Broadstone University was situated on the west section of Petalburg. Dubbed as the "College District" the majority of households here were students of Broadstone and during the summer, many students would be seen relaxing on the beaches that were just a ten minute drive west from the city limits.
The brick building campus sprawled at just slightly less than a thousand acres and it had a good sized population of more than twelve thousand students. Degrees offered at the school were in engineering, arts, journalism, business, communications and human resource services.
The Broadstone Mightyenas was constantly ranked as the one of the three best football teams in the nation out of the nine major universities in Hoenn. Their rivalry with neighboring University of South Hoenn or the USH Tentacruel was one of the most intense in college football.
One such student, May Maple was sitting inside one of the academic halls, waiting for class to begin. The windows on the side of the auditorium showed an impressive view over the campus' football practice field. In the background was a looming structure of the main football stadium, where the Mightyenas would play out their well-known offense, known for being notoriously unpredictable and frustrating for opposing defenses.
At twenty-three years of age, May was five feet and nine inches tall in her senior year. She wore a red casual blouse with blue shorts that went to her upper thighs. Her blue eyes were always radiant and she had brown hair that went just past her shoulders. By most standards, she was considered quite attractive and often incited many of the opposite gender to turn heads in her direction.
Personality wise, she was a little introverted. Growing up, she had only a few true friends and her younger brother Max, who was equally as much as a confidant as he was in spilling unwanted secrets. Most people usually got warm friendliness out of her, but there was a select number of people that really knew her true self.
The drawing of the blinds had cut off May's view of the football team practicing and she turned her attention to the center of the auditorium. The gray haired professor of International Relations had just walked in and was discussing something with his students before setting his large briefcase on the desk. Most other students had already taken their places in various spots.
"Afternoon everyone, today's going to be a rather short session since I am running late for an appointment. We're going to be starting a new project today and I sent an email to all of your student accounts with more in-depth details. After the premier had announced new cooperation with the Kanto-Johto Federation, everyone will be collaborating with someone from there, sharing thoughts on how this mutual agreement could benefit both nations. You'll be publishing an essay of at least four pages from your discussion. This will be due in two weeks, so if any of you have pressing matters or are a procrastinator by nature, I'd start as soon as possible. The most difficult part in this will likely be finding someone available, as finding someone who is an active Federation citizen is not easy here."
"How are we supposed to find someone then?" A student asked.
"Good question," The professor smiled, "On the email I sent to you are several websites that contain chat rooms in an anonymous pen pal style of messaging. I'm doing this with several other Federation universities, so most of you will be able to get a chat partner quickly. If you're still having trouble within the next couple of days, come see me and I will be able to set you up with someone."
The rest of class went by smoothly.
"May!"
Upon hearing her name being called, she turned around smiling at the display. Joining her at her table was her best friend Dawn Berlitz. Personality wise, she was almost her exact opposite, bubbly and outgoing. Physically, she was slightly taller with slightly bluish and similar azure eyes. Nevertheless, they were the inseparable of friends, having met nearly ten years ago when she moved to Hoenn from Sinnoh to live with her aunt and uncle.
"Hey." May motioned towards a second cup of a frosted mocha drink. "Got you your favorite flavor."
"Thanks," Dawn sipped from it, "So how was IR?"
"The usual. Professor had to leave because of an appointment, but now we have some project report that people are already describing it as ultra difficult. I think I have a new number one hated class."
"C'mon," Dawn gave her a slight elbow, "It's just two more semesters and we'll be graduating."
"Yeah, but." May longingly looked away, "I'm just a year away from getting a bachelor's and it feels like I am nowhere closer to my goal."
From an early age, May Maple had aspirations to become a fashion model, she excercised regularly to keep unwanted pounds off her curvy frame and thanks to her family's deep pockets, she had clothes that was very popular with a lot of the young women in Hoenn.
Before Dawn could respond, May's phone began to ring. The tone it was playing gave away whom was calling.
"Hey."
"Hey babe," May's boyfriend Drew Hayden greeted in his usual fashion, "How was class?"
"Fine, the professor issued another stupid report to be done soon. We have to exchange our ideals with someone from the Federation and then write a damn essay about it."
"Ah that sucks," The two of them had been introduced to one another by her own father during her first year in college. Drew had graduated as a senior with a degree in business and was her father's number two in his company. It was evident that he was quite attracted to her and they had been dating for roughly a year and a half. "Anyway, your father and I are going to be leaving on a business trip to Lumiose City in a week. We should be gone for about half a week, maybe a little more. I was wondering if we could go enjoy dinner somewhere tomorrow night when you get home. Got plenty to talk about with you."
"Oh," May looked over at Dawn, "Well I'd love to but Dawn and I were going to see Lisia perform. Plus, I have a ton of other classes to study for."
"Oh that's right I totally forgot," Drew chuckled, "Well how about when I get back?"
"Yeah sure I'd love to."
"Okay babe," He paused, "Have fun."
"I will."
"Love ya."
May giggled slightly, "You too." Then she hung up.
"He asked you to dinner didn't he?" Dawn had a bit of a smirk on her face.
"Yep."
"Well we've been waiting for these," She rifled through her purse to bring out two tickets. The most popular singer in Hoenn, Lisia was coming to Petalburg City as part of the beginning of her world tour. Both May and Dawn were big fans of her ever since she had posted a name for herself when she was only eleven years old.
"It's going to be so cool seeing her in person for the first time!" Dawn squealed like she was a full decade younger.
"I know! I'm gonna get a head start on my project so it doesn't get put to the back of my mind. The professor said this one was going to be anything but easy."
"Okay," Dawn stood up, "C'mon, let's get home."
As they walked to their parked car in the garage, May typed in one of the searching websites, the intended dinner date with Drew had instead been pushed to the forgotten section. This project was one that could make or break her grade and she did not want to do a bad job.
She only hoped that her other source was reliable.
They stood out in the sun as it reached its hottest point in the afternoon. Although fall was quickly approaching, the summer heat had not loosened its grip and temperatures still climbed to sweltering levels.
As he paced in front of the dozen men and women in front, they tried their best not to avert their gaze from being directly ahead.
He wasn't that much older than them, maybe even younger than a couple, but they could tell that his eyes and overall swagger was equal to a soldier that was five years older than himself.
He could tell that they were starting to get a bit unnerved, as they could feel sweat running through their clothes and crawling underneath the skin to create a rather uncomfortable itching sensation. They dared not to scratch it, due to the fact that he was their commanding officer for the time being and they would be on the receiving end of his anger. They tried to anticipate and move if he wasn't looking, but he hadn't established a pattern of inspection and hadn't spoken a word for nearly ten minutes.
Movement caught his eye and Ash Ketchum was a blur of tan and gray fatigues and he strode straight up to the kid who had shifted his posture.
"Did I give you permission to move?"
"No sir! Sorry sir!"
"Did I give you permission to apologize?"
"No sir!"
Ash looked down in disgust, "Drop and give me fifty. Now."
"Sir!" The man got on all fours and began doing pushups. Secretly, he was relieved that his new CO had not unleashed his full wrath on him.
The only man that wasn't part of the inspection was roughly Ash's height and he stood with his arms crossed, scanning the recruits. He didn't say anything, even when he caught one of them slightly moving, but the two exchanged glances, causing him to prowl where Ash was not currently at. The man was the only other officer with the group and was set to be Ash's number two, but there would be time where they would work on drills themselves.
Ketchum stood in front of a man at the end, "What is your weapon of choice?"
"M nine millimeter sir!"
"Wrong answer," He said in an almost taunting voice, "Try that again."
"Serrated Survival Knife sir!"
"Try again soldier." Ash was never one for yelling like a stereotypical drill sergeant, instead they hated him because he was more portrayed as a sinister villain always with something to gripe about.
He jabbed two fingers right on the man's forehead, his own CO had done that many times and it got right on his nerves. "How about your mind? That is your weapon of choice and you should protect it at all costs!"
He stood upright, "Everyone, look to your left," When they all turned their heads, "Now to your right."
"All those people you see are now going to be your family for the next month and you won't see all of them by the time I'm done with you pussies! I was called here to help your country erase an organized crime syndicate that has gotten your top brass frustrated. You are what I asked for in the best of the Army, Navy and Marines, but right now you are all a bunch of jokers that I wouldn't even trust to get me my lunch. What makes you all think that I would trust any of you to watch my back while facing one of the most dangerous radical factions on the planet?"
He surveyed them all, satisfied that they had for the most part, remained unmoving, but they kept their eyes focused on him, "They are out there, smart, dangerous and they never sleep! They have one dream, to make Hoenn's people, government and military suffer! We are the ones in charge of stopping them and to do that, I'm here to mold all of you into a new breed of soldier! I'm Lieutenant Ketchum. You will address me as Lieutenant or sir unless I instruct otherwise. Understood?"
"Yes sir!" They shouted in unison.
"Good. Now if you are going to talk to one another from here on out, it better be a thanks for saving your ass down the road. One day, they might be the only thing standing between you and the barrel of a rifle pointed at your forehead. So you all have to earn the respect of Lieutenant Decker here, from myself and from your brothers and sisters standing beside you now. Am I clear?"
"Yes sir!"
"Good. Let's begin." Ash gave a smile in anticipation of the many difficult and exhausting drills he was about to put the recruits through. Today was going to be a good day.
Thanks to an updated work schedule, I now know that I will usually post an update every Tuesday or Friday.
Thanks for reading and reviewing, you give my writing purpose.