
"Keith! Don't just stand there! Help with the captures!" Rhythmi ordered, panicking a little.
"It's no fun if I just help." Keith rolled his eyes. "New kid! Capture contest! You and me. Right now! Most bidoof captured wins!"
"Can you at least make the effort to learn her name?" Rhythmi groaned, pressing her fingers to her temples.
"It's alright Rhythmi. I'd love to see this guy's face when he loses." Kate 'innocently' told her.
Oh really? Keith chuckled. And he'd just love to see her try.
"Three! Two! One! Capture on!"
He scrambled around, trying to make the captures as quick as possible. Kate seemed to struggle at first but started to get the hang of it. Hate to admit it…but she wasn't that bad for a beginner. Keith up'ed his effort and managed to capture five bidoof. With four on Kate's side, that meant he was the winner!
"Victory is mine!" Keith showed off his ranger pose.
Janice took the bidoof away, leaving the three students alone in the courtyard.
"Nice job." Kate smiled. "Good work on capturing those bidoof."
Good capturing and sportsmanship? Had to give her credit. This girl was an interesting one.
"You're not so bad yourself." Keith said. "Decent for someone who just started out, Kate."
"So you did know!" Rhythmi shouted.
"Of course I did! I was messing with you guys!" Keith laughed.
"Tch….wait I just remembered! There's one more place I haven't shown you Kate." Rhythmi said.
"You mean the Ascension Square?" Keith asked.
"Yep." Rhythmi replied.
"Then I'll go too." Keith told her.
He followed the girls as they went down the stairs that led to the Ascension Square. It was a big, open field with a statue of the ranger symbol. A small, wooden pier was at the far end that led out to the ocean. It was this place that Keith loved to hang out by.
"This is the Ascension Square, where we host special events!" Rhythmi introduced. "And this is the Pledge Stone. Rumor has it if you make a firm pledge with your friends, its bound to come true! Thus ending Rhythmi's Exciting Tour! I hope we can be best friends for a long time, Kate!"
Friends? With blondie?
"Yeah I don't think so." Keith stepped in. "Don't worry so much about Rhythmi and stick with me."
"What? I am not letting her go off with you!" Rhythmi snapped. "I don't want you corrupting her brain!"
"Which is why I'll be friends with both of you!" Kate sweatdropped. "We can all hang out together with Issac and Ponte! It'll be fun!"
"Alright." Keith sighed. "I suppose if puffy hair is cool, then I am too."
"I'm fine with the arrangement." Rhythmi seemed tick at the remark but turned to Kate. "This is going to be great!"
(-)(-)(-)(-)(-)(-)(-)(-)(-)(-)(-)(-)
First day of school, done! We've got a group of friends together now! How will they get along as the school days go by? Find out next issue of Unlocking the Heart! Coming soon!