Hellooooo all you wonderful readers!

I'd been meaning to finish this chapter and post it before I left for vacation (I was travelling most of August), but I didn't get to, so here it is now! Happy reading!

Today's topic was suggested by Cosmo!

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

Future Coordinators

Grade One

May (6), Drew (6), Ash (6), Gary (6), Paul (7)

"Okay, everyone," said May's teacher, Mrs. Thomas, clapping her hands to get her students' attention. "Today, class is going to be a little different from usual. The grade ten students have agreed to let us join them for their Pokemon coordinating class."

An excited murmur went through the room. A lot of her classmates loved anything to do with Pokemon, May knew. She wasn't a big fan herself, but the idea of coordinating wasn't that bad. She and Drew had once ended up in one of the higher grades' coordinating class, and May had thought Pokemon coordinating sounded really nice. In fact, she felt a little excited to go on this field trip.

"Pokemon coordinating is similar to normal Pokemon training," Mrs. Thomas explained. "However, in coordinating, the point is to show off your Pokemon rather than defeat your opponent's."

Yes, May knew that. An upper grade student, Harley, had told her. She waited a little impatiently, finding it difficult to concentrate on the rest of what the teacher was saying. Finally, Mrs. Thomas asked everyone to line up. Soon, they were making their way to the high school hall.

"We already know about Pokemon cord-nating," May whispered to Ash, Gary and Paul, gesturing to herself and Drew. "We saw people cord-nating with our own eyes."

"That's so cool!" said Ash, his eyes gleaming.

"So what?" said Gary, crossing his arms. "I see it on TV all the time."

"But we didn't see it on TV, we saw it in real life," said May. Sure, they'd mostly just seen students let out their Pokemon, but it was close enough, right?

"Well," said Gary, trying not to sound jealous. "It's not a big deal. Pokemon battles are much cooler!"

"Nuh-uh," said May. "Cord-nating is pretty!"

"Coordinating is girly," said Gary.

"Actually," said Drew. "There are boy coordinators too." Besides the students he'd seen with May before, he'd also seen plenty of male coordinators on TV, and they could coordinate beautifully.

"Only weak boys are coordinators," said Gary. He knew it couldn't be true - he'd heard of a top coordinator who'd also become a gym leader.

"No talking," Mrs. Thomas called sternly from the front of the line. May and her friends didn't talk the rest of the way after that.

But Drew looked a little upset at what Gary had said. May tried to give him an encouraging look, but he was more focused on being quiet than noticing her. May frowned at Gary. He'll see, she thought. Cord-nating is great!

When they arrived at the Pokemon battle and coordinating hall, May found that she recognized a couple of the older students from the grade tens: Harley and Solidad. She bounced excitedly as Mrs. Thomas talked about the rules and being respectful.

"Now everyone, please find a grade ten partner," said Mrs. Thomas. "You'll be spending the rest of class with them, and they'll show you their Pokemon and tell you about their experiences. And if we have time at the end, we might even have a coordinating battle."

"Wow, this is so cool!" said Ash, looking around as most of their classmates scattered to meet the grade tens. "Who should I partner with?"

"I think I know who I could go with," said Drew, and he started heading to Solidad.

"I wanna say hi too," said May, skipping after him.

"Well, if it isn't Drew and May," said Solidad, smiling at them when they reached her. "How are you guys?"

"We're good," said Drew. "Wanna be my partner?"

"Sure! What about you, May? You want me to find someone for you?"

Before May could reply, Harley walked up to them. "Oh, you two sugar-plums are in this grade one class?" he said, looking at May and Drew.

"I know you!" May exclaimed, pointing at him. "You're Harry!"

"Harley, Honey-bun," he corrected, smiling despite his twitching eyebrow.

"I know," said Solidad. "You can be May's partner, Harley, since you two already know each other."

"Yes!" said May happily. "I got a partner now too, Drew!" She looked around. "I wonder if the others did too."

"I see them," said Drew, pointing them out. "There's Ash, with that guy with the black hair."

Solidad nodded. "That's Nando. He's pretty good at making his Pokemon moves look elegant and graceful. He usually uses sound, and musical moves."

But May was looking for Gary. "There's Gary," she said pointing him out to Drew. "See? He has to do it too. He'll see Pokemon cord-nating isn't weak!"

"Is that what your friend said?" said Harley, shaking his head. "He knows nothing, does he?"

"He'll change his mind soon enough," said Solidad. "It looks like he's with Robert. He's one of the best in the class."

"It's only because of his Milotic," said Harley. "The teachers just think it looks beautiful and give him high grades."

"He worked hard to raise it, though," said Solidad thoughtfully. "Remember when it was a Feebas?"

"Maybe, but the teachers have no appreciation for different styles, like mine. They're all biased."

"What kind of style do you have, Harley?" May asked curiously.

Harley smirked. "Glad you asked. Say hello to my Pokemon!"

The Pokemon he let out was green and spiky, like a giant cactus. May backed away, gasping, but she managed to swallow her fear. She had to be partners with him, after all. "What Pokemon is this?"

She doesn't know about Cacturne? Harley thought, annoyed. But he plastered a smile on his face. "This is Cacturne, my partner Pokemon."

"It's kind of scary," May said, shivering.

Scary? he thought, his irritation growing. Who does she think she is, thinking my Cacturne is scary!

Solidad turned to Drew and May. "Here's one thing to keep in mind: any kind of Pokemon can win contests as long as you work hard with them and help them shine. Harley's style might be different from someone like Robert's, but he's great at making his Pokemon appear their best!"

May and Drew nodded.

"Does everyone have a partner?" Mrs. Thomas asked. "Anyone who doesn't please line up here, and I'll help you find someone."

May noticed that Paul was one of the ones who lined up in front of their teacher. He got put with a girl with long pink hair named Paris. It looked like everyone had a partner now.

"All right," said Mrs. Thomas. "You have the rest of class to get to know your partner and their Pokemon, and learn about Pokemon coordinating. Then, we'll see if we can have a short demonstration of a contest battle."

The hall filled with chatter as the grade ten students let out their Pokemon, and the grade ones admired them and asked questions. May noticed Gary was fixated on Robert's Milotic, and she smiled self-righteously. Not even Gary could say Pokemon coordinating was for weak people! She turned to Drew to see if he'd noticed, but he was too busy admiring Solidad's Slowbro. Oh well - he didn't look as upset as when Gary had been teasing him, at least.

Even though Harley was May's partner, they ended up making a sort of group of four with Solidad and Drew. Both Solidad and Harley explained the rules of Pokemon contests, how the first stage was the Performance Stage, where coordinators had to show off their Pokemon's style and skills, while in the second stage, the Battle Stage, they battled against each other for five minutes, showing off their Pokemon's abilities in battle to make their opponent lose points. And, if they won the whole contest, they earned a ribbon.

Finally, Mrs. Thomas and the grade ten teacher (whose name May did not remember) announced that they were going to have a Pokemon contest battle demonstration, though only a three-minute one, and asked if any of the students wanted to participate.

"Can we?" May asked excitedly. She looked at Drew. "You want to, right? We can be like cord-naters!"

Drew nodded. "It sounds like lots of fun."

Solidad turned to Harley, grinning. "What do you say, Harley?"

He smirked back. "I'd say let's give these little gingerbread cookies what they want."

Solidad talked to her teacher, and she and Harley volunteered.

"Come on," said Solidad, leading them to the battle stage while the teachers settled down the students. "Let's show everyone what we got."

Solidad took one end of the battle field with Drew, while May readied herself at the other with Harley. Robert, who'd volunteered as referee, stood with Gary and started the match.

"Cacturne, time to shine!" Harley sent his Cacturne into battle.

"Slowbro, go!" Solidad's Slowbrow got on stage.

"Cacturne's a dark and grass type, and Slowbro's a water and psychic type," May heard Gary say to Robert. "So May's team has the advantage."

"In a regular battle, yes," Robert replied. "But we can't be too sure about that in a contest battle."

"Still," Harley said to May, smirking. "Having a type advantage definitely helps. Cacturne, use Bullet Seed!"

Cacturne let out a glowing Bullet Seed.

"Looks like a great Bullet Seed," Robert commented. "It might make Solidad lose points."

"Just because it looks nice?" Gary said, tilting his head.

"Mm-hm."

"Dodge it while spinning, Slowbro!" Solidad called.

Slowbro avoided the Bullet Seed by spinning on the end of its tail. It looked really cool, in May's opinion.

"A dodge like that," Robert told Gary, "would make Harley lose points."

"Even just a dodge?" said Gary.

This was tougher than May thought - they not only had to attack, they had to make sure the attack hit.

"Wanna help me out, Drew?" Solidad said to her grade one partner.

"Um, Slowbro could use Yawn?" Drew suggested. "Then if Cacturne falls asleep, it wouldn't be able to do anything and make us lose points."

"Good idea! Let's try it out. Slowbro, use Yawn!"

A bubble floated out of Slowbro's mouth.

"Oh no," said May. "If it falls asleep, we won't be able to do anything!"

Harley smirked. "We won't go down that easy. We can use a move to avoid it."

"Like Bullet Seed again?"

"Maybe. Or... Cacturne, use Poison Sting!"

Cacturne let out a Poison Sting; it popped the Yawn bubble mid-air in a burst of purple sparkles before it could reach Cacturne.

"Now, Cacturne," said Harley. "Use Needle Arm!"

Cacturne's spikes began to glow and grow, and it ran towards Slowbro, ready to strike.

"We have to dodge," said Drew.

"Or, we could try something else," said Solidad, winking. "Let it come close to you, Slowbro!"

"Yay, we're gonna win!" May cheered.

But Harley looked pensive. "What's she up to...?" Then his eyes flashed with understanding. "Wait a minute!"

"Slowbro, now!" Solidad called when Cacturne had nearly reached it. "Use Hyper Beam!"

But Harley had realized what was about to happen in time. "Hit the ground with Needle Arm to help jump up!"

Slowbro let out a powerful blast of Hyper Beam, but Cacturne's Needle Arm helped it launch itself into the air just enough to dodge. It landed on its feet, a little shaken, but still standing. Harley smirked. "That was a close one."

"Uh oh," said Solidad. "Slowbro can't move right after Hyper Beam."

"Then what do we do?" Drew asked.

"I know what we can do," said Harley.

"Attack it and win!" May cheered.

"Cacturne, use Needle Arm!" Harley ordered.

Cacturne used Needle Arm, and this time, it hit too.

"Now, Needle Arm again!"

Again, Needle Arm hit, but suddenly, Slowbro could move again. "Quick, while it's close, use Yawn!" Solidad said.

Before Cacturne could put space between them, Slowbro used Yawn, and the bubble popped right in Cacturne's face. Cacturne began to look sleepy.

"Oh no," May gasped. "Cacturne's gonna fall asleep!"

Harley gritted his teeth. "All right, then, we'll just have to do as much damage as possible before it does. Cacturne, use Needle Arm!"

"Slowbro, Water Gun while spinning on your tail!"

Cacturne charged at Slowbro with a glowing Needle Arm. It managed to cut through Slowbro's spinning Water Gun, but didn't reach Slowbro on time. Still, the pose it struck after neutralizing the Water Gun made it look really impressive...

And then it fell asleep.

"No, Cacturne!" May cried.

"I think we're winning," said Drew, beaming at Solidad.

"That depends on how many points they made us lose," Solidad said.

"Then we should attack it before it wakes up, right?"

"Yes. Slowbro, use—"

"Aaand times up," Robert said suddenly. "Three minutes are over, and so is the match."

May let out a sigh of relief, while Drew looked a little disappointed.

"Wow, that was really cool," Gary marvelled.

"Looks like that's it," said Mrs. Thomas. "Normally, we would also have a panel of judges who would decide how many points each coordinator loses with each turn. I don't think we need it for today, though."

"I wanna try next," Ash exclaimed. "He looked at his partner, Nando. "Can we go next?"

"I'm sorry, Ash," said Mrs. Thomas. "But we don't have time for another battle." Then, she said to the whole class, "Grade ones, say thank you to your partner, and get ready to head back to class."

A ripple of disappointed groans went through the room, but the students complied.

"Thank you, Harley," May chirped. "You're really good at this."

"Of course I am," said Harley, smirking. "I do plan on being a coordinator, after all."

Drew looked at Solidad. "You wanna be a one too?"

"That's the dream!"

"Aw," said May. "I wish we coulda done this for longer. It was lotsa fun!"

"Me too," said Drew.

"Who knows? Maybe we will," said Solidad, winking. "If you two ever decide to be coordinators too, we can face off in a real contest."

On the way back, May thought about their coordinating class. She still hadn't decided what she wanted to be when she was older, or if she wanted to be a trainer to begin with, but so far, she was really enjoying coordinating. Paul didn't seem much different from usual, but Gary and Ash seemed to have enjoyed it a lot too!

She glanced at Drew. Was he planning on becoming a future coordinator like Harley and Solidad? If she became one too, then they could all be rivals!

Hmm... cord-nating...

And done!

So how was it? Good? Bad? Mediocre? Tell me in your reviews!

Solidad and Harley seem to be getting more attention than I expected when I first wrote them into the story. To be honest, when I first watched the anime, I wasn't as interested in the two, but after writing suggestions on them, and rewatching some scenes for inspiration, I've been enjoying them a whole lot more! I feel like that's the thing with fanfic: by reading and writing it, you can connect with characters you otherwise wouldn't have connected with in the same way.

Anyways, thanks for reading!

Bye bye for now! Have a great day, and smile all the way! :)