Hello! Thursday + finished chapter = today's update! (I thought I should review some math before school starts in about a month)

So, like I said before, I didn't have a lot of writing-time for the last few days, so today's chapter is another one of the ones I had already written beforehand. I might get some writing-time during the weekend, though, so everyone who gave suggestions is going to have to wait a little longer before I can write on their topic.

Anyways, enjoy today's chapter!

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon in any way, shape or size!

Climbing Trees

Grade Two

May (7), Ash (7), Gary (7), Drew (7), Paul (7), Misty (7)

"No you can't!"

"Yes I can!"

"No you can't!"

"Yes I can!"

"Can't!"

"Can!"

"What's going on here?" Misty, along with Gary and May appeared on the scene.

Ash was having an intense argument with a girl with wild, purple hair. The girl looked familiar. She wasn't in the same class as them, but she was in grade two as well, as their school had two classes for each grade. Both she and Ash were stubbornly holding their ground in whatever they were arguing about.

Meanwhile, Paul and Drew were standing to the side, watching them.

"There you guys are!" Gary said, noticing Paul and Drew. "I was wondering where you two went! What are you doing here, though?"

"Watching Ash have a pointless argument with some girl." Paul replied in a bored way.

"Hey! This 'girl' has a name! It's Iris!" The purple-haired girl directed a glare at Paul.

"What are they fighting about?" May asked, as, after the brief interruption, Iris went back to yelling at Ash.

"Something about trees." Drew answered. "You see..."

(Flashback)

Drew was strolling around by himself at recess. He wasn't really sure where the others were, but he didn't mind being alone sometimes. A short distance away, he suddenly saw his friend Ash.

Ash was passing under a tree, when a couple of leaves fell on him from above. When he looked up, he jumped back with a little yelp.

"Sorry!" A voice came out from amongst the tree branches. A girl flawlessly jumped out with a flip, landing perfectly in front of Ash on the ground.

"Did I scare you?" she said in a somewhat teasing manner.

"Well, yeah, of course you did!" Ash still seemed a bit shocked. "You aren't supposed to be up in trees, yah know. You could fall and get hurt!"

"Maybe you could, if you were a little kid like yourself. But I'm an expert at these kinds of things." the girl bragged proudly.

"Says who?" Ash became annoyed at her arrogance. "I bet I could climb this tree just as well as you can!"

"Hmm. No, I don't think so. You're too much of a little kid."

"I'm not a little kid! And I can climb this tree!"

"No way! I don't believe you."

"Yes I can!"

"No, you can't."

Drew came up to them. "Does it really matter who can climb a tree or not?" he asked. "It's not that important."

"Yes it is!" the two who were arguing yelled in unison.

Drew continued watching them, trying to break it up once or twice before giving up. And then Paul just randomly came out of nowhere to stand beside him, observing the bickering two.

(End of flashback)

"So that's what happened." Misty turned to Ash and Iris. "You know, there is no point in arguing about something like that. My sisters do all the time, but they never get anywhere."

"And besides," Gary put in, "I already know Ash is bad at climbing trees. You don't have to fight about it."

"Hah!" Iris exclaimed in triumph. "See, your friend agrees with me!"

Ash scowled. "You're wrong, and he is too."

"Then prove it." Iris challenged. "We'll both climb this tree, and the one who gets the highest wins!"

Ash nervously studied the height of the tree, before putting on a determined face and facing Iris. "You're on!"

"WHAT?! Ash, that's crazy!" Misty yelled.

"You could fall and get hurt! It's dangerous!" May chimed in worriedly.

"Ash, think about what you're doing. What if the branch breaks, or you slip?" Drew reasoned seriously.

"This should be good..." Paul commented in the same way his brother did when someone was about to mess up on TV.

"Yah, tree-climbing challenge!" Gary cheered. "Go Ash! You can do it! Or are you too scared?"

"I'm not scared!" Ash protested. He walked up to the tree trunk and grabbed the lowest branch. May gasped loudly as he hauled himself up.

"See? This isn't that hard!" Ash confidently reached for another branch.

"Too slow!" Iris taunted, as she practically flew up. "Wake me when you catch up." She lay down on a high, sturdy branch with her hands folded behind her head.

Meanwhile, Ash was having a lot more difficulty. The branches were becoming even more difficult to reach and hold on to. But Ash was persistent. He was not about to lose after Iris had made fun of him.

"Ash, this is crazy! Get down here right now!" Misty yelled up to him when he was about eight feet off the ground.

May let out a small scream when he nearly slipped and lost grasp. She turned to whoever was standing at her right, which happened to be Paul.

"Do you think he'll be okay?" she asked him worriedly.

"Nope, he's a goner." Paul responded bluntly. This caused May to panic and start shrieking at him.

"Get someone! Get a teacher!"

"It's not worth it, Ash! Just come back down!" Drew called up. When he refused, Drew called out again. "I'm going to tell the teacher if you don't!"

"Tattletale!" Gary accused his green-haired friend, causing him to hesitate. Seeing, that he had prevented the arrival of a teacher (which would have no doubt put a stop to all the fun), Gary shouted out to Ash.

"Come on, Ashy-boy! You're not even close to where she is!" he cheered wildly.

Ash ignored his friends' shouts of protest as he continued his way up. Iris was looking down at him from her spot, with a face that clearly said "There is no way you can do it." He would show her!

SNAP! Ash suddenly found that the branch under his feet broke off. He was now hanging onto a weak branch with both hands, flailing his legs around, trying to get some footing. Everyone below him was now screaming and yelling. He could even hear Gary's voice, but it didn't sound like he was enjoying this anymore.

"Hold on!" He heard Iris yell as she tried to quickly get to a branch near him to help. His grip was slowly failing, but he wasn't going to let go. He wasn't going to give up...

Unfortunately, the branch he was holding on to had different plans. It broke away, right before Iris could reach him.

"Owww..." Ash moaned, clearly in pain, as the school nurse examined his ankle.

"Hmmm. Good news is, it doesn't look like it's broken." Nurse Joy informed him. "Bad news is, it's a pretty bad sprain. You're going to have to stay off that foot for a while."

"I'm so sorry." Iris apologized, looking ashamed. She and Ash's friends were in the nurse's office with him. "I didn't think you would actually try to climb so high."

"Well, one thing about Ash is that he never gives up. Even if what he's doing is dumb." Misty looked as if she wasn't sure whether she should be worried about her friend, or angry at him for making her worry. But she did show a bit of annoyance at Iris for making him get himself hurt in the first place.

"Sorry..." Iris really meant it, but Ash was too preoccupied with his ankle to show whether he accepted her apology or not.

"It's a good thing you came to get me, Drew. That was very responsible of you."

When the branch had snapped from under Ash's feet, Drew, after a brief moment of panic, had left hurriedly to get a teacher. The teacher he had found on supervision was Mrs. Thomas, his grade one teacher from last year. While she hadn't arrived in time to avoid the fall, she got Ash to the nurse's office. She had remained with them there to see if her last year's student was okay.

"Recess is over. You kids should get back to class." Nurse Joy advised the six grade-two students.

"But, what about Ash?" May asked anxiously.

"I will call his mother so she can take him to the doctor. He'll be all right, so you have nothing to be worried about." Nurse Joy assured her.

"It's okay guys; I'm fine." Ash managed to say, through all that pain.

One by one, his friends left after saying byes, Gary being the tiniest bit jealous at all the attention Ash was getting. Iris was the last to go, evidently still feeling guilty about being the reason Ash got hurt. She looked at him hesitantly before she went out the door.

"Sorry, Ash." she attempted to apologize again. With great effort, he managed a smile.

"It's okay. It's kinda my fault too." Iris, glad to finally have her apology accepted, went off to class.

Everyone had definitely learned a lesson today: Don't climb a tree unless you actually know how to.

And it's Iris's turn to hop in! Poor Ash though.

Please review, and thanks for reading!

Bye bye for now! And have a smiling day! :)