This is probably going to be my last in the series of daily chapters. Reason being, I have an outline for Chapter 6 that is going to make it quite a lot longer than this one. That one might be Monday evening or Tuesday morning.
In other news, thank you all for over 1,000 views! This story isn't even close to being over, so I feel an immense amount of excitement about what I can achieve with this.
Enjoy Chapter 5!
Serena drove them down a long driveway, one that led to a small building towards the front of the campus. There were only a few other cars parked; it wasn't that crowded here at this hour, and because it was technically still summer break.;
"Like I said", she told Ash, Lucas, and Dawn, "it's better to sign up earlier in the day rather than later. It'll get really crowded later this morning, and especially in the afternoon. Instead, we'll complete everything now".
Serena parked them in front of the building, and they all got out. Ash was able to see even more of the university's campus now that the inside of the car wasn't obstructing some of his view.
He could tell that there were a good amount of trees on campus, as well as some grassy spaces. He could see basketball courts, a baseball field, tennis courts, battling courts, and a soccer field. Clearly, this place was well-equipped for sporting events. Ash had never been the most athletic in his year at school, not even close, but he still appreciated the value of sports, that they fostered team spirit.
They entered the building, where a bespectacled woman was sitting at a desk. "Ah...new students showing up early!" she exclaimed. "What brings you here at this hour, besides the obvious?"
"You know what it is" Ash said. "We're here to register for our classes".
"Ah, yes" she replied. "Well...please tell me. What are your names?"
"Ash Ketchum" our hero said, jumping the gun before those in front of him (Serena and Dawn) got a chance to say theirs.
"Serena Courtland".
"Dawn Starlow".
"Lucas Winters".
"Okay" the woman behind the desk said. "I have some forms for all of you to fill out. I'll hand them over to you, and you can write your information down. Once that is done, the information will be processed, and then I'll hand you guys your schedules".
The four young adults nodded to show that they understood. Then, the woman handed out the forms and four pens.
"Fill these out and then come back" she said.
Ash, Serena, Lucas, and Dawn settled down onto the chairs near the desk. Looking down at the information, Ash quickly started filling it out.
For the most part, the information was very simple. Things like date of birth, place of birth, address, name, age, height, weight, shoe size, eye color, hair color, had you ever been hospitalized, if so what for and when, GPA, etc., were included.
Why are they asking us if we've ever been hospitalized?, Ash wondered. Is this place going to be dangerous? I sure hope not!
Ash completed the sheet in less than five minutes. He had memorized all of that information long ago, and didn't have any trouble bringing it back now. He was the first one of the four of them to finish.
After he handed it in, the woman asked, "Are you with the other three of them?"
"Yeah" Ash replied. "We all came here together".
"Okay" she said. "Wait until they are all done, and then we'll print out your schedules. I hope that you enjoy your time at Greater Pastoria University".
"Thanks" the young man said in response. "I'm glad you want us to enjoy it".
She nodded, and then they waited for everyone else to complete it. Lucas was the last one done.
"I can't remember if I've ever been hospitalized" he said. "Or my shoe size, for that matter. It's been forever since I got new shoes".
"The reason for your measurements", the woman behind the desk said, clearly having overheard the conversation, "is because uniforms are going to be made for you using them. They'll be delivered to the address written on those forms on the day before classes begin, so you had better have put the correct address down".
Lucas double-checked the address he had written on the sheet. "I did" he said. "Put the right address down, I mean".
"That's good" the woman said. "And the health information is just if you have a medical emergency or something like that. That's what it's all for, so please, turn in your paper, Lucas, once you have answered all of the questions".
"I'll just say no to the hospitalization question" the boy in the beret said. "I really don't know".
"You can write, 'I don't know' there".
"Really?" Lucas replied. "I guess I'll do that, then".
He handed in his sheet, and the woman went over to a printer. After she pressed a couple of buttons to get the thing running, she placed the sheets into the machine.
"All right. Your schedules are getting printed out right now. I hope that all of you enjoy your studies at Greater Pastoria University; it is considered one of the greatest in the Sinnoh region".
How insecure do they have to be to brag about it like that?, Ash wondered. Like, come ON.
Once their schedules had been printed out, the woman behind the desk handed them back to the prospective students. "Have a nice day" she said.
The four of them got back into Serena's car, and she started the engine. While Serena herself couldn't look at her own schedule for obvious reasons, the other three of them were looking at their schedules closely.
Ash saw that on Tuesday, which would be his first day of classes, his schedule was the following:
8:00 AM - Arrival
8:15 AM - Mathematics
9:15 AM - Pokemon Biology
10:15 AM - Home Economics
11:15 AM - Physical Education
12:15 AM - Lunch
1:00 PM - Ancient History of Sinnoh
2:00 PM - Creative Writing
3:00 PM - Dismissal
These sound like some interesting classes, he thought. I sure hope that they actually do turn out to be interesting. Because in high school, I was always bored out of my mind.
Serena steered the car down the road that led away from the campus.
"You don't want to drive around some more?" Ash asked. "See some more of the campus first?"
She shook her head. "It's really not a campus you can drive around. There aren't a lot of roads here, so you really just have to walk around. I didn't want to stay a second longer than we had to".
"Why not?" Lucas asked. "It would have been a bit helpful to learn our way around the place a little more".
Dawn poked her boyfriend in the side. "But the battling club, Lucas. Isn't that more important?"
Ash laughed; he couldn't help himself. He looked back to find that the two lovebirds were tickling each other playfully, acting like they were much younger than they really were.
Really, that's kind of immature, one part of his mind said. But I suppose it's romantic.
Of course it's romantic, another part of his mind said. Lucas and Dawn are dating. It's romantic.
Fair enough.
"The battling club isn't too far from here" Serena explained. "It's in the town of Blankenship; we'll be there in roughly five minutes".
"And what kinds of facilities are there at this battling club?" asked Ash. "I don't think I've ever been to one of those before".
"They're much like country clubs, except for Pokemon, and, instead of golf, there is battling. They have a couple of courts, and that's where Pokemon can practice their moves. It's really quite nice".
"But trainers are welcome there as well" Lucas said. "I come here with Orkun when Serena invites me. Which is almost every time she goes".
"Yeah. We've been members for quite a while, as long as I can remember, actually. And it's great; they have a swimming pool in the basement, as well as a fitness center for trainers. They've even got a little bit of an inn up top, which you can pay to stay at, but it costs a fortune".
"How much are we talking?" Ash asked.
"Oh, five, six thousand a night" she said simply. "It's a much-desired place to stay".
I can't imagine why, Ash thought. Wouldn't a lot of noise be made with all of the Pokemon battling below you?
Soon, they entered the town of Blankenship, which was fairly close to the ocean. From the top of the hill, where the sign advertising the town was, the water was visible, blue as the sky, but glinting gold in the morning sunlight.
Once they were in the town, there seemed to be a good number of people about, mostly minding their own business. Some of them were carrying grocery bags.
"I guess today's a big shopping day" Ash said.
"Eh, not really" Dawn replied. "I think that a lot of the grocery stores in Blankenship are right near here. I can guarantee that, once we're away from this neighborhood, we're going to be seeing a lot less of those grocery bags".
"I see".
Eventually, Serena parked the car in a parking lot right next to Blankenship Harbor. "I don't think that a walk will do us any harm" she said. "It's about half a mile from here to the club".
Ash wasn't too focused on that, however. He was more focused on looking around at his surroundings.
Blankenship was a small town, seemingly built around the harbor. It was surrounded on three sides by mountains, or at least large hills; they had, after all, just come down a large hill in order to get here.
Even though the morning was warm, a strong sea breeze made it seem somewhat chilly. Ash found himself shivering slightly as they walked along the harbor.
"There it is" Serena said. "Like I said, you can't miss it".
Ash didn't remember her ever saying that, but, he conceded to himself, he must not have been paying attention at that time. That was entirely possible; he was no stranger to spacing out at times when he wasn't interested in the current conversation.
The building was very large, covering an entire city block. It was clear to tell that it could have held a great many things inside; it probably held at least six battling courts, probably a lot more than that.
"How many are there?" Ash asked. "Battling courts, I mean?"
"There are twenty-four" Serena replied. "Eight per floor, and then the basement has the fitness room and the pool. There's a lot to love about the place".
"I can imagine".
They walked in, and Serena introduced herself as a member. She then let all of her guests in behind her, through the revolving gate.
"Here it is" the young woman said, gesturing around her. "The Blankenship Battling Club".
Plastered all over the walls were photographs of various Pokemon, as well as trophies. There was also a leaderboard of some sort.
In bright green digital letters, the leaderboard displayed the names of various trainers and what Ash assumed were their...scores? He didn't know.
1st: Mitchell "Cocaine Mitch" Canneloni - 117,451
2nd: Sarah Culpepper - 116,461
3rd: Rainbow Dash - 101,139
4th: Serena Courtland - 71,851
5th: Karla Sawden - 65,718
6th: Sammy Kramer - 59,319
7th: Nicolas Nintendonut - 36,496
8th: Little Dicky - 32,446
9th: William "Billy" Talent - 21,924
10th: Tom Joad - 20,715
"Wait...there's someone named Cocaine Mitch here?" Ash asked.
Serena groaned. "He's the most arrogant motherfucking jerkface here. Trust me, you don't want to meet him. Being top of the rankings only makes him more self-righteous".
Lucas laughed. "Ever since he rose to the top of the rankings, everyone has been wanting to ditch Cocaine Mitch. They don't want him at the top anymore, because that's the cause of some of his arrogance. But they also just really hate him in general. They also call him a swamp captain for whatever reason".
"Swamp captain?" Ash asked. "What the hell does that even mean?"
"Beats me" Dawn replied. "They just call him that. It's just like with Cocaine Mitch".
"So what do those numbers mean?" our hero asked Serena. "Are those skill levels or what?"
"Those are their scores. As you can see, I'm a pretty distant fourth, behind Rainbow Dash. You gain points whenever you win a match against a fellow trainer, and you lose points whenever you lose one. The gain is greater if you defeat a player with a higher score than you, and the loss is greater if you lose to a player with a score lower than you".
"I see" Ash replied. That system sounded pretty logical to him. "So...what are we going to do here?"
"Well, I think that we can spectate some matches that are going on right now" Dawn replied. "That's bound to be interesting".
"Yeah" her boyfriend replied, seconding her. "I like that idea".
Serena led them all up a stairwell and into a long, low room with a series of battling courts. None of them, as far as Ash could tell, currently had a battle taking place.
Lame, he thought. I really thought there would be a battle here. Oh, well. It can't be too long; it's still kind of early in the day.
"I suppose that we can practice with our Pokemon against each other" Ash replied. "Who wants to battle Coyopa?"
Lucas raised his hand. "I volunteer as tribute. Or rather, I volunteer Orkun as a tribute".
"Guys, the winner should take on Naviti" Serena said. "He needs some practice, so that we can ditch Cocaine Mitch for the sake of the kids".
"Okay" Ash said. "Are you cool with that, Lucas?"
The boy in the beret nodded. "Yep, that sounds like a plan to me".
Both boys let their Pokemon out of the Pokeballs, and they made moves on each other almost immediately. Orkun readied an Aura Sphere, but Coyopa was ready for it.
"Coyopa! Use Electro Ball!" Ash yelled.
The Pikachu appeared to be concentrating very hard, and eventually did manage to use Electro Ball, causing a direct hit on Orkun.
The Lucario staggered backwards, clearly trying not to faint. He clearly didn't want the embarrassment of losing this battle so soon after it had begun, so he stayed upright and readied another Aura Sphere.
Coyopa had been too busy celebrating at his hitting Orkun with the Electro Ball to notice that an Aura Sphere was heading his way. Too late, he tried to dodge it, but it was in vain.
The Pikachu went flying backwards, hitting the wall and sliding to the ground. To Ash's amazement, he managed to get back up.
"Nice!" the young man exclaimed. "Use Thunderbolt!"
Coyopa's Thunderbolt would have fried Orkun to a crisp had it connected with the Lucario. As it was, it just barely missed, and it was so bright that the trainers all had to look away.
"Wow, he's good" Dawn said on the sidelines. "Go, Orkun!"
It was clear to tell that Dawn was rooting for her boyfriend and his Lucario in this battle. Ash, in return, saw no choice but to redouble his efforts to motivate Coyopa.
"You can do this, Coyopa!" the young man yelled at the top of his lungs. He tried to tell himself that he didn't care if the whole building fell down from the sheer volume of his voice, so long as he helped his Pikachu win the battle.
After a few more minutes of trading attacks, Coyopa and Orkun both looked exhausted, but they were clearly refusing to give up. Neither of them wanted to show any signs of weakness to the other, even though both of them were obviously getting tired.
"Want to call a truce?" Ash asked Lucas. "I don't know how much more either of them can take at this rate".
Lucas, smiling, shook his head. "No way, Ash. We're going to fight this all the way through to the end. It's going to be an epic battle, and I'm going to win it".
Ash noticed that, at the next court over, a group of trainers, probably a couple of years younger than the quartet at their court, were just starting a battle. He saw that, walking towards the court, was a sandy-haired young man who was perhaps a little older than he was…
And then there was a thudding noise.
Ash looked to see Coyopa unconscious, having slid down the wall and onto the ground. He must have gotten hit with an attack head-on and flown backwards, obviously unable to aim very well, and had gotten a full face-full of the glass wall that encircled the whole area.
How did that happen?
It's 'cause you weren't paying attention that that happened. You'd better pay attention, Ash, or you're setting yourself up to fail on the field of battle.
"Yeah!" Lucas exclaimed. "Congratulations, Orkun!'
Ash recalled Coyopa back into his Pokeball and reluctantly walked forward to shake Lucas's hand. "That was a nice battle. Good game".
"Good game" the boy in the beret replied. "Let me put you back in your Pokeball, too, Orkun. You've earned your rest".
The Lucario nodded. Even though Orkun was still conscious, it was clear to tell that, in terms of physical shape, he wasn't much better off than the unconscious Pikachu that had just been put back in his Pokeball. The Lucario appeared very unsteady on his feet.
Dawn ran on over to Lucas and hugged him. "I knew you could do it!" she exclaimed.
"Thanks" her boyfriend mumbled. Then: "Ow, you're crushing me".
"Sorry" Dawn replied, kissing Lucas once more. "You did a really good job against Ash".
"Excuse me?" sneered a voice from behind them.
All four teenagers turned around to see whom it was. And, as it turned out, it was someone Serena recognized.
A sandy-haired young man, probably 21 or 22, stood before them. He looked like a stereotypical math nerd, with glasses and pimples on his forehead. He stared at them with an expression of superiority, and Ash instantly understood whom this person was.
"Cocaine Mitch?" Serena gasped.
"That's right" the man sneered. "Mitchell Canneloni, skill level one hundred and seventeen thousand, four hundred and fifty-one, at your service. Allow me to destroy your Pokemon in a head-to-head matchup. Any takers?"
"I'll do it" Serena replied, gritting her teeth.
"Are you sure?" Dawn asked. "Zora could make short work of his Pokemon".
"Yes" the other girl said. "I will ditch Cocaine Mitch, for the sake of the kids".
Responses to reviews:
Amourshipper35: Yeah, I thought it was really funny. I would be so embarrassed if I were Ash in that situation; I'd just have hoped that the ground would swallow me up or something.
Guest: Yes, in this story, each person has one Pokemon partner. Battling is not the main focus of it, as I'm sure you must have realized by now, now that we are five chapters in.
xXx DIGITAL xXx: I'm glad I am improving! Thank you for your continued support.