"Oh my gosh, I almost died laughing just now!" Juliana exclaimed, having fallen out of the bean bag chair. She had herself on her hands and knees, slumped forward with her head bent.

Penny grinned, keeping herself composed, "Isn't it great? That's not all of course! There's many more to go!"

Juliana wiped her eyes, moistened from excessive laughter. After taking a deep breath she propped herself back on the bean bag, "Wow, this is the first time I'm ever watching anime and I love it! It's great! I love the main character; she is so awkward and funny!"

Penny nodded and continued to listen.

"I'll say this too, her brother is making me kinda glad I'm an only child." Juliana smiled softly, resting her head on her knuckles, "I used to be a bit sad at not having siblings. Now I'm not so sure." She chuckled.

"He's not a bad guy." Penny replied, "He's just super protective of her, it's kind of sweet."

"Yeah, it would be, if he weren't such a jerk about it." Juliana laughed, and Penny laughed with her, "Well Juliana, I'm glad you weren't traumatized by my guilty pleasure. I'm even more glad you seem to like it! Um… right?"

"Well, it's too early to make a judgement. But I'm happy with it so far!"

Penny turned to the monitor and began typing, "Ready for the next episode?"

Juliana stood, stretching her arms above her head, "Next time, I'm ready to turn in for the day."

"All right, that's cool. Say Juliana? Thanks for not judging me."

"No worries!" Juliana smiled while doing the peace sign, "Also rest assured, I won't tell anyone about this! It'll be a secret to everybody!"

Assured, Penny replied, "Thanks Juliana, just let me know when you're ready to meet up again and watch the third episode."

"I will! Thanks again for having me over!"

"Of course! Also, Juliana? Before you go, can you do me a favor?"

Juliana faced her, "Sure! What is it?"

Penny fought a grin, but lost and chuckled, "I… got this idea from another anime. But the next time you see Arven… could you…?" She leaned into Juliana's ear and whispered the rest of that sentence. Juliana's eyes widened and her face reddened at the suggestion, "You want me to…?"

"Just do it. It'll be hilarious!" Penny urged, "One of my favorite anime couples did it… If I saw something like that happen in real life. It would really make my day…"

"Oh my gosh Penny, that's kind of embarrassing…" Juliana folded her hands.

"But it's not just about me! I think he'll love hearing that from you. Y-You should try it!" Penny nervously fumbled with her words.

Reluctantly, Juliana agreed, "Oh Penny… Okay… I'll try it…"

"Oh! And I wanna see! Let me know and I can watch from a distance!" Penny quickly added.

"You… okay." Juliana nodded, still blushing, "I'll see you next time, okay?"

"See ya!"

Once she gathered her belongings, Juliana waved at Penny one more time before exiting her room. The hall was dark except for the ceiling lights and there was no one else around. Juliana checked the time on her rotom phone, it was just after 8:30 p.m.

"Wow, time really flies when you're having fun." Juliana whispered to herself. She put the phone away and kept walking. Once she got back inside her dorm, she lightly tossed her backpack to the side and went to hop on her bed. With her back against the wall, she took out her phone again and saw she had a message from Arven.

The message read, "Hey cutie, did you meet with Penny?"

She texted back, "Yes, I did. It was a fun time." The idea Penny had whispered to her was still fresh in her mind. Despite being embarrassed, she couldn't help but grin at the idea.

"That's great! Are you busy tomorrow?" Arven replied.

"I have a class in the morning. It's Battle Studies with Miss Dendra."

"Oh hey! Me too!"

Juliana felt her heart leap reading the reply, she answered eagerly, "Oh hey, let's walk to class together!"

"Of course! I'll come see you tomorrow!"

"Okay Arven, see you then! Love you!"

"Love you too, Juliana. Good night."

Juliana smiled big; the feeling of excitement bubbled in her heart. She couldn't wait to see him again. Since she wasn't sleepy yet, she clicked on a shopping app and began scrolling through the outfits. She sighed, "I can't wait for vacation… we could wear whatever we want then." She felt like those cute clothes were calling her, and she couldn't do anything about it.

"Oh well, I'll just have to wait." She shrugged and put her phone down. When she did, she was surprised to see Meowscarada standing there.

"Oh, hey little guy! I didn't see you come out of your pokeball!"

Meowscarada struck a bashful pose and smiled, "Meow~!" He hopped onto the bed and snuggled up to his trainer. Juliana responded by stroking his head gently, "Who's a good little feline?"

"Mwwaarrr~!"

Juliana giggled and scratched his back, Meowscarada stretched his body out and began licking one of his front paws. At the same time, letting out a long purr.

"You've grown so much since we first met." Her eyes glowed with content as she studied her starter Pokémon, "Actually, we've both grown a lot, really. We've met incredible people, faced unimaginable dangers… tackled every challenge that came our way." She glanced out her window, "And yet, there's still so much more to come."

The distant horizon was calling out to her, a whole world was out there and she was just itching to get out there and see it with her own eyes. It was a dilemma to her on where she would go first. The world is a vast place after all.

Meowscarada hopped to the end of the bed and curled up, falling asleep quickly. Juliana smiled before yawning, "Good idea, I should go to sleep too." She stood to change into her lounge clothes, putting her uniform on a hanger. Once that was done, she turned off the light and got herself into bed.

Stretching under the covers, she fell asleep quickly.

The next morning, Juliana hurriedly changed into her summer uniform and rushed to put on her socks and tandemaus sneakers. She giggled when she looked at Meowscarada and easily could tell he wanted to sleep some more. He stretched across the bed as the sunlight gave the room a lovely pinkish glow.

"All right sleepyhead, let's go." She recalled the grass type back into his pokeball and picked up her backpack. She took her rotom phone and texted Arven,

"I'm ready when you are!"

The three dots appeared, signaling he was writing back. Seconds later a message appeared,

"Great! I'm on the way."

Excited, Juliana made a small cheery squeak, she decided to step out of her room to wait. She skipped over to a bench nearby and waited. After watching other students pass by, she looked down the hallway and saw Arven headed her way.

She smiled, "Hey Arven!"

Arven smiled back, "Hey Juliana!"

She rushed to him and hugged him, and he returned the hug, stroking her hair, "Hey cutie! Ready to head to class already?"

Juliana nodded, "I am. Let's get going!" and the two started to walk.

"What do you think she'll talk about today?" Juliana inquired.

Arven shrugged, "Beats me. But hey, as long as she doesn't make us try any of her death sandwiches, then it should be fine."

Juliana couldn't help but smile at Arven's remark, "Oh Arven! I don't think so. When she's in class, she's all about the battles!"

"Well, I hope it stays that way. Considering what she did to you last time."

"I… have hope she can improve." Juliana smiled as she nervously replied.

Arven sighed, shaking his head, "Ugh, Juliana… sometimes it's better to see that some people just aren't meant for doing certain things." He immediately regretted his tone and choice of words when he saw Juliana's joyful expression fall, "Guh! But that's not a bad thing!" He interjected with his eyes wide, "It's okay to not be good at something! I'm just sayin'!"

"Still struggling with your word choices eh Arven?" The sudden appearance of Penny startled them both. Juliana greeted her, "Oh, hi Penny!"

Arven flippantly replied, "What the-!? Oh, look who's talking about word choices! That's real rich coming from you!"

Penny grinned mischievously, "If you say so…"

"All right you two, that's enough. We don't need to do that this morning." Juliana interrupted the bickering, "How are you this morning Penny?"

"Eh, not my thing. I'm only up because I have class." She answered bluntly, then leaned closer to her to whisper, "Please tell me you didn't do the thing without me around…"

Juliana blushed, "No, I didn't."

"Hey everybody!" Nemona's voice rang down the hall, everyone looked up to see the student council president hurrying down the hall.

"Hi Nemona!" Juliana waved happily.

Nemona hopped to a halt in front of them, "You guys aren't hanging out without me, are you?" She inquired with a sad expression.

"Of course not!" Juliana assured, "Arven and I were just headed to class when we ran into Penny!"

Nemona perked up, "Oh cool! I was just headed to class too actually! Where are you going?"

"We're going to battle studies with Miss Dendra!" Juliana answered. Nemona's eyes widened, "Oh my GOSH! That's where I'm going too!"

Arven flung his arms up in shock, "Seriously!?"

Not allowing any breathing room, Penny stuck her hand up, "That is exactly where I'm headed!"
Juliana spun to face Penny, "Are you serious!? Hooray! My boyfriend and my two best friends all in class with me! That's awesome!"

"Woo hoo! The gang is all together again!" Nemona beamed.

Arven shook his head in defeated acceptance, "Here we go again…" He muttered under his breath.

Nemona put her arms around her friends, "Oh this is gonna be super fun! Come on everyone, let's get to class!" She began to bounce away with her friends under her arms.

"Geez, slow it down will you!?" Arven tried to interject, but Nemona was laughing too much. Penny put her hand up to her face in embarrassment but went along with it anyway. Juliana was the one to match her energy. She always was the one, and she was okay with that. She knew she was going to enjoy every bit of being a student, even if it meant being high on happiness over the silliest things.

Once they made it to the courtyard, Penny broke away from the clumsy group skip, "All right, we made it." She brushed her sleeve off, "You Nemona, are WAY too hyper this morning."

Arven retorted, "Are you seriously surprised at that?"

Juliana laughed, "We haven't really hung out like this in a while! Even if it's for class, I'm looking forward to it!"

The gang saw Miss Dendra stretching in the center of the yard. Her face lit up when she saw the group, and she jogged over to them, "Hey everyone! Great to see you all here!"

Nemona greeted her, "Hi Miss Dendra! I'm so excited for today's lesson! What are we going to talk about today?"

Dendra smiled impishly, "I can't say it until the rest of the class gets here. In the meantime, I'm really shocked to see you all here in the same class. But I'm excited to have you all!"

"This was completely unintentional." Penny noted.

Dendra then remembered the sandwich fiasco the other day, "Oh Juliana, that reminds me! I'm truly so sorry for the other day." Her face showed remorse.

"Don't worry about it, I'm totally fine!" Juliana accepted. Arven sighed and shook his head with his eyes closed.

"I haven't given up though! I've been practicing since, once I'm done with that, I would like you to try another sandwich!"

Arven stepped in front of his girlfriend, "If you make another sandwich, you can give it to me and I'll try it. I don't want you to make her sick again."

Dendra frowned at first, but then she smiled, "Oh, okay… Sure thing Arven! I gotta say, real sweet of you to take one for your girl like that." She winked.

Arven bashfully put a hand on his head, "Well of course I would…"

Juliana caught Penny staring at her, when she met her gaze, the tech whiz nodded her head and mouthed to her, 'do it.' Juliana blushed and shook her head.

Nemona jumped in between the two, "What are you guys talking about?"

Penny put a hand on her shoulder, "You'll see…"

Dendra noticed the entire class had finally arrived, "Okay you guys, it's time for class. Please head to the center of the courtyard!"

The gang joined the rest of the class, standing together in the front among the other students. Miss Dendra took her place in front of the class and began to speak,

"Another day, another round of battle study! Osu! Let's get right into it! I hope you all gave auto battles a shot like we talked about last class! Making good use of auto battles will let you train up a bunch of different Pokémon! It's also an efficient way to gather the Pokémon materials you need to make TMs at TM machines! Have you all been using the TM machines?"

Juliana recalled a time she did, it was to teach her Meowscarada the move giga drain. It was something she was glad she did, that move had come to incredible use in certain situations.

"I hope so, because it's time for a pop quiz!" Dendra smiled, "All right, here goes… to create TMs, you need Pokémon materials and one other thing. Anyone remember what that is?"

Both Nemona and Juliana spoke up at the same time, "LP!" They looked at each other in surprise.

"I said it first!" Juliana cheekily stuck her tongue out at her pal.

"Noyadidn't!" Nemona hastily retorted, "I did!"

"No, I did!" Juliana argued. Arven looked away, trying to hide his growing smirk.

"Good job both of you!" Dendra announced, "In order to create TMs, LP is necessary! Speaking of LP… I heard of a group of shady individuals obtaining LP illegally by using a technique called…. Hacking? I think it's called?"

The gang knowingly side eyed Penny, while she did her best to give a neutral expression.

"I don't want any of you getting involved in bad stuff like that. Got it!?" Dendra stated forcefully.

As she continued speaking, Juliana stealthily took a few steps closer to Penny and poked her in the arm lightly. Penny glanced at Juliana's knowing expression, which made her look away and shake her head, "Yeah, I know." She whispered, making Juliana grin.

"In conclusion!" Dendra spoke, "In order to make TMs, you need Pokémon materials! And if you want to get a lot of materials, you'll have to battle all kinds of Pokémon!"

Just as she finished that sentence, the bell rang. The teacher sighed in frustration, "Aw, man! I was just about to suggest hands-on practice to drive the point home! But I guess we'll never have enough time… Class is over for now! Take care, you little rascals!"

Juliana, Arven, Nemona, and Penny all met up while the other students dispersed. Miss Dendra quickly left the courtyard.

"Well, that was a good talk!" Nemona spoke, "I do wish we could have more time here… that way Miss Dendra could actually give us the hands-on experience!"

Penny rolled her eyes, "I think we're perfectly fine without it, thanks."

Juliana spoke with a smile, "Hey, class is over now. What should we do?" She noticed Penny giving her the look. Once again, Penny mouthed 'do it' and Juliana responded with a quiet giggle.

Arven answered, "Good question, I'm free for the rest of the day. Depends on what everyone else is up to."

Juliana looked back at Penny and gave her a subtle wave with her hand down by her side, Penny raised her eyebrow, and Juliana nodded her head. Penny then grinned and put her hand on Nemona's shoulder, "Hey Nemona, let's walk over here real quick."

Nemona appeared confused, "Huh? Uh, okay. What for?" Penny took her by the arm and began dragging her, "Trust me, this'll be better to watch from a distance."

"Watch what? Wait, hang on!" Nemona protested as Penny took her away. Arven watched the two leave, "Huh? What's up with them?"

Juliana played dumb, "Heh, I don't know. They're probably just bonding."

"Those two?" Arven scoffed, "Well, that's still hard to believe. Even after all this time." He shook his head, "

Juliana gulped, nervous at what she was about to do, "You never know what kind of people end up bonding you know… haha…"

Arven crossed his arms with a thoughtful expression, "Even so, Nemona is a little maniac and Penny is… well… oh hey! I guess she's kind of a maniac too! So maybe I can see the two being friends!" He laughed.

"Hey, I heard that!" Penny yelled from a fair distance away, "Juliana, do the thing already!"
Nemona raised an eyebrow with confusion, "The thing…?"

"Huh? What thing?" Arven questioned.

Juliana's heart began to pound, "O-oh, it's nothing to worry about!" She paused, her hands shaking, "M…My Prince Arven…"

Arven sighed, "You girls are so-" He stopped mid-sentence. His eyes widened and his face went red. Penny had her hand covering her mouth in shock. Nemona stared in surprise. A warm wind rushed through the teens, making everyone form goosebumps.

"What did you just call me!?" Arven bellowed.

Penny bust out laughing, Nemona slapped her hands over her mouth. Juliana kept her eyes on Arven, she tried to maintain a confident face, but it was gradually waning. She felt so embarrassed and for a moment, she wanted to annihilate Penny for suggesting such an idea. On the other hand, seeing how cute Arven became at being called that was just the thing she needed.

Juliana laughed and embraced her boyfriend, "I'm sorry! I was curious on how you'd react to that! I guess it's not something for you!"

After exhaling deeply, Arven returned the embrace, "Oh, it's just that…. You really threw me for a loop there cutie! Wasn't expecting to hear that from you!" He fired a fierce gaze at Penny, "I have a strong feeling you had something to do with this!"

Penny just grinned and whispered to Nemona, "That was awesome. I'm so glad I got to see this."

Nemona replied, "Oy!? Why do I feel like I'm missing something here!?"

Juliana and Arven approached the girls while holding hands, Juliana explained, "Don't worry Nemona, I'll explain it later!"

Nemona's face lit up, "Hey! I just got an idea! But I'll have to text it to you guys, I gotta get ready for my next class!" She started to back away.

Juliana waved, "Okay, we'll see you later then! Text us whenever!"

"Awesome! Adios!" Nemona bid before taking off like a rocket.

After the three watched her leave, Arven spoke, "So Penny, I know you're the mastermind behind this."

Penny rolled her eyes with a mischievous face, "Heh, mastermind. I like the sound of that."

Juliana added, "Well, you did hack into the Pokémon League. I actually think that makes you beyond a mastermind, what would that be called?"

"A criminal?" Arven countered with a snicker.

"Oh, haha. Very funny." Penny responded sarcastically, "Be glad I told her to call you a prince and not a lunkhead."

"Don't even think about it, pipsqueak!"
Juliana stepped between them, "Guys, guys! Remember what I said before class, none of that!"

"Sure thing, Juliana." Penny yawned, "I'm going back to bed. I'll see you guys around."

"Bye Penny!" Juliana waved to her as she left.

With the couple now alone, Arven shook his head, "She's going back to bed? What is she, a vampire?"

"She's just not a morning person." Juliana explained, "Never mind that, let's go hang out!"
Arven smiled, "Yeah, sure. Little cutie." He winked, earning him a smile from his girlfriend.

With that, they joined hands and left the courtyard.

Author's Note: Hey guys! Thank you all for patiently waiting! Hopefully you found this chapter quite enjoyable.

Until next time, see you next time!