Here is Chapter 8, the longest one yet, at roughly 4,200 words. I'm currently sitting in traffic on my commute home from school, and I thought that there was no better time to update.

This is where it really starts. This is the first chapter in which Ash actually attends any classes at his university. I hope you enjoy it, as well as my Twitter account; my username there is KingSledge2000. Be warned: There is a lot of political talk there from me (I plan to study creative writing and/or political science in college).

One last note: My birthday is coming up next week, and I'm hoping to get a Nintendo Switch. If I do, updates may slow a bit. But, with that, enjoy the chapter.

The next couple of days passed quickly for Ash. He was very happy to be able to spend time with Serena, and, when they did come over, Dawn and Lucas. Luckily, the couple from Starborn Valley came over every day, and, since there were plenty of things to do here, he wasn't bored.

However, he did have a sense of apprehension that only grew every day. Every day, he got closer and closer to the beginning of his classes. Closer and closer to the day of reckoning, as it were, when he would find out if he was any good at college-level academics.

He really hoped that the answer to that question was yes. He'd gotten pretty good grades in elementary, middle, and high school, and he saw no reason that that should stop now.

On the morning of his first classes, Ash woke up early. Looking around his room, it was still pretty dark; no sunlight was streaming in through the windows, and so Ash came to the conclusion that the sun had not yet risen over southeastern Sinnoh.

He looked over at his bedside table, where his Pokeball was currently sitting. He wouldn't bring Coyopa to the university on the very first day, he had decided; he was going to wait and see if it would be necessary in the subsequent days and weeks. That was what sounded like the best idea to him.

For what must have been over an hour, Ash just lay there nervously. He couldn't believe that it was actually starting today.

College, he thought. My first day.

He'd been looking forward to college ever since grade school, but now he was a little worried. He hoped that there weren't a lot of cliques at this school, because he was rather socially awkward; he wasn't going to fit into any of them at all.

Eventually, he decided that he could use someone to talk to. Looking at his clock, he saw that it was 5:37 AM. That meant that Serena and the others were most likely still asleep. He didn't want to wake them up.

Ash grabbed his Pokeball and released Coyopa from it. The Pikachu looked around for a few moments, before turning to his master.

"You let me out?", Coyopa asked. "Why?"

"Because I just need somebody to talk to" the young man replied. "It's pretty early in the morning, and I'm nervous".

Coyopa whimpered slightly. "Why are you nervous?"

"Because it's the first day of my freshman year of college" Ash replied. "I just don't know if I'll fit in. I don't know how my classes are going to go. And I can't bring you there, not today".

"Why not?" Coyopa replied, continuing to whimper.

"Because I don't want to get in trouble" the young man said in response. "You know that I care about you deeply, but I'm not sure if I am allowed to bring you to class. Here's the deal; I'll bring you tomorrow if the rules of the school allow it".

Coyopa smiled. "That sounds like a deal".

For a while, the two just sat there in silence. Eventually, Ash said, "I think I should get up now. Serena told me that we're leaving at 7:15 in order to pick up Lucas and Dawn".

"I see".

"Indeed. Classes start at 8:15, but we have to be there at eight. That's just the way it goes. I'm afraid that you'll be alone for most of the day".

Coyopa frowned. "I don't like being alone".

"Well", Ash replied, "I could keep you in the Pokeball, and let you out when I get back. Would you prefer it be that way instead?"

The Pikachu nodded.

"All right, then. I'll put you back in".

Ash did as he said he would do, and then he decided that he might as well get dressed and brush his teeth. Staying in bed would only delay the inevitable.

He brushed his teeth, thinking about that day, and what kinds of tasks he would have to perform. It was likely that, since it was only the first day, they would spend a great deal of time simply being oriented to what would be expected of them; that was how it had been in grade school and high school for Ash.

Once he got out of the bathroom and headed into the kitchen area, he saw that Serena was already up.

"Morning, Ash" she said.

The way she smiled and her eyes lit up made Ash's heart flutter. He couldn't believe that she could just look so attractive.

I can't think about that right now, he decided. That's a scary thought.

"Morning, Serena" the young man replied, going over to the drawers and getting some breakfast cereal. He'd decided that he was going to have a light breakfast this morning, because he didn't have much of an appetite.

"Looking forward to our first classes today?"

Ash shrugged. "Yeah, but I'm still nervous". He was proud of being able to admit it to Serena; he hadn't thought that he would have been able to.

That means you're in love with her.

"I see" Serena replied. "Well, you've just got to get on the grind, you know? That's how I plan to deal with it, for example".

"That does not sound like a bad coping mechanism" Ash replied. "In fact, I think that's exactly what I would do".

The young woman smiled. "In any case, as soon as you're done eating, let's go pick up Lucas and Dawn. We're going to go there together, and we're going to leave together".

"Do they have their licenses?" Ash asked.

"Dawn does. Lucas doesn't. In fact, Lucas has never driven before".

"He doesn't even have his permit? Isn't he nineteen?"

"Well, you're 19 as well, and you don't have your license. It's not abnormal, so don't set too much store by it. That said, yes, Dawn will sometimes drive Lucas, but not today".

"I see" Ash replied.

The next few minutes passed mostly in silence. The other Courtland children got up - Sam, Bella, and Patrick. Corinne's elementary school didn't start until a little later, and it was somewhat closer to the mansion, meaning that she could afford to sleep in a little.

Eventually, Serena said, "Get your backpack - it's time to go. We don't have any time to waste".

"But it's only 7:02" Ash said.

"Doesn't matter. There might be traffic, and we have to see what the conditions are today, and then we can more easily guess what it's going to be like for the rest of the year".

"That's fair".

Ash went back to his bedroom and took one last look at it. Grabbing his backpack from one corner of the room, he headed out of the house with Serena.

The drive to Lucas's house passed without much fanfare. There wasn't a lot of traffic, so Serena had pretty much been worrying for nothing, at least so far.

They arrived at the Winters household in Starborn Valley to find that the beret-clad boy was standing on his porch, carrying his backpack over his shoulders. He looked as though he had been waiting for Ash and Serena for some time.

"Morning" he said, walking down his front steps and towards the car".

"Morning" Ash replied. "You looking forward to the first classes?"

Lucas nodded. "I can't wait to see what kinds of things we're going to learn in...Pokemon Biology. That's what I have for second period".

Ash consulted his schedule once again. "I have that as well. We have second period together!"

Reaching over the area in between the two front seats, Ash high-fived Lucas. Over the last few days, the boys had built a fairly strong bond with one another, even considering the fact that they hadn't been friends for very long. Ash didn't know why, but they had really just clicked.

Dawn took a little longer to show once they arrived at her house. Evidently, she had not noticed the car outside of her house for at least a minute or two. Right after Serena had honked the horn, however, it became clear that that was what it had taken for Dawn to notice.

After Dawn was in the car, it wasn't long until the four young adults arrived at the university. It wasn't yet eight o'clock, so they would have to wait for a few minutes in front of the admissions office.

It had been fairly hot for the last few days, but, this morning, the air was remarkably crisp. Autumn, if it had not arrived already, was clearly not too far off.

I can't wait for the bell to ring, Ash realized.

He then realized that the reason for this was twofold. One, he was looking forward to his classes. He wanted to get to know some more of his schoolmates, get to know what his classes were going to be like.

The other reason was that he wanted to be away from Serena, at least for a little while. He wanted to have some time to himself (or not to himself, necessarily, since there were so many other students), so that he could simply think about whether or not he was really infatuated with the girl or not.

And I'll have to focus on my lessons, he thought. I think that goes without saying.

Eventually, the bell rang, signalling that 8:00 had arrived. Ash immediately consulted his schedule.

I have fifteen minutes to get to Mathematics, he thought. And where is that?

He looked at his schedule, and it said that it was located in Room 123. The problem, of course, was that Ash didn't have the slightest idea of how to get there, or if there was even any system as to which rooms were in which hallways.

Eventually, however, after walking down the tiled floors, he managed to find a hallway that had Room 101 on one side of it. After that, there was Room 102.

I might have just found it, he thought.

Sure enough, Room 123 was at the end of the hallway. There weren't any lockers at this school, at least not any that Ash had seen. And, if there were any, they had clearly forgotten to assign him one. Therefore, the laws of probability stated that there were most likely no lockers here.

Once he was inside the room, he saw that there were only about thirty students in the room. It was just the size of your average high school class, not your typical college lecture hall.

Nice, Ash thought.

He'd always preferred going to schools with smaller class sizes; he felt that that system suited him better. Now, he was attending a college that had them.

Ash had taken some pre-calculus in high school, but he had then moved on to statistics. He wondered what the curriculum would be here.

Soon enough, a Lucario entered the room. This one was clearly female, which Ash could tell because...well, he just could.

"Good morning, class" she said. "My name is Professor Vinaka, and I will be your mathematics professor for this semester. I hope that you all pay close attention to what I am about to tell you; it is vitally important".

There was, as Ash had expected, the usual thirty-minute lecture that was the introduction to the class. Ash zoned out during it, and, come the end of the lecture, he wasn't entirely sure that he hadn't fallen asleep during it.

"All right" Professor Vinaka said eventually. "That is what my class is all about. Calculus is required in very heavy degrees here, so it's vital that you pay close attention during all of my lectures".

That was all it took. Ash was now focused, completely locked in to whatever Professor Vinaka was going to say. He didn't want to fail the first test, which, for all he knew, could be the very next day.

She handed out a worksheet with several problems on it. "If this is not completed by the end of class today, it becomes homework. You have roughly thirty minutes, so I suggest you begin now".

Professor Vinaka began pacing the room, looking at several students disapprovingly. Eventually, her eyes fell on Ash.

His heart started pounding in his chest. He had a feeling that, whatever the Lucario professor was about to say, it wasn't going to be good.

After that, though, she moved on, and Ash realized that she must have seen nothing to criticize there.

Good, he thought. There really was nothing to criticize. A total witch hunt is what she's doing.

From the very moment she had entered the room, looking quite stern indeed, Ash had decided that he didn't like Professor Vinaka. It was also clear that she didn't like him either. For whatever reason, it seemed almost as though she had a personal vendetta against him.

That's silly, he told himself. She hardly even knows me. And besides, a lot of teachers are like that. At least, that's what it is like in my experience.

The calculus problems were giving him a great deal of trouble. He looked around the room, and several other students appeared stumped as well. There was at least that, the knowledge that he wasn't alone in being confused.

But I'll have to do this for homework tonight, he thought.

Ash hated doing homework. The whole point of going to school, after all, was to do work. There seemed to be no reason, at least in his own opinion, that work had to be done outside of the classroom. It seemed rather weird.

Ash needed a reprieve from math class, and he got it in the form of the bell ringing, signalling that the period had ended.

Finally!, he thought. Even if he was going to have to finish up the sheet later, either at home or in study hall (was there a such thing as study hall here?), Ash was glad that he could move on to something else. He'd be able to inject a bit of variety into his day.

Let's see...I have Pokemon biology at 9:15. Probably only three minutes or so to find it...very good thing indeed that it's in Room 107, which should be in this hallway.

Sometimes, Ash's thoughts came out at a rapid-fire pace, much like machine gun fire. Some might suspect that he had ADHD or something like that; he was known to act impulsively on occasion.

He found the room easily, just as he had expected. As he walked in, he saw that the teacher was a fairly burly man with graying hair and a small beard.

So the teachers here are both human and Pokemon, Ash thought. That's pretty cool.

"Good morning" said the teacher. "You're the first one in here".

"Really?" Ash asked.

The teacher nodded. "My name's Professor Zantry, and I'm your Pokemon biology professor. Take a seat, but make sure that you are happy with it, because these are going to be your assigned seats for the rest of the semester".

Ash made sure that he chose a seat from which it would be easy to focus on the teacher. He decided that the back of the room had too many distractions, such as posters and lab tables. At the front of the room, however, he risked being stared at by Professor Zantry.

Eventually, he decided that he might as well take a seat in the middle of the room. There were other students entering the room now, and one of them was Lucas.

The boy in the beret was looking a bit nervous; it occurred to Ash that he might have been rather squeamish. Was it blood he had a fear of, or needles, or the inside of Pokemon bodies?

Well, whatever he's afraid of, it's a fear he's going to have to get over, Ash thought. I kind of feel bad for him, to be honest.

As soon as the room had been filled up with twenty or so students, Professor Zantry began his lecture.

"As you know, this is Pokemon Biology class. There are a variety of things you will learn here, such as what they eat, how their bodies process food, the various elements their bodies are made up of…does anyone have a Pokemon that they can use for a demonstration?"

A student raised his hand. This was a boy with a fairly small body, with slightly tanned skin and wearing a baseball hat.

"Yes?" Zantry asked him. "What is your name?"

"I'm Jacob" the boy replied. "And I've got a Machamp with me".

Apparently we were allowed to bring Pokemon to school after all, Ash thought, taking note of that. He reminded himself that, tomorrow, he would bring in Coyopa. He couldn't wait to see what sort of elements the Pikachu was made up of…

But would Coyopa really want to be examined underneath a microscope, or anything else?, Ash wondered. Because, to me, I certainly wouldn't want that. It sounds quite stressful, to be honest.

"Sweet" Professor Zantry replied. "Release him from his Pokeball, and I'll shine the light on him".

You can tell all that information about a Pokemon just by shining some kind of special light on them?, Ash wondered. That's pretty cool, but might the radiation harm Coyopa? That's not a risk I would want to take.

It's for science, though, one half of his brain said.

But Coyopa's not a science experiment!, the other half of his brain replied forcefully.

Maybe Pokemon are all science experiments. Maybe, Ash, YOU YOURSELF are a science experiment.

Shut up.

Jacob walked over to what appeared to be a high-tech computer projector. He held out his hand holding the Pokeball and released the Machamp.

"This Machamp is Maku" he said. "That's his name. So let's see what he is made ot".

"Everybody, you might want to look away" Professor Zantry said. "The light that will be shot out of this beam is extremely bright. In fact, please do look away".

Ash didn't need to be told twice. He shifted around in his chair so that he was now looking out the window rather than in the direction of the projector.

There was a sound like a laser beam being fired out of a cannon, and then Professor Zantry said, "You guys can all look now".

All of the students turned around to face the SMART board on the wall, where a pie chart was being shone. It stated the elements that made up Maku the Machamp.

"As you can see", the professor said, "Maku here is made up of three different elements. There is Zexonyte, which is commonly found in meteors. That makes up approximately 48.58% of Maku's body. Then, there is Wyomium, making up roughly 44.86%. Finally, hydrogen makes up 6.56% of the body, simply because every Pokemon needs it in order to survive.

This is interesting, Ash thought. And it really was; he couldn't remember having a biology lesson that was as interactive as this. He only wished that he could have brought in Coyopa, but he reminded himself that he could do so tomorrow. That was a reassuring thought.

After that, there was a 45-minute lecture, a full three-quarters of an hour, about the various properties of each element. Ash could hardly bring himself to care about it too much, but he did remind himself that he needed to be paying close attention. His grade depended on it, after all.

"Homework", said Professor Zantry, "will be to write five hundred words on the properties of Zexonyte and Wyomium. This will be due tomorrow, the next time I see you. Essays will be graded on spelling, grammar, and punctuation".

What does he think he is, our English teacher?, Ash wondered bitterly.

"Yes" he said. "I will see you tomorrow. Enjoy the rest of your day".

As soon as Ash left the room, he let out a sigh of relief. Professor Zantry might appear to be nicer than Professor Vinaka, but he only appeared that way. In reality, he was one cruel, cruel man, assigning them five hundred words on the first day.

He considered making them five hundred mediocre words on purpose, just to spite his teacher, but he wasn't going to do that. Ash just wasn't that type of person, and definitely not one to purposely sabotage his own grade.

Finally, he reached his third class of the day, Home Economics. Ash, who had never had very many independent living skills, was grateful that this was an actual class here.

This room held a variety of students. He noticed that Serena was sitting near the back of it, and the teacher was a burly, fair-haired young man with blue eyes. He was standing next to his desk, with one hand placed on it.

"Hello, class" this teacher said. "My name is Mr. Holland, and I teach Home Economics here at Greater Pastoria University. As I am sure that all of you are aware, this is quite an important subject; it's all about being able to make a living for yourself, and not just in terms of making money".

One girl raised her hand, and Mr. Holland called on her. "What's your name?", he asked her.

"Daisy" she replied.

"Okay, Daisy. What is your question?"

"Will we learn how to cook here? Will we make recipes?"

Mr. Holland smiled, a smile that somehow held both youth and authority. "Yes. We will make recipes in this class, and you will get to take home some of them back to your homes or dormitories. That's not the only thing we're going to do, though".

"What will we discuss?" Ash asked. He didn't know what exactly had induced him to ask that question, but he wondered it nonetheless.

"Your name, please?" Mr. Holland asked him.

"Ash" the boy replied. "Ash Ketchum".

"Well, Ash, we will go over the basics of cooking and sewing. Despite what one might say or think, those are not women's work, as it were; everybody has to do those things at some points. We'll go over the basics of how to jump-start a car, as well as other subjects. Really, this class will cover a variety of topics. But yeah, we will mostly make recipes in the kitchen".

"Sweet" Ash replied.

Mr. Holland nodded. "Indeed it is sweet. We won't be making any recipes today; instead, we'll discuss basic safety tips in the kitchen".

Much like the lessons Ash had been in earlier, this one basically devolved into a long lecture about kitchen safety. Once again, the boy found himself hanging on to every word, because he knew that those words might end up saving his very life in the kitchen.

That said, he wasn't enjoying it, not at all. It was taking all of his resolve in order to not zone out of this one.

He would have been lying if he had said that he was not relieved when the lesson was over. At least now he was free to move on to the next class, although, judging by how the last three periods had gone, fourth block wouldn't be any better than the first three.

And then he looked at his schedule, and he realized that not only would it not be any better, it would probably be even worse.

11:15 AM - Physical Education

Fuck. I'm dead meat.

Responses to reviewers:

Amourshipper35: You'll see! :)

Guest: Yeah, I mean Deerling ticks. I've gotten Lyme disease before from deer ticks, and it is not pleasant; thankfully it was caught early. The place my family summers is full of them, so one does need to be very careful.

Opc3: I hope this satisfied your craving.

xXx DIGITAL xXx: Like with Amourshipper35, you will see.