-Begin week six

Monday arrives and as Adrian walks down a hall, he wonders, 'Is there going to be a scandal again this week? On Friday, we weren't seen together, I was just passing by. No one saw us Saturday and on Sunday I wore a disguise, sunglasses with a hat. We even stayed in her garden. Her battles were amazing though. She really doesn't show any mercy. Charmeleon, Parasect, and Seel were her quickest victories too. I wonder if she held back with me?'

"Adrian, just a moment."

"Oh, hello professor."

"Adrian, I've noticed that you have been going out on weekends. Why is this when your grades are so horribly low? Do you not care? Why do you not live up to your full potential? There are many programs here you could use to improve yourself. The battlers club would be more than happy to have you."

"Sorry, I've been preoccupied." Adrian replies while thinking, 'That and I'm pretty sure they would hate to have me.'

"Well, we will be having a guest speaker come this weekend. You will be attending the lectures and presentations. Not only that, but you will ask questions as well. Do I make myself clear? I do not want you to miss this one like you did last time three weeks ago."

"Yes..." he dejectedly responds.

'Darn, they noticed.' he thinks.

"Good, now continue on to your next class."

"Tch." Adrian clicks his tongue once out of hearing.

"Must be our Thanks Giving's treat. In each grade, the academy always does something for it's students before any major break." Adrian continues grumbling.

…..

"And what do you know, I was right. Tch, everyone is infuriated that the mystery man showed up again. They only care that he was only seen passing through Celadon city and nothing more." Adrian hollowly laughs upon reaching homeroom.

The day's events further proceeds to deteriorate Adrian's mood.

'Move, I'm not in the mood to put up with you.'

'I've more important things on my mind. That ba…'

'Stay still, I need to let out some frustration.'

'Worthless.'

'Just drop out already.'

'Cheater.'

'Pathetic *sigh*'

'Tch'

'How disappointing.'

'…'

As the week passes, Friday arrives. The students gather in the auditorium eagerly awaiting the mysterious guest speaker. Suddenly, the lights dim and the curtains rise.

"Hello there! Welcome to the world of pokémon! My name is Oak! People call me the pokémon Professor! This world is inhabited by creatures called pokémon! For some people, pokémon are pets. Others use them for fights. Myself... I study pokémon as a profession."

Within the audience, Adrian sees that although the presence of professor Oak excites his fellow classmates, they had also been hoping for someone else.

'Maybe I can get to see him later...' he wonders.

Professor Oak continues to lecture about pokemon and discusses various areas of study.

"No, not everyone needs to join the pokemon league. Such an outcome is both impossible and undesirable. Other areas of study such as breeding, caring, poke mart management, none battle training, and contests also exist." the professor informs the students.

'The teachers, they must specifically want me to hear this.'

The next day a competition is held giving the students an opportunity to show their prowess to Professor Oak. Professor Oak sits through each match and gives comments afterwards.

"Match over, Adrian's Graveller is unable to battle. Caterpie advances." The referee announces following the tradition of keeping the winner anonymous.

'I'm pretty sure the professor recognized me, but he didn't say anything.' Adrian sighs in relief on the sidelines.

"The winners of this competition are Samuel and Machop. As a reward, Sam earns a private lesson with professor Oak until three." The referee announces.

"Afterwards," the freshman principle, Principe, interjects, "the top thirteen students will be allowed to join the lesson and talk to the professor. Then at six, the worst ten students who show promise of improving in their studies are to join in the lecture as well."

'That explains the letter in my mailbox this morning saying I'm number seven...' Adrian recalls

"At eight, I would like for the students to return to their dorms. Classes are dismissed for the day." Principe concludes.

…..

Adrian finishes the training early, and returns to the academy. Then, with only ten minutes until the lessons begin, he proceeds to the designated classroom.

At five fifty-nine, Adrian meets the other worst students outside the classroom door. They knock and enter the room introducing themselves.

Immediately, professor Oak begins discussing the battles from earlier that day.

"Over all, there was very little strategy employed in your matches. If you really want to improve your results, you need to consider the the pokemon's strengths and weaknesses and the field they battle on. For example, you wouldn't use a charmander on a water field."

Professor Oak pauses only to turn to Adrian.

"Adrian, you have a different problem. The pokemon you battled with didn't seem to trust you. Trust between a trainer and his partners are essential before anything else can be accomplished. Worse, neither of you wanted to battle. Tell me, is there a problem between you and the pokemon here?"

"Adrian has never won a battle." Sam responds.

Professor Oak is taken aback by this information, his eyes pop open and his jaw drops a bit. Confusion radiates off him like an aura.

"I don't know who said that," Adrian lies, "but it is true. I have lost every trainer battle with the academy pokemon."

"I see. Well, why was it you lost these battles to begin with?"

"Most of the professors have said that I failed to understand the pokemon. That I didn't take it's personalities into account."

"Did you?"

"At first, but I've gotten better now. They still don't trust me though..." Adrian honestly admits.

"I see. In this case, you should take time to bond with the pokemon before you do anything else with them. This is true for everyone, unless trainers understand and connect with their pokemon, they will never succeed in their endeavors. All of you must continue to love and cherish your pokemon. If you do that, nothing will be impossible. However, Adrian, is there a possibility that you don't want to bond with the academy pokemon?"

Adrian remains silent thinking over professor Oak's question.

"Don't make excuses; you just don't know how to battle."

"Only the weak claim they can't understand pokemon."

"Pathetic."

Students whisper these phrases to Adrian during the rest of the lecture.

At eight the time for the lesson ends and the students begin filing out of the room. Some students, however, continue speaking to the professor. Of the students who were leaving, Adrian is the last to leave.

Upon stepping into the hall, Adrian hides himself behind the door. A student who walks out easily misses Adrian walking right past him.

About twenty minutes pass and Samuel, the last student remaining, leaves. Finally, Professor Oak also leaves the room. Once out, he turns and closes the door, instead of allowing it to shut automatically like the previous students had been doing. With the door no longer hiding Adrian,his figure appears making the professor jump.

"Adrian, my goodness. You scared me."

"Sorry."

"Anyway, I'm glad you stayed behind. But first, you didn't mention you were enrolled here."

"Student's aren't allowed to own pokemon. Worst case scenarios, depending on your perspective, are either expulsion or forced separation from the pokemon."

"In other words, you've never left this academy building before, have you."

I smiled at this, he understood my predicament. "No, I would like to visit Fuchsia city though. The safari zone sounds like it would be an adventure."

"Ah the safari zone, a colleague of mine runs that now. Ever since she took over after the original warden left, the rules no longer allow trainers to capture pokemon there. As a researcher, it's a great place to observe pokemon in their native habitat. Unfortunately, my colleague, Marilyn, has been having trouble with poachers."

"Poachers, that's horrible, someone should do something about that. I've delivered the papers to Mr. Fuji and received this." Adrian flashes his pokedex and smiles.

Unsurprised, Professor Oak gestures for the device. As Adrian hands it to him, he says, "I'll return this tomorrow. Meet me in the Pewter Museum after I leave."

"Yes, professor, thank you for not saying anything about... you know."

"Adrian, not everyone follows the same path. Each must follow their own trail just like you are. From what I've observed, you are caring and responsible, excellent qualities that are needed. If not for this, then the result would have been different." Professor Oak says avoiding the word trainer.

"You even got Thomas' recognition, that is a feat in of itself. Still, I was surprised about your battle record." He joked.

"Yeah," Adrian embarrassingly laughs, "I think you might be right on what you said earlier..."

The two part and walk in different directions. As Adrian walks to his dorm, he thinks about the recent events.

'Mr. Fuji must have told the professor that he gave me his Pokedex. Still, I wonders, what he's going to do to it.'

The next day arrives and professor Oak gives another lecture. He speaks of what he does in his lab and what some of his current projects are. Afterwards, his time is spent with the top 25% of the class. At six he leaves.

Adrian leaves for Pewter city after the professor's lecture ends. While waiting, he trains his pokemon outside of Pewter until six and then proceeds to the museum to meet with Professor Oak. He examines fossils until the professor arrives.

"Ahh Adrian, you're already here."

"Hello professor, I left early to train."

"Excellent, have you though over what I've told you last night?"

"I like using the pokemon I've been training. Also, the academy pokemon, they remind me of the academy..." Adrian shows his pokeballs to the professor.

"Yes, there is a sign of attachment and deep trust between the trainer and his pokemon. As for the academy, you do not like it there, no?"

"I don't."

"The pokemon can feel that and therefore are less likely to respond to you."

"..."

"Don't let that get you down. This is a problem among passionate trainers. You should rejoice in it."

"That doesn't help my grade..." Adrian laments.

"No matter." Professor Oak laughs, "Now, tell me. From what I understand, you haven't been training long, have you?"

"No, I just started a few weeks ago."

"Remarkable and you've already gotten this close to them, truly remarkable. I believe you will be very helpful to me, if you wish to of course."

"Yes, I would love to." Adrian replies without a thought.

"Excellent, then this is for you." Professor Oak opens Adrian's pokedex and explains, "By pressing this button, you can access my seal recognition I programed into your pokedex. Although this won't help much with league business, it will prove that you're acting in my name. In a sense, it's a form of identification."

"Thank you, this is amazing."

'Wow, we're doing it, this shows we're going places.' Adrian silently cheers.

"I saw that you've already began using the pokedex in identifying pokemon and taking notes. Please, continue on like this."

"Hehe." Adrian scratches the back of his head.

"Now, stay alert, I will be giving you assignments."

"Yes, thank you."

Professor Oak leaves leaving Adrian to continue exploring the museum. Once night falls, Adrian returns to the academy.

A/N: this one is a bit short, so I got it out early. I'm of to work for the next week so the other may be a bit delayed. In other news, I've come down with a summer cold. Well, I guess that's to be expected considering I would in a cold cave and my bed room is always freezing... Anyway, let's see what awaits Adrian next week.