A/N: Welcome to the third chapter! This one's a shorter chapter, but I wanted to write about one of Ash's classmates. Anyway...

NinjaFang1331: Thank you!
UltimateCCC: You're right, but don't worry, there'll be some light character drama in future chapters (maybe even in this one), however at this point in the story I'm a tad apprehensive about writing drama.

Anyway, on with the story!

Chapter 3: Coolness in the Cold One

"Alright Ash, see you at the lab." Goh said, waving to the energetic boy. It was the end of the school week, and Ash felt like skipping out on the usual excursion to try read some of the books at the lab, partly out of curiosity of the contents of the books, and because he wanted to be serious about being a student and felt that studying at home was part of it.

While on the way home, a sweet, delicious smell filled Ash's nose. Turning to the source, he sees a girl with long light-blue hair standing by a plain-looking food stall, before he notices she's wearing his school's uniform.

"What was dat? You're gonna hafta' speak up miss, I can't take yer order if I can't hear it." A weird looking person said with a strange accent while holding up a paw to his ear? This confused Ash greatly when he walked up to the stall, but he quickly forgot about it when he saw exactly what they were selling.

"Wow! Those Meowth-shaped cookies look delicious! How much is it for one?" Ash asked, as one of the other two people baking the cookies in the stall spoke up.

"One cookie is 300 Poké Dollars, and three is 800." The man with lavender-coloured hair responded.

"Hmm, lemme see how much I…" Ash trailed off while he reached into his pocket for some change, and came up with enough for two.

"I'd like two cookies! Here you go!" He said while handing the change over to the odd person in the front, however the woman with magenta-coloured hair in the back swiped it herself.

"Thanks for yer patronage! Now den, I still need yer order there miss." Ash turned his head to the girl, who he now remembered was named Sanelia.

He then looked back to the cashier, he assumed. "I think she wants some cookies too, right?" He turned to her again, as she nodded swiftly and wordlessly.

"Well why didn't ya say so?" He held out a paw to retrieve the money, as she put 800 Poké Dollars on it.

While the other cookies were being baked, the girl turned to Ash and said something, albeit too quietly.

"Sorry, what did you say?" Ash asked, as she looked down at her feet and shook her head. Just then, he realized what she was trying to say.

"Oh! I'm sorry, you're welcome!" He answered for her as he took his bag of cookies and decided to sit at a nearby bench. Once he got seated, he took a big bite into the warm cookie he had dug through the bag for, and noticed how sweet the golden-coloured koban on the cookie's forehead was.

"Mmm! So good!" As he took another bite into it, he felt a sudden tap on his shoulder and turned his head to see the girl from before was standing by the bench.

Swallowing the cookie quickly, he cleared his throat and answered. "Hmm? Your name was Sanelia, right? What's up?" He asked, to which she shuffled her feet and started trying to talk again.

"Um, can I sit with you?" She asked in a very soft voice. Because she was so quiet in class, this was only Ash's second time hearing her voice, but it was surprisingly nice.

"Sure, I don't mind." He replied and shifted to the left a little, as she smiled politely and sat down.

"These are fantastic, aren't they? I especially like the golden part of the cookie, it's very sweet and could probably go great with a glass of milk." Ash started, hoping to spark a conversation with the girl, who only nodded in response despite not trying one until now, as she took a bite of one of her cookies.

Her eyes lit up at the taste of the koban, which had a very particular flavour to it, having a hint of honey and vanilla.

"Wow, you're right! It tastes magnificent…" She closed her eyes and savoured the taste, before opening them again to see Ash was giving her a knowing grin.

"See? What'd I tell ya?" He said, a smile still plastered on his face. Sanelia turned back to the cookie while a small smile crept on her face. This was the first real friend she made, and she was thankful he was kind.

"Um, do you want to exchange contact info? You're fun to talk to." She asked with a hint of shyness. Though she was managing to make eye contact with him, he broke it himself when he turned his head.

"Well… I don't really mind, but I don't really do texting much, I prefer calling." He said while scratching his cheek, as she nodded.

"That's OK." She took out her Rotom Phone, as Ash did the same, before he held it over her phone to complete the exchange.

"Awesome! Please take care of me!" He said with a polite bow and a bright grin, as she smiled a little.

"You too."

At the lab, Ash was reading a book about findings on the current theories on Pokémon evolution by a man named Professor Rowan from the Sinnoh region, though he was struggling to follow along with what the book was proposing.

"Incoming audio call from Sanelia! Incoming audio call from Sa-" Ash jumped at the sudden noise, before putting the book down to answer the call.

"Hi Ash! How are you?" Sanelia asked, though Ash could tell her speaking voice seemed to be louder than normal.

"I'm good! I'm reading a book on the theory of Pokémon evolution by Professor Rowan, but I don't really understand it…" She giggled at his response, causing him to scratch his cheek with an index finger.

"Really? To be honest, you don't seem much like the type to study at home." She replied, making him frown.

Wanting to change the subject, he asked her something he forgot to mention when they first met at that food stall. "So hey, what Pokémon did you say you got at school? I'm not sure if I asked when we first met." Though he couldn't see it, her smile dropped.

"Um, about that… I got a Seel, but we haven't been making much progress as friends all week, but I kind of noticed how close you and your Pikachu seem, so I was kind of wondering how you achieved that." He was a little confused by the question, mostly because it's something he doesn't really think about.

"Well, it's a little hard to say? I guess it's good to be patient with your Pokémon, but I'm not really sure how to describe anything else. Sorry." He apologized, as Sanelia sighed a little.

"It's OK! Just let me know if you find a way to put it into words, I'd really like to befriend Seel properly." A smile was put on Ash's face.

"You got it!" With that, she giggled and hung up the call.

Before he returned to reading the book, he noticed Chloe entering the lab and giving him an astonished look.

"What's wrong?" He asked, unaware of the problem.

"Are you studying?" She asked with eyes narrowed in suspicion.

Ash's eyebrows furrowed at her inquiry. "Why does everyone keep having that reaction?" Ash asked himself, causing Chloe to laugh a little.

Monday came around, as Ash managed to wake up at the same time as Goh.

"Good mornihn-" Goh yawned. The two went on a smaller excursion yesterday, investigating the mystery of a strange purple river that had yet to be solved, though Goh had his suspicions.

The two got ready for the day and arrived at the kitchen to see Chloe just entering herself.

"Oh, now this is a surprise." She said without a hint of surprise, rather she sounded a little happy.

"Heh yeah, this guy woke up at the same time as I did." Ash felt like he was being made fun of, but he knew it wasn't serious.

"OK OK, let's just eat and be on our way." Ash said, hardly being in a mood for making retorts. Goh and Chloe smiled at each other at this, as they ate with amounts varying between the three.

During Training Class, Ash was sitting with Pikachu when he noticed Sanelia was sitting next to Seel. Her Pokémon didn't seem terribly interested in her, but it did glance her way every once in a while, which was a good sign to Ash.

"Hey Pikachu, do you think Sanelia could get along with her Seel?" He asked Pikachu, who gave him a confused head tilt. He didn't know who Sanelia was, but he did spot a girl next to a Seel after the question.

"That's Sanelia. Should we pay her a visit?" Pikachu shrugged and climbed up to Ash's shoulder, prompting him to get up from the grass.

Sanelia sighed and looked at Seel, who was currently turned away from her. It would appear to be ignoring her from her perspective, but that's why different perspectives are a good thing. Thankfully, she'd get access to another as Ash walked up to her.

"Hey Sanelia, how's it going with Seel?" He asked, though it was more for confirmation as it was clear how it was going.

"I'd like to think we're getting somewhere… But optimism alone won't do any good." She replied while glancing at Seel. It was at that moment that Seel decided to glance her way again, which made it suddenly jerk its head back forwards.

Sanelia gasped and looked at Ash with a hopeful smile.

"Like I said, you gotta have patience. You should also try talking to Seel, though I know that Pokémon aren't able to reply, the attention is still good." Sanelia nodded, before turning to Seel and kneeling.

"Um, hello Seel…" She trailed off, though it did wave its flipper slightly. At this sign of acknowledgement, Sanelia turned back to Ash with an excited smile. This surprised Ash, as he didn't know she could show such a range of emotions. He guessed in helping her get Seel to open up to her, she's starting to open up as well.

Sanelia returned to her efforts by trying to rub its head, thankfully it wasn't opposed to the idea, in fact it seemed to start relaxing.

"Keep it up Sanelia, and you'll be friends in no time!" Ash said with a wave, though before he could return to his spot she motioned for him to sit nearby.

"It's been a week, I'm sure the teacher won't mind if friend groups start hanging out again." She reasoned while she gave a friendly smile. At this, Ash could feel a little warmth finding its way to his cheeks, but he ignored that and smiled back before being seated on the grass once more. Pikachu got off of his shoulder to get comfortable in his lap, feeling no desire to tease Ash about the friendship when he could get petted right now, though he'd remember to bring it up at some point with a small smirk on his face.

During lunch break, Ash was sitting with Goh and Chloe as usual, as the three chatted idly while eating. However, the two would become silent once they noticed who was approaching the table from behind Ash.

"Hm? What's up?" He asked as he turned to where they were looking to see it was Sanelia with a shy smile again.

"H-hello Ash, can I sit with you guys?" She asked a little timidly. She was only really comfortable with Ash as far as classmates went, though she wasn't one to assume anything bad about his friends, the thought of suddenly making two new friends at once intimidated her a little.

"I don't mind. What about you two?" He turned back to the group to ask, as Goh kind of shrugged while Chloe forced a smile for some reason.

"That's fine with me. Chloe?" Goh turned to his childhood friend, whose smile dropped a little when she turned to him.

"If Ash is fine with it, then I guess I am…" She poked her fork at the bland white mass of mashed potatoes on her tray, not understanding this feeling. Perhaps thankfully, Ash hadn't picked up on this and turned back to Sanelia with a grin.

"Well there you have it! Welcome to the table!" She bowed gratefully and sat next to him, with Seel looking at Pikachu a little wearily. This wasn't unwarranted of course, seeing as, Seel being a Water type, it was weak to Electric type moves, but Pikachu didn't seem to hold any hostile will towards the Pokémon.

"Pika!" Seel dropped its guard a little at the friendly sound, but still felt a little unsafe being so close to an Electric type Pokémon.

"You're Sanelia, right? You were pretty quiet during introductions." Goh started, as Sanelia nodded gently.

"Th-that's right. It's a pleasure to meet you." She greeted, as Goh smiled and returned the greeting. Chloe, on the other hand, was still focused on not focusing on her food as food, idly poking it with confused feelings.

"I suppose it's good that Ash is making more friends besides us, but why do I feel like this? I don't think I like it." She thought to herself with a small frown, as Eevee was lying on her lap after finishing her Pokémon food. Her ears were hanging low as she looked up at Chloe with worry.

Ash came to the rescue though, as he turned to her now.

"Chloe, are you OK? Your food isn't going anywhere you know." He asked with a worried smile. It was then she realized she was repeatedly stabbing her potatoes as if to keep it still.

"O-oh, I'm fine, I think… Don't worry about me." She replied halfheartedly, Ash accepted the answer for now though.

"Alright, but if you aren't going to have your food then I'll gladly take it." He said, causing her to chuckle lightly. He was happy to see her making a positive face again since Sanelia came to the table, however he was still clueless as to the cause of her mood.

Later during P.E, Chuck had lowered the lap count to 5 early on to make room for other activities. Ash was still the first one to finish the laps, occasionally trading the spot with Goh who managed to work out his pace with Scorbunny. Sanelia, meanwhile, was dead-last as Seel wasn't very fast on land much like Gary's Squirtle.

"I understand that Seel isn't a very fast species, but you should try to work out a pace with your partner so it can break past its current limits." Chuck said as she passed the fifth lap with Seel, the two practically walking around the gym the entire time. At the suggestion she gratefully nodded.

After the laps, Chuck decided on a version of dodgeball involving help from Pokémon.

"Split into two teams! Today we're going to play Dodgeball with your Pokémon! They can use their attacks to help, but they can't attack each other or other human players, ya got it?" Placed on the line in the middle of the gym were six rubber dodge balls. Once Chuck gives the signal, the players retrieve the balls and throw them at the opposing side in an attempt to strike them to remove them, with the winner being the players remaining on the field when the opposite team is no longer present.

"Ash, you're on our side!" Goh called out, with Chloe waving at him as well. He gave the two a grateful smile, and headed towards them. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed that Sanelia was heading to their side as well.

"GO!" He announced with the blow of a whistle, as Ash immediately took a ball first. His throwing wasn't great, but his speed allowed him to get the first chance at outing a player. Then, Goh waved to Ash for a pass so he could out a player, since his throws were pretty accurate as long as the target wasn't too quick.

"Here!" Ash quickly tossed the ball and then got on the defensive now that he was unarmed. Back to Goh, he threw a ball at Tony first, who was busy envying Ash for having Pikachu.

"Alright!" Now with the first out achieved, the opposite team got serious.

"Eat this, Ketchum!" Gary shouted as he threw a ball to Ash with great speed. The pre-announcement got Ash's attention and he somehow barely managed to get a hold of the ball, prompting Gary to curse to himself.

"Nice try Gary, but I don't think you know how sneak attacks work." Tony said to his teammate, who glared at him and sat on the floor next to him.

"Pikachu, protect me with Thunder Shocks!" Ash requested, as Pikachu gave a chirp in confirmation. With a defense secured, Ash was sure he'd be able to survive the match and ensure victory.

Just then, a ball flew right past Ash from behind.

"Good job Eevee!" Apparently Chloe had her Pokémon use Tackle on a ball, however it didn't hit anyone.

A ball was tossed Ash's way, but Pikachu didn't use Thunder Shock on it as Ash knew he could simply grab the ball.

"And out goes Chad!" Chuck announced as Chad looked down sadly and retreated to the side of the gym with Tony and Gary.

"Drat, I was sure I calculated the correct trajectory to score a hit on Ash…" He muttered to himself, though no one seemed to care.

There were now six on Gary's side, while nine remained on Ash's side, though that was going to change as Vivienne threw a ball towards Chloe as gracefully as she could muster, however her efforts resulted in a rather poor toss.

"Eevee, Tackle!" Her Pokémon tackled the ball out of the way, but it ended up touching Goh instead.

"There goes Goh! How will the game go?" Chuck asked as if he were an announcer. Goh retreated to the opposite end of the side of the gym while grumbling about being unlucky, though he didn't hold it against Chloe as it was only an accident.

The game continued with quick pace, as Ash managed to hold on throughout the match. Left on Gary's team were three, with Ash's having five.

Pikachu was starting to look a little tired, as was Ash, but the two weren't ready to throw in the towel just yet, in fact they were still fired up to win.

"Let's keep giving it our all!" Ash said to Pikachu as he caught a ball from an opponent once again, much to their annoyance.

"Pika!" Ash tossed the ball in front of Pikachu and gave him a knowing grin.

"Use Quick Attack and aim the ball!" Pikachu chirped his name and ran into the ball with great speed, causing it to shoot towards a wall. Although it missed at first, the ball bounced against the wall and touched the leg of one more member of the enemy side.

"Nice aim, Ash and Pikachu! Looks like this game is set!" Chuck exclaimed, as one more player on the opposite side was outed by Chloe's Eevee.

As the game ended, Chuck realized it was just about time for the next class, and blew into his whistle.

"Alright, I'll put everything away now, just focus on getting to your next class!" Some students felt dissatisfied with the way the game turned out, while others were determined to win next time.

"That was great, Ash! You and Pikachu work great together!" Goh praised their teamwork, causing them both to rub the back of their necks at the same time, which made Chloe giggle. Then, her smile dropped.

"That was impressive, Ash. Frankly, I'm a little jealous of how well you and Pikachu work together." Sanelia said while approaching the raven-haired boy.

Ash scratched his cheek and smiled. "Thanks, but I'm sure you'll become friends with Seel in no time!" At this, she smiled gratefully and turned her head to Seel.

"I-I could tell Seel was trying to protect me during the game," She started, as she thought back to when it used Icy Wind against a ball, which didn't have enough force to stop it from hitting Sanelia. "So I'm thankful for her." Seel turned its head, but Ash could tell it was feeling happy, which made him grin.

During Pokémon Economics, the students were studying flavour theory as the connection between a Pokémon's Nature and its preferred flavour was still kinda vague. It's every Friday on which practical studying is done through practising making pastries and stuff to suit the needs of the trainer's Pokémon.

Sanelia looked at the Pokédex App and was making notes of Berries that Seel would like to eat based on its Nature, in the hopes that she can get closer to it through food.

"So if Seel's nature is Quiet, then… Ah, it likely prefers a Dry flavour…" She mulled to herself, jotting it down in her Poké Ec. notebook.

Ash found himself glancing towards Sanelia occasionally, smiling to himself about the studying she was doing with her Rotom Phone. He guessed that she was doing something he did about Pikachu on the first day.

However, Ash was oblivious to two things here: the reason he found himself looking at Sanelia every once in a while, and that Chloe noticed the direction of his gaze and was frowning at him for it.

The next day, Sanelia was sitting on the grass next to Seel, and gently stroked its head. She found that softer petting was preferred, giving her great joy in understanding her Pokémon better.

"Glad to see you're getting along with Seel." Sanelia jumped in surprise, not expecting Ash.

"O-oh, thank you…" Her Seel glanced at Ash briefly, and then returned to accepting the attention from Sanelia. Though it was mostly her efforts that allowed her to get closer to Seel, she also had Ash to thank for that initial push.

Much to Seel's annoyance, Sanelia stopped petting it to get up. She then turned to Ash.

"Thank you for pushing me to befriend Seel properly." Before Ash could respond, she quickly pulled him into a hug. Thankfully for her, most of the students didn't really pay attention to the two, in part because of how little she stands out.

Ash was surprised at first. He could only count on one hand the amount of times he's been hugged, and only one of those wasn't from his mom. Hastily, he returned the hug while feeling a strange tint of warmth rise to his cheeks like before, which confused him greatly.

She ended the hug and gave him a grateful smile. "And thank you for being my first friend." She bowed slightly before sitting down next to Seel again.

He could register the sentence in his mind, but had no idea how to reply. So he simply scratched his cheek with a small grin, and then patted Pikachu's head.

During lunchtime, the group of three had increased by one, with the addition of Sanelia. Goh had no qualms about it, but Chloe still felt mixed. She didn't want to think she was feeling jealous about their budding friendship, but with the way she's been feeling about it… Well, at least she was still helping him with math.

As Sanelia sat next to Ash, Chloe found herself poking at her food again like the other day, however Ash was oblivious to this this time.

What he did notice is that Seel seemed more calm around Pikachu, though there was still a little distance being maintained.

"How have things been going with Seel?" Ash asked before taking a bite of his lunch. Sanelia glanced at Seel with a smile.

"We've been getting along. It still kind of saddens me that I can't take her outside of school though…" He nodded in understanding. It'd be awesome if he could hang out with Pikachu all the time, though he was grateful he could hang out with him at school nevertheless.

Goh gave a snap of his fingers as an idea flashed in his head. "Hey, I just got a great idea! Let's all ask Professor Oak if we can play with our Pokémon after school for a bit! I'm sure he'll at least consider it!" He gave a triumphant smile, before it faded at Chloe's response.

"Do you really think he won't turn the idea down? I kinda doubt he would go through with it considering what he would have to take into account, like trusting that we won't hide our Poké Balls or something." She pointed out with a shake of her head.

"Well, it might just be me, but he did allow my Pikachu to stay out of his Poké Ball during classes until the end of the day, so while he might not accept it, he would at least think about it." Ash gave his reasoning, though Chloe responded with a deadpanned side-eye.

"Well if you're all confident it'll work, let's go ask him now before lunch break is over."

"I'm sorry boys, I can't guarantee the idea will be accepted by the principal, though I can certainly run it by him at least." Professor Oak said with a light shrug, causing Ash and Goh to lower their heads a little. The four of them headed back to homeroom to bring up the question to their teacher.

"Alright, we understand…" Goh said with dejection, though Ash's eyes contained a flicker of hope that the principal would pull through. This didn't go unnoticed by Oak, but he chose not to say anything to Ash.

"I can get why you ask this in the first place, it does feel a little unfair that the Pokémon are to be kept at the school at all times, but there is a very good reason for this. I don't think you'll want to hear it though, at least for the sake of not spoiling your mood for the rest of the day." He explained. Ash silently wondered what the reason could be, though he did have something of an idea, little did he realize it would be close to the actual reason.

"Does it have something to do with the rules you talked about on the first day?" Chloe asked, making her presence known to the older man. He gave a nod in response.

"That's right. I've only started teaching this year, but I believe the reason is that there may have been incidents of Pokémon theft caused by past students resulting in the rules being created." Ash furrowed his eyebrows at this.

"Indeed, it disappoints me that there could've been such students, but I'm not really all too surprised either. There are plenty of people like that in the real world too." He wore a slight frown, but eased up his expression at the reactions of the kids in front of him, who seemed to express the same disdain he did.

"Right, well I'll let you know how it turns out tomorrow. Ah, while you're here, you may as well be seated for Pokémon History right about…" The bell rang as his voice trailed off. "Now."

"Excuse me sir, may I have a moment?" Professor Oak asked the school principal. Sitting behind the desk in the principal's office was a sharply-dressed man with a shadow being cast on his face before he turned in his office chair.

"Yes, what is it, Samuel Oak?" Asked the man. His face was now visible with the light of the room being cast on him. He had sharp facial features, sharp eyes to match, and short brown hair without a hint of facial hair, though that didn't make him seem any less intimidating.

Suddenly, Oak felt an odd pressure. He always did whenever he stepped foot in the office of the principal, perhaps it was because of the principal himself?

"Well, one of my students asked me about something this afternoon, and I wanted to discuss it with you." He started, as the principal placed his elbow on the desk and rested his chin in his hand.

"Principal Sakaki, I propose that we allow the first-year students half an hour to play with their Pokémon in the school's garden after school every Monday and Friday, with a supervisor of course." The principal raised his eyebrow at the request, before sitting in a thinking position for a moment.

"Hmm… I don't really dislike the idea, but who would want to take the time out of their day to babysit them like that?" He asked bluntly, earning a nervous chuckle from Oak.

"I mean, I wouldn't really mind it myself, at least on Fridays. So then that would leave Mondays to be filled in by another faculty member, right?" Principal Sakaki nodded and sat back in his chair again.

"That's right. Perhaps this should be brought up at the next staff meeting, to hear the opinions of the rest of the teachers." He suggested, as Professor Oak nodded in agreement.

"Right. Thanks for your consideration." He thanked the slightly intimidating man before leaving the office. Said man turned back to the window, before his pitch-black Rotom Phone rung.

"Yes?" On the line was the sound of a woman's voice.

"Sir, what's your goal with becoming the principal of that school?" The woman asked.

"Were you not listening before I placed you under temporary management of the organization? Some particularly powerful trainers have graduated from this school in the past, and I'm aiming to keep an eye out for any particularly promising students." Apparently the name of the woman was Matori, and she was his secretary.

"Oh, right. Well then, I don't know when you'll return to Team Rocket HQ, but I hope your mission proves fruitful." She then hung up the call.

'Principal Sakaki' then had a small grin on his face, as his gaze landed on the boy with unruly black hair. "Indeed, there may be some aspiring youngsters who may pose a threat to my plans like a certain trainer once did." As he said this, his grin was replaced with a scowl.

Next time: The Water Flower of the Cerulean Gym!

A/N: It's probably not hard to tell who this mysterious principal is, especially when his last name is Sakaki. Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed that chapter!