Hello! Sorry for my later-than-usual update, but to be honest, I actually didn't think I'd get to update this week at all! Good thing that isn't the case!

Today's topic was suggested by Ready to Fly!

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

All In A Day's Work

Grade One

May (6), Ash (6), Gary (6), Drew (6), Paul (6)

"Okay, everyone, settle down." Mrs. Thomas caught all of her grade one students' attention. Everyone stopped chatting and faced their teacher.

"Now, as you all know, it was Job Day three days ago on Friday, and many of you went to work with a parent or other family member. I think it would be fun to start off the day with some of you sharing what you did there. So, who wants to go first?"

Many of the grade one students raised their hands, some waiting patiently to get called on, while others waved frantically to get the teacher's attention.

"Pick me, pick me!" Gary, along with a few others, yelled out.

"Hmm," Mrs. Thomas looked around. "I am going to choose someone who is being quiet and waiting patiently. How about... Paul? I'm pretty sure your brother said something about taking you to his work."

Paul scowled, as he had not been raising his hand, and did not feel like sharing his experience. Mrs. Thomas just had a habit of picking people who weren't offering an answer. Probably to get everyone involved.

"My brother works at a grocery store. I had to sit in a chair, and it was very boring." Paul answered sourly.

"And what did your brother do?"

"He sold lots of stuff. He got lots of money too, but he didn't give me any."

"Well, he was the one doing the work, so it's natural that he's the one getting paid."

"But he got lots of money! He kept putting it in a big box, all for himself." Paul spoke as if a great injustice had been made against him.

Mrs. Thomas tapped her chin as she thought. "You mean he put it in the cash register?"

"Y-yeah. That."

"Actually, Paul, all that money wasn't for him. Your brother is a cashier, so he just makes sure the customers pay for what they are buying and collects the money. All that money would belong to his employer, who would give your brother some money later to pay for all the work he did. He doesn't get to keep most of the money he made."

Paul cocked his head curiously. "But why? Why does he give all that money to someone else? He's the one who made it."

"Because the things he's selling do not belong to him. His job is to sell them for someone else."

"Why would he do that?"

"Because then he gets paid for it."

"But if he just sold stuff for himself, he'd make much more money."

"But he does not have that many things to sell. He would have to first buy them from somewhere else, and them sell them."

"But-"

"Okay, it was nice of you to share all that, Paul!" Mrs. Thomas interrupted, wanting to get a move-on. "Next to speak will be... Drew. Thank you for waiting in such a well-behaved manner."

Drew proudly sat up straighter. "My dad was too busy to take me to work with him." he admitted. "But my butler told me what he does."

"Do you want to share it with the class?"

"Yes." Drew tried to recall what his butler had told him. "My dad owns a big company. He has to sit in a desk, and..." Drew's eyebrows furrowed as he tried to remember the rest. "And... he does a lot of serious stuff."

"Like?"

"Um... I can't really remember." Drew felt a bit embarrassed.

"That's alright, Drew. Why May! You're certainly being patient. Why don't you share your experience with the class?"

May looked a bit puzzled. "I don't have any... ex-prence." she said, not really knowing what the word actually meant.

"By experience, I mean what you learned when you went to work with one of your parents. Was there anything interesting that you want to share?"

"Yes. I got lots of exper-ence, then."

"Why don't you tell us about it?"

"Okay!"

(Flashback)

"Here we are, May! The gym where I work." Norman, May's father told her. He was a gym leader, so May had been to his gym before, but this time, he was going to show her exactly what he did here.

"Are you going to battle someone today?" May asked excitedly.

"Well, actually, today I'm not taking on any challengers."

"Why?"

"Because today, I'll be showing you the gym, so if I'm battling and you're cheering for me, the challenger might get distracted."

"I'll be quiet and good!" May promised, feeling a bit disappointed.

Norman shook his head. "Sorry, no can do. But I have some friends coming over, and they can help me show you how a gym battle goes!"

"When are they coming?"

"They should be here any..."

"Norman!" A loud pompous voice filled the air.

May turned and saw two men coming in. One was familiar; he was her father's old friend Professor Birch. The other though, the one who had spoken, was a jolly-looking man with a white beard. May was reminded of Santa Claus, although this man's beard was much shorter, and he looked a bit smaller than how May imagined Santa to be.

"Wattson! Professor Birch! Glad you two could make it!" Norman greeted. "May, you know Professor Birch. And this is Wattson, another gym leader."

"Hello!" May greeted. But she couldn't keep her eyes off Wattson's beard. Like many others before her, she was tempted to give it a tug to see whether it was real or not. She resisted, though, since she knew neither he nor her father would appreciate it. Also, she couldn't reach all the way up there.

"We are going to demonstrate how a gym battle plays out, okay May? I am going to be the gym leader, Wattson will be the challenger, and Birch will be the referee. You watch closely. One day, you might just end up on the battle field!" Norman said to his daughter.

Soon, they were all set. Norman was standing on one end, facing off against Wattson, and Birch was standing where the referee did while May was sitting in the sidelines.

"The battle between Norman the gym leader and Wattson the challenger will now begin!" Birch announced. "Each side will use one Pokemon each, and the battle will be over when either side is unable to continue. Now battle... begin!"

"Vigoroth, go!" Norman sent out his choice.

"Go Magneton!" Wattson's Pokemon appeared on the field.

And thus the battle began. Both sides battled for a long time, neither giving in. And naturally, May forgot all about her promise to stay quiet.

"Watch out Daddy!" she shrieked when Vigoroth nearly got hit with a Thunderbolt. Fortunately, both gym leaders were very experienced and knew how to handle these sorts of distractions.

Finally, the battle ended.

"Magneton is unable to battle." Birch announced. "That means Vigoroth is the winner, and the match goes to Norman, the gym leader!"

"Yay!" May cheered, running up to her father. Her daddy was the strongest trainer in the whole world!

"Well, Norman, I must say, that was a good battle!" Wattson declared as he held out his hand for him to shake.

"Yes it was. Thank you so much for agreeing to come here."

As the two shook hands, Norman's eyes widened a bit as his hand vibrated.

Wattson gave a hearty laugh as he let go. In his hand was a small button, which from the looks of it had given Norman a small shock.

"Got you!"

Norman chuckled in return. "Yes, you got me!"

"Well, I need to head back to my own gym now. See you another time, Norman!" With that, Wattson left. May waved after him, but he didn't notice.

"That Wattson! What prankster!" Birch said, walking up to his friend.

"You're right there!" Norman agreed. "You staying for dinner?"

"Thanks! Your wife is the best cook around! Let's go then."

"Just a minute." Norman turned to his daughter. "Well, May, that is how a gym battle looks like. For my gym, we usually use three Pokemon each, with no substitutions allowed for me. So, that's that!"

"Okay!" May nodded her head to show that she understood. Then, they all went to see what May's mother, Caroline, had prepared for dinner. .

(Flashback ended)

"And then, we ate rice for dinner, and vegetables too." May concluded.

"You sure had a great day!" Mrs. Thomas commented. "Let's see. Who else has a story for us? Now you've been very patient, Ash. Why don't you go next?"

Ash quickly and eagerly said yes. Gary looked a bit annoyed that he didn't get picked.

(Flashback)

Ash's mother, Delia, led her son through the kitchen doors. Delia ran a restaurant called Pallet House, and today, she was going to show Ash around, and show him what she did in the kitchen.

"And here is the stove." she said, pointed it out to Ash.

"Wow! It's bigger than the one we have at home!" Ash exclaimed.

"Of course, dear, I have to cook a lot more here than at home. Actually, maybe not…" She remembered how big of an appetite her son had.

"Delia!" One of the waitresses burst through the kitchen doors. "We have a very important customer today! He's a trainer, and he says he might give a pretty big tip if he's satisfied. He wants us to make him one of our top noodle dishes!"

"Really? And today of all days?" It was pretty rare that rich trainers stopped by at Pallet House. They preferred the higher-rating restaurants, not that Pallet House was low-rating or anything.

"Ash, honey," Delia turned to her son. "I'm sorry, but we'll have to continue your tour later. I have to work now."

"Oh." Ash looked a bit disappointed for a second. But then his eyes brightened up. "I can help!"

"Sure, sweetie! Just do as I say, and we can get the trainer's meal cooked in no time!" Delia was surprised she hadn't thought of this first. Maybe Ash's day wouldn't have to be ruined after all.

Soon, she was set at the stove with an eager Ash wearing an over-sized apron standing beside her.

"Please pass the salt shaker, Chef Ash." Delia instructed.

"On it!" Ash stood on a stool so he could see everything that was on the counter. He scanned all the objects, his eyes finally landing on the shaker. He reached out for it, but accidentally knocked over an open bottle of chilli sauce.

"Oops!" Abandoning the salt shaker, Ash quickly got paper towels to clean up the chilli sauce that had ended up on the counter. "Sorry Mom."

"It's okay, Ash." Sighing, Delia got the salt herself. A little spilt sauce was okay. It was only an accident after all. At least he hadn't spilt something bigger, like...

Suddenly, there was a thud behind her. She whipped her head around to catch sight of a guilty-looking Ash, with flour all over him. He wasn't the only thing currently covered in white powder. The floor was as well.

"Whoops…" Ash murmured guiltily.

"Ash, what happened?" Delia asked, a bit exasperatedly.

"I thought we could make a cake." Ash answered. "But the bag of flour was too heavy."

Delia ran a hand through her hair and smiled tiredly. She now remembered why she hadn't thought of letting Ash help her first. The kid was too accident-prone!

"Ash, sweetie, thank you so much for trying to help me, but I think I can handle this on my own. Why don't you sit on that chair over there, and I'll get to you as soon as I'm done cooking. Okay?"

"Okay…" Ash said glumly as he trudged to his newly assigned position. The look on his face made Delia want to take back her words, but she knew she needed to work. She'll just have to make up for it later.

After a while, of working, Delia came across a small problem. Her eyebrows furrowed as she searched for something on the counter, moving aside bottles of sauce and empty packages. As she didn't locate what she wasn't looking for, se became even more stressed.

"What's wrong, Mom?" Ash asked curiously.

"There is a small red jar of a certain spice that I need to add, but I can't find it." Delia answered distractedly. "I know I put it here. Maybe my mind is playing tricks on me, and I left it back there…" She went to a different location in the kitchen.

"Why don't you use something else?" Ash questioned.

"I can't. That spice is one of the main ingredients!" She went to a cupboard and began looking through it.

Ash watched his mother worriedly. He always felt anxious whenever he could sense his mother was stressed. Bu it wasn't like he could do anything about it.

Suddenly, a flash of red caught his eye. It came from the counter beside the stove where his mother was working. The red jar! It had somehow gotten pushed to the very back, and a bit behind the large pot in which the noodles were currently boiling.

"Mom, it's over there!" Ash pointed to the jar.

Delia quickly hurried to where he was pointing. "Where?"

"Over there!"

Delia frowned. "I don't see it." She couldn't from the angle she was looking.

Ash got up from his chair and walked over to the stool where he was standing before. He stood on it, and went onto his tippy-toes, reaching as far as he could. Finally, the red jar came into his grasp, but as he brought his hand back, it touched the boiling pot on the stove, leaving a tiny burn.

"Ow!"

"Oh dear!" Delia immediately brought her son over to the sink, where she washed his burn with cold water. She smiled warmly at him.

"It was a very good thing you spotted the jar." she said. "Maybe I should call you Super Ash instead of Chef Ash!"

Ash felt proud of his heroic deed.

(Flashback ended)

"And then, my mom put a band-aid on my hand." Ash showed-off his band-aid to the class. "And she made me an extra-special dinner!"

"Wow! What a busy day!" Mrs. Thomas said. She turned to Gary, who had realized he'd have to wait a lot more quietly to get picked. "Gary! You want a turn?"

"Yes! I went to my grandpa's lab." Gary began, before quickly adding, "He's Professor Oak, and he's famous!"

"Is he now?" Mrs. thomas said, even though she already knew.

"Yeah!" Gary confirmed. "I always go to his lab, so I already knew everything."

"Did anything interesting happen?"

"Yes! There was an Eevee, but it was very scared of everyone. But I became its friend. Not even Grandpa could do that!"

"Wow! Impressive!"

"I know! And then, when I went outside, a Raticate tried to attack me. But then, I battled with Eevee, and won!"

"You won a battle? All by yourself!"

"Yes! My grandpa helped a teeny-tiny bit, but I did most of it."

"I see."

"He said that I might become an even better trainer than he used to be. Maybe even the Pokemon Master!"

"I certainly think so too."

"I want to be Pokemon Master too." Ash put in.

"You won't be able to." Gary said. "Because I'm gonna be the master!"

"I don't see why both of you can't be." Mrs. Thomas said, trying to stop any would-be arguments.

"But there can't be two masters! There is only one!" Gary protested.

"How about we discuss this later?" Mrs. Thomas said quickly, having no intention to. "Right now, I think Kelly has something she wants to share with us." She picked a girl with a pink bow in her short, purple hair to go next.

After Kelly told everyone all about making Pokeblock with her mother, Mrs. Thomas picked another, and then another student until everyone had a turn. It seemed like everyone had a day full of experience!

Done! I'll try to update sooner next week, but this week is going to be busy, so no promises.

Please review, and thanks for reading!

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