Surprise, I know I am. I just want to say thank you all for the story alerts and I hope you enjoy this next chapter.
Comments are loved, hugged, and named george even the ones that just say hi. 0W0
The first thing that popped into Paul's mind when he saw the school building was the fact that it was too small. It didn't look like it was capable of handling two hundred students let alone the one thousand that roamed the schools halls.
Then again Kanto high was the only high school in the town, it was only reasonable that they had a small school system to match, but even so, such a small school seemed foreign to Paul. He grew up in the city school system, crowded hallways, students knocking him against one body to the next rushing to meet with their friends or to their classes before the bell signaled the end of the small freedom that they were given. He wasn't fond of his old high school, in fact he didn't really remember school life in general, each day seemed to blur among the rest of the days in the school year. He didn't have any close friends either, preferring to spend his days studying up in his room. Even against the protests of his older brother, who tried but to no avail to take Paul out and have some fun and meet new people.
Reggie was of course the more social of the two brothers.
Running his hand through his hair in exasperation, Paul entered the school. He was greeted with a large white banner, red writing spelling out the words 'GO MIGHTY MICES!' Paul stared at the banner, wondering how a school could have such an odd mascot. Shaking his head, he started walking the short distance to the main office.
He paused a moment looking through the small glass on the door only to see the receptionist talking quietly over the phone. A loud giggle resonated throughout the room as Paul entered. The laughter continued to get louder as the receptionist waved at Paul as she continued to talk. Which left Paul to wait in front of the desk his foot tapping impatiently. Paul hated the small office, the bright reds , yellows and browns clashed horribly with each other making his head hurt. This was the sort of room he expected in an elementary school not a high school.
Eventually the receptionist ended her conversation and turned to give a pleasant smile, completely oblivious to Paul's irritation.
"Sorry about that, Lily is such a terrible gossip." The woman twirled her hair in her finger giggling. "I'm Daisy by the way. Are you the guy that's applying for the teaching position?"
Paul narrowed his eyes. "Yes, how did you know?"
"Oh, news travels fast around hear honey, nothing to do in this town but gossip, gossip, gossip." She said animatedly, waving her hands in tune with her words. "I have to wonder though, why would a guy like you," She paused looking him up and down, smiling seductively. "Come to a dreary town such as this, not that I'm complaining."
"It's convenient." Paul simply said annoyed by the girl's antics, but the girl continued to smile. She either chose to ignore his annoyance or was incapable of seeing it. "Is the principal here, or should I come at a different time."
"Oh, no he's in, he's in but I have to warn you he's a bit…..Unusual. I mean he's a good guy but-"
"Which way is his office." Paul cut in, before the girl could say more. Her voice was really getting on his nerves.
"It's the first door on the right." She answered, twisting her hair a little tighter around her finger."Good luck, I'm sure you'll get the job."
I already did Paul thought, walking swiftly to the principal's office. He was quite frankly sick of the girl and wanted to get as far away from her as humanely possible.
The principal's office was odd, the walls painted in a checkered pattern. With red and yellow being the two constant patters. Paul was really learning to hate red and yellow. There was also a small bookshelf, lined with an assortment of awards, a baseball, and a plushy. The plushy was white and pink and had two button eyes but that was all Paul could make out from the prickly toy. It was a bit creepy.
He turned his attention to the Principal who was shuffling papers, a flustered look on his face as his glasses slowly started to fall off his face. He didn't seem to notice that Paul had entered the room.
"It's just the middle of the year and now this happens." He muttered. "Teacher goes on leave to pursue his dream in photography. Couldn't he have waited until the end of the school year?"
"Excuse me, but I was here to discuss about the teaching position."
The principal jumped up, startled. "Oh, hello there, wow, didn't see you there. You must be-"The principal looked at a random piece of paper."Paul Shinji?" He looked up for confirmation.
"Correct." Paul started to recall the man's file. His name if the large nametag on the desk wasn't a big enough hint was Robert Elm. He was an awkward young man with abnormally large ears and a small tuft of brown hair at the top of his head, but what was interesting about the man wasn't his appearance or position in the school system. It was the fact that he had studied under professor Oak. If anybody would have any inkling about what the deceased professor Oak and Professor Ashton were working on it would be this man. Unfortunately he couldn't ask him directly. Cynthia, just loved to make things difficult didn't she. "Just came to pick up the last teachers study plans."
"Oh, right, I have them here somewhere."Principal elm opened his drawer to take out a manila folder. "Here it is," He cried triumphantly."Sorry about all this, I kind of forgot you were coming." He started to laugh, sheepishly scratching the back of his head nervously.
"Its fine, I did come a little late." Paul said taking the manila folder from Principal Elm's hand. It felt slightly heavy, which meant a lot papers. Great just what Paul needed more files to memorize. "Is there anything else I need to know?"
"No, not really, um, well other than the free breakfast for the teachers. It's only on Mondays and Wednesdays, so there's one tomorrow. You should come, I mean most of the staff there, and Brock is a great cook, he's the school nurse too.-"
"Is it ok if I look around the school?"Paul interrupted, stopping the man's monologue before it could get any longer. He didn't think he could handle an entire history of the school and its staff a second time. He got enough of his information from the files. "It would be very helpful. I don't want to get lost after all."
"Oh, right, do you want me to show you around." Principal Elm seemed hesitant in his offer, his eyes falling down to the large pile the stood in front of him.
"No, I think I'll be fine on my own, but thank you for the offer."
Principal Elm, seemed relieved at Paul's answer, and to be honest so was Paul. He didn't think he could withstand another moment of the man's voice.
"Alright, just to let you know there might be a few students here. They usually stay for clubs, sports and after school tutoring, so you might see a few of your students."
Paul nodded, turning to leave the room before taking one last glance at the pink toy that only seemed to stare back, mocking him with its bright colors. Paul suddenly had the urge to burn the stupid toy.
Really, who could blame him?
Paul walked the halls of Kanto high school, feeling slightly at ease. There was currently no one in the halls at the moment, and he was completely fine with that. He was enjoying the pictures placed all across the halls. The theme seemed to be scenery, some were good, some were decent, but none of them really caught his attention, except one picture.
The title of the picture was simply named 'Park', and it was easily the worst picture among the entire collection. Yet, Paul felt a sense of nostalgia for the drawing. It was a bit of a challenge to actually distinguish a swing set from a slide, but Paul didn't really mind, even the bright colors. The picture, for some odd reason, reminded him of his childhood. He remembered the times he went to the park, a crayon in one hand and a piece of paper in the other. He hated riding the swings and the slides, so he usually brought his crayons and notebook to pass the time. Actually this would have been just the type of drawing that he would have done as a child, and it probably would have been just as bad.
The thought sent a small smile to Paul's lips, as he gazed at the picture a little longer.
"Why are you staring at that picture?" Paul's smile quickly fell, as he turned to see who asked the question.
It was Ash Ketchum.
"Do you think it's good?" He asked sporting a large smile. "I worked really hard on that picture, like for hours and hours, so what do you think?" Apparently he had inherited his mother's enthusiasm.
"Not really, it's practically the worst picture." Paul answered honestly.
Ash's smile disappeared "Is not," Ash cried glaring at Paul. "There is a ton of other people who did worse than me. Like that guy" Ash pointed to a picture of a fountain that was colored roughly over in colored pencil.
"At least you can tell what it is; I honestly can't tell if your slide is actually a slide or a dog sitting on his hind legs." Paul replied calmly.
"Of course that's a slide how can it not be a slide, there's the ladder and the slide thingy."
"And the large blob above it must be the handles." Paul said sarcastically.
Ash stared at Paul, his opening and closing as he tried to find the right word to say to Paul. "You're such a jerk." He said lamely, crossing his arms as he dug his fingers into his arms.
"Well, if that's all you have to say."
"No I got a lot more to say, you rude, jerkish, purple-haired guy! Is that even your natural hair color?" Ash yelled, his body trembling in rage. Paul just stood there, his migraine from before coming back full force. He was really tired of everybody in this town and really all he wanted at the moment was to be left alone but apparently that was too much to ask.
"Is that all?"
Ash stood quiet not really knowing what else to say before he turned around and stalked off.
Paul sighed, rubbing his hand against his head for what felt like the hundredth time that day. Why was this mission so troublesome?
Paul took a deep breath and started out the door, he had to get ready for tomorrow.
James sat at his desk thoughtfully. His partner Jesse was sitting on the couch watching one of her favorite programs 'America's got Talent'. She was always infatuated by the thought of becoming a star, having adoring fans and being extremely rich. Unfortunately, Jesse had no talent whatsoever and if it wasn't for her enormous ego she would be able to see that, but she didn't, and really James didn't have the heart to tell her. That and the fact if he did tell her, he would be in the hospital for weeks on end if he told her.
James was currently reading the e-mail that his boss, Giovanni had sent him. It said that there would be a package delivered to his house soon, and that he should be prepared for it. He also asked about any news that they have recently have gained from the Ketchum family which was none, and really it wasn't much of a surprise. Neither James nor Jesse knew what they were looking for, how could they find out what the good professor Ashton was working on if not even his own family knew.
It was a bit frustrating to say the least.
There was a loud chime that awoke James from his thoughts. It was the doorbell.
"James, go get the door!" Jesse screamed, keeping her eyes at her beloved program.
James only shook his head accustomed to Jesse's bossy nature. He went to the door to find a small white box on his doorstep. He looked at it in confusion and he grabbed it. Honestly he didn't really know what to expect from the package. It wasn't every day that the boss gave a present or whatever this was to his employees.
He placed the package on his desk, taking a moment to step into the kitchen to grab a knife.
He went back to his desk, peered at the couch to see if Jesse was still watching 'America's Got Talent" and started opening the box. He knew that Jesse would reprimand him harshly for opening the package without her, but he really didn't want to interrupt her when she was watching TV. The last time he did that he got a black eye.
When he finally opened the box, he was, well astonished. You would be too if you saw a small cat plushy that was sent to you by your boss.
James had a really bad feeling about this.
There we are, I managed to fulfill my promise and add Ash, finally after months of not really working on this project he appears. I even got to add my little surprise. Wheather you take James and Jesse as a good surprise or a bad one is entirely up to you. I' m glad that they fit so perfectly into this story, and they are way cooler now in Best Wishes.
Anyway, all the characters used were from Pokemon, even Daisy and Lily if you can tell where they come from and to who they are realted too you get an imaginary cookie. I have feeling I'm going to give away a lot of those.
-Unrelated subject-Uhn tiss, uhn tiss,uhn tiss, (Curse you Bloodhound Gang and your catchy tunes)