Outdoor Class and Something Else

Kate's POV

A few weeks have passed since the Test of Bravery and quite frankly they've been amazing. I received a letter from Jamie saying how she and Dad are thinking about moving to Chicole Village. She sent me a picture of my Rapidash so that I could see he was doing well. I showed Keith and Rythmi the picture she sent and I sent my family a picture of us by the statue in Ascension Square; we took that picture 2 days after the test and we pledged that no matter what, we'd always be best friends.

On Friday, everyone was really jumpy and excited for some reason. I took my seat next to Keith, who looked like he was about to explode. Ms. April came in and gave her usual morning spiel on we should never lose hope for our dreams. Then she said that today was Outdoor Class; to which the class erupted in cheers and made my hearing aid go on the fritz. After she told us to go to Ascension Square, I pulled Keith back because Rythmi already took off with Isaac.

"What's 'Outdoor Class'?" Keith's eyes nearly burst out of his eye sockets.

"You don't know what Outdoor Class is?!" I solemnly shook my head no.

"I'm new and nobody told me, like how you and Ryth have yet to tell me why y'all call me Alley Cat."

"Okay, Outdoor Class is when an area ranger comes in and we get to ask him questions. It gives us a glimpse of what being a ranger is really like."

"Sounds like fun! Come on, Keith, we're going to be late!" I took off like a shot and nearly tripped and fell down the staircase, again.

When Keith and I finally caught up with the group, I saw my cousin, Crawford standing in the middle of the circle. He ran up to me and tackled me in a Ursaring hug.

"How are you doing, Rider?" He rubbed the top of my hair, effectively messing up my near-perfect ponytail.

I swatted his hand away, "I'm fine, but we'll have to catch up later, you have a class to teach."

The students began to bombard the poor guy with all types of questions. They were talking so fast I couldn't understand them. Then Crawford's styler went off and his leader Barlow said to save an injured Mantine I think, I couldn't hear much because the batteries were dying. Luana came up to the dock and Crawford hopped on with all the girls screaming, "PLEASE SAVE THE MANTINE!"

Ms. April came up to the students and said that we had another free day, also to not forget to call our parents about our Christmas vacation. Now this I knew about because Keith and Rythmi wouldn't stop talking about it. I grouped back up with Ryth and Keith and we decided to just chill out near the statue and bond.

Ryth told us that she was born in Nimbasa City, Unova and was raised there until she came here. Keith told us that his parents were divorced and he lived with his grandparents, "It was actually really cool, my grandpa was a war veteran and he would always show me his battle regalia. One time he even let me try on his dressed blues!"

Ryth and I gave him a hug, then we saw Isaac come out to join us; I noticed that he sat really close to Rythmi. I made a mental note to give her grief over that later. I told the group the story of how I got the thin scar that traced down my jawbone, "I was grooming Elita's Skarmory when she threw one of her tantrums she does when she's around anybody besides Silent Chris and Elita. That Skarmory threw a Steel Wing in my direction and one grazed my jawbone."

"Oh you poor dear," Rythmi gave me a large hug and Isaac and Keith patted my back.

"It's okay, guys. It didn't hurt that much. So what are y'all going to do over vacation?"

Isaac piped up, "I'm going to Pueltown to visit my sister and grandma. What about you, Rythmi, my dear?"

Rythmi's cheeks turned a bright red hue, "I'm g-going to Nimbasa City to visit the army that is my cousins."

"How many cousins do you have, Ryth?" I was thinking 20-30

"16, which doesn't sound like a lot, but when you have to watch every single one of them, it is a lot of kids!" Even now Rythmi looked exasperated.

"What about you, Keith?" I looked to him and saw a flash of sadness in his eyes.

"I'm going back to my grandparents for Christmas." I had a feeling there's more to this than he's giving us.

"Well, y'all already know I'm going back to Windtown to celebrate with my family."

Then the dinner bell sounded, Isaac stood ad helped Rythmi up while Keith and I got up on our own. They took off on their own while I pulled Keith back. "Keith, there's more to the story than you're telling isn't there?"

Keith looked out to the ocean, "My grandma died of a heart attack a couple of years ago and my grandfather followed suit a few days after I came here."

I pulled him into a gentle embrace and I felt a few tears slip from his eyes. When we let go he said, "Dammit Alley Cat, you're not supposed to see me like this." He wiped the stray tears away from his eyes.

"Keith," He looked back at me, "What if I told you that you could come home with me for the holidays?"

"Alley Cat, I can't do that."

"Sure you can, in fact you will. Now come on, dinner's ready and I'm hungry!" I ran off while I heard Keith chuckling from behind me. This was going to be a fun situation to explain to Dad and Jamie, but I can do that later, all that mattered was that Keith was going to have a home for the holidays.

A.N. So what did y'all think? I got the idea of the vacation from RileySky's story, Metallic, which y'all should totally check out. The contest is still up and running and I've decided to give y'all a GIGANTIC hint; think old movies. Well that's all- crap, almost forgot to do the disclaimer, Kate, could you do the honors?

Kate: scubagirl13 doesn't own Pokémon or the characters for if she did, she'd be rolling in the dough. Adios!"