"The first day of school! Excited Soldier?" Kitty cried happily as she hurried into her uniform. It consisted of red long-sleeved shirt with a black collar and sleeves. Ruby plaid shirt a few inches above the knees with high white stockings and red strap shoes. She was going to leave her red hair down for today with a white hair-band to hold it back. Soldier sat quietly on her bed, staring away as she changed. "See? Like it or hate it?" Soldier looked around at Kitty, with a small ‘woof’ of disapproval, she cocked her head.

"What? You don’t like it,"

"Grr!"

"It’s not like I have a choice you know? But we better hurry to get to breakfast, what do you like to eat?" Yesterday she unpacked and wandered about the school to recognize hallways and to think up the fastest routes to get from class to class. Her schedule was on her bed, along with five poke’balls and medical supplies she was told to keep with her only at battle areas where they could be used for injuries. In classes they’re prepared by teachers, so therefore there was no reason to bring them to classes. Soldier, was alone happy to battle when he saw the arena, but everyone that was in the fields that time only looked at her weirdly. Soldier snapped at them, when they didn’t show signs of battling, he pounced a ball of flame in one guy’s direction, Kitty only returned him just in time before the teachers came to put out the boy’s pants. Though, the boy knew what she looked like, but fortunately she was off the hook, as classes hadn’t started.

"Lithe,"

"Could’ve guessed that!" Kitty cried happily as she supposed it was meat. "Good thing they make sausage and bacon for breakfast eh?" Soldier only calmly followed her out the door ten minutes later with her single-strap bag across her upper torso. "I don’t need much today since it’s only the first day, so I don’t need to carry much." Kitty said as she shut the door and bounded down the halls of waking students. The girls that witnessed the lit boy’s pants yesterday hurried back into their rooms. Kitty skipped on, not looking around, Soldier went after her.

"Oh…wow…" Kitty mumbled as dots replaced her eyes. The dining hall was huge! Well, it was huge before but when it was full of students, she could only gawk. Soldier nudged her right leg; she snapped out of her trance and wandered towards the buffet where the food was stored. Here she noticed, people were sorted out by their houses. Akira was one of the few kids that had blue hair in his area so it was easy to see where he was, and he didn’t seem to be enjoying himself even with the happy and bouncy girls trying to get a reply out of him.

Then there was Shawn, as Kitty a plate and began filling it with food for both herself and Soldier. He was goofing off it seemed as he appeared to have been talking non-stop and the guys only half-listened with interest. Kitty felt happy as she noticed that he was grinning –insanely- but was saddened that Akira didn’t seem to be having a good morning.

"Growl?" Soldier grunted as he spotted her face, her brows were drooping along with her eyelids. They popped back up when she heard him.

"It’s nothing, here, I’ve got enough food. Is there anything else you would though?" Kitty asked, Soldier shook his head lightly. Kitty then smiled as she looked up at the tables, but it vanished, it was rather crowded and if there was an empty seat somewhere in the Crimson area, she couldn’t see one. "Oh dear…I don’t see any more seats, but there are more Crimson girls coming down. Where will they sit?"

"They’re fine, people accept them." Kitty jumped as she heard a feminine voice come out of nowhere from behind her. Kitty and Soldier turned around and looked at the girl. She had light brown hair that was probably to her waist even in a ponytail (which was the style it was in) with magenta eyes. She looked to be in about second year. She wore the same uniform as Kitty, except her skirt seemed a bit shorter and lighter. "Because you’re an Osokana, I don’t think you’ll gain many peoples attention in here. You can sit with us though." The girl said with a small smile as she looked over at a table that Kitty overlooked. It was crowded with other Crimson girls and a few boys that Kitty recognized like Deamon and Makoto. Ebony was there as well, eating quietly with her pokemon eating behind her.

"Oh! That would be great right Soldier?" Kitty cried as she grinned down at her pokemon.

"Growlithe," Soldier growled, the girl looked down at him and smiled.

"Oh! Now I see, you’re that girl that beat Akawaski big time yesterday. Kitty right? That’s what you would like to be called, well, I’m Candy Hansen, welcome to Crimson. I’m in second year, these are my pokemon. Sorry, I only have three that’s the limit for a first year; I can catch another this year. But next year I can catch the last two I want. You have to at least of six pokemon to graduate did you know?" Candy explained, Kitty suddenly spotted a pidgeotto, a poliwhirl, a ponyta, and a tangela. All eyeing Kitty curiously.

"These must be yours then right! There so cute!" Kitty exclaimed, stopping Candy from explaining the rules that Sunwing explained yesterday and bent down to pat the pidgeotto’s head feathers. It only stared at her cautiously, then seemed to grin.

"That there pidgeotto is Skygrasper, thought it would be a good name for a Flying type. Then there’s my buddy, Tsuta." She said, pointing at the tangela as he held out a vine for Kitty to shake, which she took with some overloaded joy. "And my poliwhirl is Bubbles, and my first pokemon ever, Velvet!" Kitty grinned as she stood back up.

"They’re well cared for, I can tell. What do you feed them?" Kitty asked.

"Oh! You noticed? That’s great! That means my poke’blocks are effecting better now!" Candy exclaimed.

"Are you studying to be a pokemon coordinator?" Kitty asked, stars replaced her dancing golden orbs.

"Of course! You?"

"I t doesn’t matter! I can’t pick! They’re all so great!"

"Well, by the end of the year is when you have to decide so you can take the next two years in advanced study for that particular path. Pokemon coordinators beautify, coollen, toughen, and even add more cuteness to their pokemon! The cool thing about this school is that there are endless possibilities here! Like over there, Wendy Chang wants to be a pokemon vocal, you know? The kind that use their own voice with a pokemon on stage, pretending that the pokemon is talking." Candy explained.

"I’ve heard of that but I’ve never seen that kind of show!" Kitty cried.

"I haven’t either," Candy said with a calmer attitude.

"Pidgee!" Skygrasper cried, flapping his wings and perched on Candy’s shoulder.

"I think someone is hungry," Kitty pointed out, Candy nodded as she then turned around and walked towards the table she mentioned earlier. "Well? C’mon, I thought you were eating with us," Candy said as she spotted Kitty not moving.

"Oh! Sorry! I’m coming!" Kitty yelped as she hurried after Candy, Soldier on her heels.

"Ah! The Akawaski-beater-upper!" Deamon cried as Kitty found as seat in between him and Candy. Kitty smiled happily as she recognized she was the one he was greeting.

"Hey Deamon-sempai-" Deamon’s eyes narrowed.

"Don’t call me sempai…" he growled, adding emphasis to the word ‘sempai’.

"Oh! Sorry! Do you not like being called that?" Kitty yelped, Soldier eyed Deamon with dangerous eyes.

"No duh! Just don’t call me that all right? Whoa!" Deamon jumped as Soldier launched a massive growl at the second year boy.

"EH!?!" Kitty jumped as Soldier fur spiked and his eyes flared. His fangs glistening dangerously towards him. "Soldier! What’s wrong?" Soldier calmed down when Deamon backed away towards Makoto.

"Control your pokemon Kitty," Makoto ordered.

"Oh I’m sorry! I didn’t mean for that to happen!" Kitty exclaimed.

"Hey! Give her some slack, the pokemon’s a rough one, it proved that yesterday. At least it beat Akawaski," Candy said in Kitty’s defense as she laid plates down with her pokemon’s food onto the floor where they gathered around and began eating away hastily. "Hey! Now that I think about it, I can’t believe you were given that kind of pokemon." Many of the fellow Crimsons nodded. Kitty blinked.

"He’s a Fire type," Kitty stated.

"No, that’s not what we’re talking about," Makoto said, Kitty remembered the food in front of her and began placing food for Soldier on the second plate for him. "We’re saying that for a first year, you were given a rather big responsibility for caring for such an untamed pokemon." Kitty put the plate down, at first Soldier ignored it, then eyed it, and finally began to nip at it.

"I don’t see what’s wrong with him," Kitty answered innocently.

"There is something wrong with that head of yours," A girl stated from next to Ebony. Kitty looked at her strangely. "Oh yeah! Sorry about that, some of us didn’t introduce ourselves, I’m Kimberly Affer," She stated with a smile, she had blue-black hair held back in a red scrunchi with the same uniform as Kitty. Her eyes were a bright and gentle chocolate sienna and she had three piercing in her left ear and one in the other. Her pokemon, a small torkoal sat on her lap, sleeping soundly it seemed, its name was Awanata.

"My name is Fue Hokousha, and this is Kele." Another girl with short silver hair that was cut in a wing-like way (Gaia style) with green eyes. She wore frame-less reading glasses and wore the same uniform as Kitty and Kimberly, both were in first year with her. Her first pokemon was oddly also like Laura, a torchic, who was happily sitting on her lap, being hand-fed by Fue.

"My name’s Kodiak Fall! But my friends call me Crazy and my girlfriend calls me Sugar!" A boy in third year and a prefect badge exclaimed, he sat with his chair leaning backwards with a handful of straight red hair that went over his left eye. His only eye to be seen the right one was bright orange and his grin was big. He wore a red collared shirt with red Jeans. There was the P Pin for Prefect on his black wrinkled vest. Makoto wore the same uniform as they were both in third year along with Ebony. His pokemon consisted of a scizor (Droid), a bayleef (Zelenka), a flaaffy (Tasha), a murkrow (Snickers), and a flareon (Smoky), all eating quietly, well, except for two. It seemed that the murkrow and the scizor were arguing over something.

"The girlfriend name is restricted by everyone else!" Deamon said with a laugh, the rest chuckled along.

"Oh yeah! And this is Bijou Monnehogan," Candy said, pointing at a very seemly timid girl next to Fue and Ebony. She was a very dark-skinned girl with bright blue eyes and bright magenta hair. Despite her first year uniform she had an elegant blue ribbon atop her head and a silver locket around her neck. She sat there quietly, without speaking a word and twiddling her fingers. The only thing that seemed to make contact with the shy girl was the cyndaquil that sat in her lap, watching her as she played with her fingers with great patience. Kitty wondered if they ate.

"Very nice to meet you," Kitty said, it was then that Kodiak and Makoto caught her gaze.

"Hey Bijou, you’re human ya know right? You need to eat something, and so does Lil’ Cinder." Kodiak stated as his brows furrowed at the petite girl. Her eyes rose to meet his, but went down very quickly, Kitty cocked her head to the side. What was wrong with her?

"Cynda, cynda quil quuuill!" Lil’ Cinder cried, hopping about in her lap. Obediently she nodded as she looked at her pokemon; Kitty had the greatest feeling that Bijou was in an intense conversation with that pokemon at that moment, were they speaking the same language?

Of course! I speak to Soldier all the time now! "Right Soldier?" Kitty asked out of nowhere as she looked down at the growlithe, he looked at her with utter surprise, he too (for once) cocked his head and his ears flopped in confusion. The Crimson students looked at her oddly as well. Kitty reddened when she realized what she did and giggled. "I’ll help Bijou-chan get food!" Kitty cried out suddenly, more people other than Crimson went quiet, looking at Kitty. Soldier’s jaw drooped slightly, sweat-dropping.

"C’mon! We must get food!" Kitty cried as she got up and took Bijou by the hand and heading towards the buffet. By this time students went back to their meals. Bijou stared at her with big and wide blue eyes. "What’s your favorite breakfast food?" Kitty asked happily. Soldier shook his head and stayed where he was to continue eating.

"Um…!" She went silent instantly, Lil’ Cinder slung to her shoulder where he wandered to when Kitty grabbed Bijou by the hand. Kitty smiled as she looked at the small girl.

"You’re so cute! Did you know that?" Kitty asked, the girl looked away with a faint blush.

"Cynda?" Lil’ Cinder cried to his owner. Bijou looked up at the small pokemon and shook her head. "Quil quil?" She nodded.

"Yay! We’re here! What would you like to eat Lil’ Cinder-chan?" Kitty asked as she grabbed a tray and two plates. The cyndaquil pointed at the pancakes. "How many?"

"Four!" Lil’ Cinder cried out, Kitty stared at the pokemon for a second, then shook her head. Did she get a direct answer? Now that she thought about it, the same thing happened not too long ago after she got Soldier…was he talking to her then? She suddenly shook her head, she must have been imagining it.

But she did get four pancakes anyway.

"What would you like Bijou-chan?" Kitty asked. Bijou’s blue orbs rested on the muffins that were in fewer rows than before; Kitty though took some anyway. "Anything else?" Bijou shook her head. "Anything to drink?"

"Cyndaquil! Cynda!" Lil’ Cinder pointed at the milk jug.

"Would you both like milk then?" Kitty asked, both pokemon and girl nodded. Only three minutes later had they returned to the table had they then began eating. Soldier had already finished his meal and was down on his stomach with his chin on his over-lapping paws. His eyes scanning every pokemon and human around him. The rest of the breakfast went quite smoothly, Bijou and Lil’ Cinder ate, and the other Crimson students talked happily on the first year, well, everyone except for Ebony, Makoto, and Kodiak.

"Man! Last year means major studying, we’re not going to get much free time this year eh?" Kodiak whined, Makoto nodded in agreement.

"That’s only because it’s the year we take our School Finals," Ebony stated in a dull tone.

"School Finals?" Kitty repeated.

"Yeah, after the first year you get to choose what kind of person you want to be to pokemon. Then depending on that, you take courses on that in second year, and advanced classes in third year with the final tests at the end of the year to graduate." Deamon explained.

"But the cool thing is you get to take trips in second year depending on the courses you want to take. In first year you only take field trips but for second years it’s for complete studying. I had the best of times last year, we got to go to Lilycove! I still have my dolls from the market!" Candy exclaimed. "But anyway, what’s your schedule for today Kitty?"

"Well, I have grooming first." Kitty stated, remembering her schedule that was folded and tucked away in her skirt’s pocket.

"Oh! So you have the first year teacher then, Ms. Roberts! Good luck with her, she’s one of the strictest teachers out there!" Kimberly cried out. Fue and Kodiak nodded.

"You make one mistake and she catches you doing it, well, be prepared for anything." Deamon warned in a serious tone. "I was itching to kick her butt all year last year. But now I have Mr. Turner, drives me up a wall! All teachers have this thing with getting under my skin."

"They all do so what’s your point?" Kodiak stated with a smirk.

"Well ‘scuse me for not being teacher’s pet!" Deamon snapped. Kitty could hardly contain herself as the conversation continued and drew more people into it. Eventually the bell rang and students were to report to their first class. Kitty was nervous, they talked more about Ms. Roberts and she was anxious. Soldier followed her closely as they wandered out of the hall with the Crimson students, most who weren’t sitting with her eyed her carefully. Kitty hardly noticed, as she was too nervous about her first class.

"Are you doing well Kitten-chan?" Kitty jumped and Soldier growled as she turned and found Akira at her right, smiling slightly.

"Oh Akira!" Kitty cried, "How are you doing?"

"Fine, yourself?" He asked.

"Fine as well, but you didn’t look like you were having a good time back at breakfast." Kitty pointed out.

"Oh well, it’s what a Questrian has to expect." Kitty knew what he was talking about, but smiled all the same. He was being ridiculed and disrespected because of his blood. Akira’s silver stones shined of slight depression, but it hid when they began to smile. "But what is your schedule? It turns out that Crimson 1 and Marine 1 have grooming first. So that means that we’re going to be in each other’s first period." Crimson and the other two houses went by year in scheduling, Crimson 1, 2, and 3 and the same for Marine and Esmeralda. Classes never mixed year-wise.

"Oh! That’s great! But you never did tell me what your pokemon was Akira, what is it?" Kitty asked excitedly, hoping that Akira would tell her at last. He put his left index finger to his lips.

"It’s a secret," he said with a wink.

"All right, I’ll find out in first period right?" Kitty asked.

"Don’t worry, I have to let her out in class so you’ll see her." Akira answered, Soldier grunted.

The students filed into the large room that Kitty saw the yesterday. The teacher, Ms. Roberts stood at her desk in front of the room with a blackboard behind her. She had light brown hair back in a French braid with half-cut spectacles that had a beaded thread leading from the corners to around her neck. Her face was slightly withered and wrinkled with a very thin frame that with every limb you could accidentally think was a toothpick and wore a tight white dress that ended at the wrists, to her ankles, and half-way up her neck. She wore white boots and yellow gloves sat on her desk. Her hawk eyes scanned them as they sat down. She instantly snapped as Kitty went to sit next to Akira as well as other girls who were sitting next to guys.

"There is no gender mixing here young lady!" she quickly snapped coldly, Kitty jumped and Soldier, who had sat down on his hutches next to the desk bolted up to his feet and glared at the woman. All the other students froze as well. But all the teacher’s assaults were thrown at Kitty anyhow. "What do you think you are doing?" She asked as she approached Kitty, Akira, and Soldier, showing no signs of fear from the growls erupting from Soldier'’ throat.

"Sitting down Roberts-san," she answered with no hesitation, as if not noticing the cold nature coming from the woman.

"Do not give me that tone young lady, you are to sit on the other side of the room. That goes with the rest of you girls! Boys over here!" Ms. Roberts cried out into the room. The students looked at one another in utter surprise. But obediently, they began to separate themselves. Yet again, when Kitty went to send down next to Bijou –who had somehow came in without anyone noticing- again she was snapped at.

"Sit over there girl!" Ms. Roberts shouted, Kitty’s instincts told her she was talking to her and looked over at Ms. Roberts, following her finger to the seat next to Rika! "Well? What are you waiting for? Move it or it’s the office!" Kitty quickly hurried up to the front and sat down in the chair. Rika’s pink hair swished over to her back and her orange orbs glared daggers at her. It was then that Kitty noticed that the girl was not wearing the proper uniform of a female Marine. She wore long light blue pants, blue slipper-like shoes, and a white tube top. Wasn’t that against the entire dress code? Soldier refused to sit down and stood up, his pupils remained the same though.

"Well then, everyone has gotten into their seats now correctly. Now, listen up! These are your seats from now on! Do not get up, move or leave them at anytime without permission! Understood? My rules in this class are simple, do not talk unless spoken to, copy down everything I write on the chalkboard everyday no complaints, no food or candy as well as no gum whatsoever, no touching or talking to your pokemon until assignments are sent out and told to be done, and do not look around like a mindless idiot lip-talking and NO note-passing. Now for introductions, I am Ms. Roberts, your Special Treatments educator. When I call your name, you will shout out ‘present’. Anything else I will talk to you after class," Ms. Roberts shouted out, her eyes landing on Kitty many times, making her feel more nervous than before. Akira tried to send her reassuring looks, but as she couldn’t look around, he gave up.

"Alanri, Riana!"

"Present!"

Kitty’s hands were in her lap, twitching nervously, suppressing her cheerful exterior would definitely be a challenge in this class. She was looking forward to showing off a happy-go-lucky attitude and therefore, she was going to skrew up, she knew it. If she were to be caught by surprise, she said numerous things. How could she remember one word…?

"Growl…?" Soldier nudged her side, she looked down at the Fire Puppy, and he gave her strong and stern look, his stubborn stones meeting her golden pools. It was as if he were saying ‘this is no big deal, she’s only a skinny ol’ hag that resembles a baggy old witch!’. Kitty refrained from giggling; she would be punished for probably showing any amusing signs.

"Hiriyami, Akira!"

"Present!"

See Kitty? If Akira can do it, so can you! Kitty thought firmly in her head as Ms. Roberts named off people. Kitty tried hard not to look to her right, where she felt Rika’s eyes trying to bore a hole through her. I wonder what I ever did to her?

"Osokana, Myuu!"

"He-Present!" Kitty instantly looked at the desk in front of her, Ms. Roberts looked up at her, and she almost said a different word. She didn’t want to get in trouble on the first day! Not on the first day! Fortunately, Ms. Roberts looked back down at the clipboard, adjusting her lenses. Soldier released what breath he held, and so did Akira.

"Ooooh, you were almost caught. Gonna get in trouble on the first day eh Catgirl?" Rika whispered into her ear, her breath hitting Kitty’s skin. Suppressing the urge to say something back, she knew she couldn’t, for one thing she couldn’t talk, the other, she had little control over her vocal volume. Soldier lurked under the desk.

"Peppers, Lilian!"

"Present!"

"I’m surprised you even came here, knowing you’re only gonna fail ya know. After all…there’s no way you can be better than me." Rika stated quietly. "I am a member of Marine, water always puts out fire. You’re mutt will stand no chance to my lovely Water pokemon. So why don’t you go home, no one wants you here. Not even Akira or Shawn or anyone else of that pitiful Crimson team." Kitty looked up at her with shocked eyes.

"That’s not true…" she said very quietly.

"Of course it is, don’t you know why Akira hasn’t shown you his pokemon? Because he doesn’t want such a great pokemon around you, and well, everyone else. They just speak and are near you because they feel sorry for you. You don’t even have friends here, well, at least no one you can call a friend anyway." Rika replied. Beneath the desk, with one blow Soldier sent a small ember at the hem of Rika’s pants, and slowly returned to his hutches at Kitty’s side, slowly the ember began to brighten and burn at Rika’s pants slowly.

"Thorn, Rika!"

"Present!" Rika shouted out quickly, still unaware of her pants burning.

A few names later Ms. Roberts was done, she unclipped the papers and walked out of the room for a minute, when she came back in after putting the papers in the hanging bin outside her room, her eyes narrowed.

"There will be no playing with fire in here students! Who is emitting that wretched stench?" Ms. Roberts confirmed, Soldier smirked as everyone else began to notice as well, Rika sat there calmly, and thinking it had nothing to do with her. Kitty looked about frantically; thinking something was on fire. "Well?" Everyone shrugged, not knowing where it was coming from. Well, Rika found out, at least when the flames were nearly up to her leg.

"I’M ON FIRE!" Rika screamed as she jumped off her seat and began waving her legs fiercely, not thinking about her own pokemon as a way to get it out. Ms. Roberts noticed her frantic student and sighed as she released a pokemon. "OH GAWD GET IT OFF GET IT OFF!"

"Slowbro, Water Gun." Ms. Roberts commanded her forgetful pokemon.

"Slow," Slowbro moaned as he mouth opened wide and powerful jet of water landed on Rika, in the end, she stood there, soaked to the bone where her tube top became transparent with a left leg with only half of its material. She screamed as she wrapped her arms around her upper torso. Guys snickered as they tried to take a peek but were sent back down in their seats by Ms. Roberts piercing glare.

"Who is responsible for this?" Ms. Roberts asked, but by this time her eyes had already landed on Soldier, then they wandered to Kitty, her eyes glared unwavering. Kitty sank low into her seat. "Slowbro, escort Miss Thorn to the nurse’s office." She ordered, Slowbro slowly made his way to the door and out of it with Rika close in tow. Ms. Roberts eyes never leaving Kitty’s form that only sank lower into the seat. Akira shook his head with disbelief as he noticed that Ms. Roberts was blaming Kitty and lowered his forehead to his hands.

"Miss Myuu Osokana," she finally said with a deadly tone. Soldier’s eyes stared up at her blankly. "Would you like to explain to the class why you set your pokemon on Miss Thorn’s clothes? Perhaps to suspend her to the state of being nude for the rest of the day?" The guys held back their laughter and the half the girls were shocked and the other sent stares at Kitty. Did she set Soldier after Rika?

"R-Roberts-san I-I have n-no idea h-how R-Rika-chan caught f-fire," Kitty stuttered, unfortunately, it didn’t help her situation.

"Do not lie to me Miss Myuu Osokana," Ms. Roberts said venomously, as if she were an arbok aiming her fangs at the helpless prey before it. "You were the only Crimson student near her at the time with a Fire pokemon out, there is no getting around it. You had this growlithe attack her without noticing when I was distracted. I have seen it before, I know what I am talking about."

"But-"

"As punishment, you are to see me here by six tonight. Understand?" Ms. Roberts said coldly, Kitty nodded.

"Now, let’s begin class." The rest of that period didn’t go very smoothly, the first task of that day was to copy down all the techniques she would teach in this year, but Kitty didn’t see the point as the book covered it all. Then finally, they began the first treatment. Herbal medicines, the worst part Kitty thought, was that it had to be made exactly from the way the book said so and to make sure it was right – had to be tested on their pokemon. Of course, Ms. Roberts gave Kitty no help, as she drifted along from student to student, helping other students – besides her. Becoming highly aggravated by even the first shampoo to be tested on his ears for things such as mites, he instantly bolted from the desk and scratched at the door. Because of the claw marks on the door this time, Ms. Roberts only made it plain to her that her punishment would be worse, lowering Kitty’s self-esteem for the day.

Akira on the other hand, tried hard to be close to her, but Ms. Roberts wouldn’t have it (therefore she never discovered the pokemon he had). It was strictly gender organized in the room, the boys would stay clear of the girls, same for them as well. Kitty wouldn’t have the chance to talk to him at all, for their next class wouldn’t be shared, she would be studying with the Esmeralda next.

"If you are going to pass this class Miss Myuu Osokana, at least do the medicine right. The reason your pokemon flees from yours is because it gives off a foul smell," Ms. Roberts snapped at Kitty for the fifth time she saw Soldier flee, but he told her a completely different reason. Soldier just didn’t like being touched.

Finally, an hour came to a close and the bell finally rang. Almost instantly Kitty came to Akira, with Soldier right on her heels.

"What do you think will happen to me? She certainly isn’t kind," Kitty stated sadly as they walked out of the room.

"Take it easy, ask about it at lunch. Your friends will probably know something." Akira answered.

"Of course it is, don’t you know why Akira hasn’t shown you his pokemon? Because he doesn’t want such a great pokemon around you, and well, everyone else. They just speak and are near you because they feel sorry for you. You don’t even have friends here, well, at least no one you can call a friend anyway."

Rika’s words were repeated in Kitty’s mind, did she have friends here at the school? Maybe not…

"Hey, my next class is on the second floor. I’ll see you later all right, we can eat together at lunch. They allow it then." That was right, only at lunch were houses allowed to mix and talk to one another. Kitty smiled and wished Akira luck as they went their separate ways. Her next class – GYM.

The Esmeraldas hardly noticed Kitty as she walked in, but greeted fellow Crimson 1s as they came in. She was invisible, to them. And so was Soldier, who stood by her side. The teacher wasn’t out yet, leaving the students free to talk. Kitty was expecting a little better from this teacher compared to Ms. Roberts; the gym teacher was Mr. Maine. She had yet to meet him, despite that she had roamed about in the area yesterday.

"All right students! Time to settle down!" a voice boomed over them, Kitty looked up at the stage that was built into the wall of the one side of the gym, with bleachers on the other side. Mr. Maine, or so Kitty assumed the man was, was around 6’4" with a well-fit and masculine body with a tight ripped navy shirt and a pair of navy sweatpants, a whistle sat upon his chest and a primeape at his side. The girls in the room were instantly drawn to him like a magnet. Kitty had to admit herself, even for an eleven-year-old, he was pretty attractive, he didn’t look no older than twenty-five at the most either.

"Hey there, my name is Mr. Maine and I’m your three year gym teacher! What does that mean you ask? Well, I’m your teacher for the whole time you’ll be here, unless your transferred to either Keanea or Retnui." Mr. Maine stated with a grin, Kitty noticed every tooth was in exact order and perfectly straight and white. Next to that he must have worked out a great deal over the summer in the sun, his skin was rather well tanned. For his hair, it was bright blonde and had an odd eye color of hazel that instantly turned from a light shade of brown to a moss-hue green. "So let’s get started! You will all pair up with your own pokemon, grab a frisbee or a ball and when I blow my whistle, do whatever you want with it, but only with your pokemon! I want to see how well you and your pokemon cooperate with one another before we do some real fun! Let them out every one!"

"Go!" The students who had their pokemon in their poke’balls released them quickly, there were then several Fire and Grass-type pokemon throughout the gym, Soldier didn’t seem to appreciate one. Kitty spotted the baskets of multi-colored frisbees and balls in front of the stage, she and the other students hurried to fetch on of their liking.

"Like this one Soldier?" Kitty asked, showing a flashy pink frisbee in his direction. He sweat-dropped; she took that as a no. "How about this?" She showed a blue one, it seemed to only remind him of water, and from what he experienced last bell it was also assumed as a no. Finally after picking a red one, Soldier showed liking the flat plastic. By this time however, half the students already were throwing tons of balls and frisbees throughout the room. Hardly one pokemon caught the frisbee or ball at all. But Soldier was ready, he got up and leaned down onto his paws and his tail grew stiff as his eyes landed on the ball.

"You ready boy?" Though she got no reply, but she threw it anyway. "Fetch Soldier!"

Almost instantly Soldier bolted from the ground and the frisbee slammed into his mouth, his fangs gripping the plastic hard. With an outstanding twist his four legs beneath him, he landed neatly on all four paws. Students that were near applauded from the performance, catching Mr. Maine are attention from across the room.

"Do it again Kitty!" a few students cried.

"All right! Up for it boy?" Soldier nodded as Kitty readied her arm. "All right! Go!"

Again the frisbee was thrown, catching more of the students eyes as Soldier caught it once again cleanly in his mouth.

Spin! Another frisbee came flying, as soon as he landed, Soldier dropped the frisbee he caught and ran a few feet then leaped, catching the stray frisbee. Again, more applause sounded as Soldier threw back the frisbee at Kitty, who caught and spun around herself.

"Very well done! Try a ball," Kitty turned around just to notice a red ball landing in her hands. She looked up to find herself eye-to-eye with Mr. Maine.

"Go ahead, give it a try."

"Right! Go Soldier!" Kitty cried, throwing the ball again. Soldier dashed after it.

"Growl!" Soldier cried as he leaped once again after catching the red ball five times. When he ran back once again, Kitty fell to her knees and hugged him tightly.

"Excellent teamwork! But somehow I’m not surprised, it’s obvious you two are already close, but you might need to fix a few more glitches." Mr. Maine stated, Kitty eyed him questionably. "Meaning you still have some problems getting along," Kitty and Soldier looked at one another, than back at Mr. Maine.

"All right, but that won’t be a problem! Right boy?" Kitty asked, standing up with a quick pat on Soldier’s head. He didn’t reply, but only looked to his right, occupying himself with staring at the floor.

"Good, determination and devotion towards your goals are a great skill you need to accomplish future tasks. That goes for all of you all right! Now let’s play a bit of Dodgeball for the thrill of it!" Mr. Maine cried, everyone cheered. Soldier smirked.

As soon as the balls were flung, Soldier was already twirling and bouncing from one spot on the floor to the next, eventually everyone began to aim at him from the other side, not once hitting him. Kitty and the other students and pokemon on Soldier’s side threw balls at their opponents, who were more into throwing balls at Soldier to notice balls hurling at them. About fifteen minutes later, Soldier’s side had won. And the next three after that before the bell rang for next period, and the only ones who seemed to still be energized were of course Soldier and Kitty, though Kitty was panting while Soldier seemed perfectly content.

"Was that fun Soldier?" Kitty asked as they walked down the hall, being avoided by other students who recognized her. Only a grunt was her reply. "Yeah, you’re right. It was fun!" Her next class, was fortunately had nothing to do whit the physical well being of the body as Kitty was pretty exhausted. It was the basics any kid should learn and sadly had to be learned – algebra and physical science. Kitty wasn’t the brightest student in brains when it came to mathematics, and she pined for the gym as they entered the large room.

The teacher, Mr. Whiteka was that teacher for the next unusually longer block time of 90 minutes. Soldier immediately sat down next to Kitty at the black-topped desks. The houses studied in each class rooms with their own year and own team; therefore she only shared the room with fellow Crimson first years. At least she could concentrate better without any interruptions. But Mr. Whiteka’s personality wasn’t going to help.

"Hello, welcome to Pre-Algebra and first year physical science." He said in a very dull voice of an aging professor. "I am Mr. White-ka, your teacher…"

His lectures were even worse.

After the bell rang, Kitty left the room feeling deeply sluggish with Soldier behind her looking rather ticked. The cracking of his muscles were heard in between laughs and conversations throughout the hall. Apparently he did not enjoy being out of his poke’ball at that time. Kitty made a mental note to always return him to his ball before entering such a boring subject.

"At least it’s almost lunch. Let’s head back upstairs, we have a ten-minute break before first year’s head to lunch, then after that we go to our last class of the day. Then the rest of the day is free to us – well, until I’m done with homework." Kitty stated happily, Soldier grunted in disgruntled joy.

"Did you have your growlithe out all morning?" Kitty turned around along with Soldier, it was Rika and a few of her friends. Her jeans were switched, but of the same product. "Before you get any ideas!" She snapped quickly when she saw Kitty eyeing her jeans. "You better know that Ms. Sunwing would like a word with you in the office." Rika said proudly, Kitty stiffened, Soldier growled.

"Do keep your mutt under control!" one of her friends hissed in irritation (hiding her fright).

"But he’s not doing anything so what is there to control?" Kitty asked innocently.

"It doesn’t matter, they’re both going to get in trouble anyway. See you much later," Rika said with a sneer as she walked past her with a rough bump into Kitty’s shoulder, instantly, Soldier took action and head-butted Rika in the back. Making her fall to the ground. Fortunately, he hands hit the ground first, preventing her face from smashing into the floor.

"You-" Rika hissed as she got herself to her feet. Yet before she could finish her sentence a voice interrupted.

"Is there something going on?" It was Ebony, Kitty felt her heart jump for joy.

"Oh! Well, I just came here to inform her that Ms. Sunwing wanted to see her in her office and this crazed canine attacked me!" Rika explained, pointing an accusing finger at the fire puppy. Ebony peered up at Kitty’s golden orbs and then her own flew back Rika’s orange ones.

"Really? Then I will escort her to the office, you on the other hand, resume your business. That goes for you two as well." Ebony stated, looking at Rika’s friends. Not daring to mess with a prefect they huffed and swore a little before walking away. Ebony shook her head lightly. "Kitty, you need to control your pokemon. We cannot have it randomly attacking people."

"I know, but I didn’t order him to-"

"Exactly, that’s the problem. But I bet that’s what Ms. Sunwing wants to talk to you about. So let’s head up now." Ebony said as she began walking to the stairs, Kitty and Soldier following with nothing to say.

KNOCK! KNOCK!

"Who is it?"

"Ebony Tokimori ma’am,"

"Oh! Then do come in," Ebony came in with Kitty in tow, before entering the office she thought it would be best if Soldier got some rest before lunch therefore she returned him to his ball. Ms. Sunwing’s office was rectangular and had glass walls behind her that revealed the courtyard. On the other two brick walls on either side of her desk hung certificates of the school and Ms. Sunwing’s prizes herself. Then there was the large desk of hers that was against Kitty’s left and left an opening at her right. Her computer and file sections took up mostly the desk and so on and so fourth.

"You wished to see Kitty Osokana?" Ebony asked, Ms. Sunwing smiled up at them both.

"Yes, thank you very much Tokimori, here’s a pass. I think you have two more classes before the end of the day." Ms. Sunwing said as she handed Ebony a piece of a paper she had written on herself. As soon as Ebony dismissed herself and left, Ms. Sunwing’s expression grew grim. "I would like to know what gave you the authority to attack a fellow student on the very first day Myuu?" Kitty didn’t like her using her real name at all.

"Please do call me Kitty Sunwing-san." Kitty pleaded lightly.

"Very well, but do answer the question." Ms. Sunwing demanded. Kitty’s mind raced for a plausible explanation. But she couldn’t lie…she couldn’t say one…

Well, not with a straight face anyway.

"Well, to tell the truth Sunwing-san, I don’t know why Soldier-kun did what he did. It was him, that I cannot deny but I truly don’t know why he attacked Rika-chan." Kitty answered, Ms. Sunwing stared at the first year pupil.

"Then he will have to be put down…"

"What? No! Why?!" Kitty burst out, her body jumped from surprise.

"He’s randomly attacking your fellow students, I saw it myself yesterday. He does not listen to command we cannot bring that kind of harm to our school. Therefore that kind of action is required." Ms. Sunwing explained.

"No! I’ll control him! I’ll have him listen to me! Give him another chance please? Let me discover why he’s doing this." Kitty cried out, awaking the growlithe in his ball. Ms. Sunwing looked doubtful and eyed Kitty, as if scanning her like a computer did to its data.

"Are you sure you can do this? It’s big responsibility Kitty," Ms. Sunwing stated.

"Yes, I’m sure I can. We’re great friends," Soldier’s eyes widened, but quickly returned to their normal size as he pretended to doze off. "I’ll figure out what’s bothering him, I promise."

"I hope you can keep that promise Kitty, such a promise cannot be guaranteed to be kept."

"Don’t worry, I will!" she cried out happily, her self-esteem shooting back up quickly. Five minutes later, after Kitty had left the office, Ms. Sunwing let out a relief.

She’s going to be a handful…the both of them will be…

"I almost forgot about lunch! But that meeting took up all our break time, we’re going to have to hurry!" Kitty said to Soldier, who had released himself the moment she walked out of Ms. Sunwing’s office. Unfortunately, as soon as she got to the lunch room, there was only twenty minutes of lunch time left for the first years (second years have lunch second and third years, well, have third lunch!). Some people who noticed the person late looked up, but most looked back down, resuming their business. Soldier grunted.

"Ah, Kitten. Why are you so late to lunch?" It was Akira; happily, Kitty turned to him, Soldier peering up at Akira strangely. He growled when he took an instant whiff…just now taking notice of him. Yet when both Kitty and Akira ignored him, he turned away and looked dully at the buffet table. Only his stomach gave away his hunger…

"Long story, I’ll tell you when we eat ‘kay?" Kitty asked.

"I’ll help you, there’s a few free seats over there, my lunch is safe with Mizu-chan in charge." Akira stated.

"Mizu-chan?" she repeated as they walked towards the buffet, Soldier snorted.

"Kitten, this is Mizu. Mizu, this is Kitten." Akira said five minutes later when they ventured to where Akira stated were free seats. Kitty squealed as the ‘Mizu-chan’ faced her. This Mizu, was a pretty small eevee, but discolored. Mizu, who was just growling at a passerby –for probably almost sitting in Akira’s reserved seats- sat down quietly, her tail fluffy and her fur a glossy rich Indian red. Akira must have worked hard grooming the small evolution pokemon; she looked very well cared for.

Soldier, on the other hand, didn’t seem to enjoy the seemly feisty eevee, as he disapproved of her immediately. Setting off Mizu and they instantly went at it, in a verbal fight anyway.

"Eevni!" Mizu cried back.

"Ni? Where did the ni come from?" Kitty asked as they sat down.

"For some reason, she can’t say her name right." Akira answered with a small smile.

"Oh! But it’s an adorable, but eevees aren’t Water type aren’t they? Aren’t eevees Normal type?" Kitty stated.

"Yes, but it turns out that eevees evolve into the water pokemon, Vaporeon, and since my grades were pretty high, they decided to give me a more advanced pokemon to work with."

"Eevni!"

"Growlithe!" the two barked at one another, Akira and Kitty sweat-dropped.

"And so far, she’s been a complete handful and more of a responsibility than getting my homework completed." Akira said with a chuckle, Kitty giggled as well. Then her eyes caught someone; she looked over at the table not far away. It was Bijou, and Lil’ Cinder. Eating alone, well, not completely alone. Akira noticed Kitty’s gaze and followed it; Soldier and Mizu quieted down as well.

"Are you a five-year-old or an eleven-year-old kid? You could at least talk you know? Or do you not speak human? Do you even understand me or does that little pipsqueak have to translate for ya?" She was being teased. By at least one older classman with a few of his buddies smirking behind him. Kitty’s eyes flickered, Soldier’s eyes only glinted coldly.

"It’s that girl you were with this morning right?" Akira asked, noticing that the boys teasing her were of Marine.

"Yeah, I better-" before she got up, Akira placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Let me handle it," Akira said as he stood up and with Mizu on his shoulder, walked over to the table with his hands in his pockets.

"Leave her alone Kurokawa," Akira said calmly at the boy, a third year Kitty recognized as she sat the Prefect badge on his Marine uniform. He had pale blue hair cut in at his shoulders; Kitty blushed slightly as she took the details in. His hair moved even without a breeze, as it was so thin and as glossy and sleek as Mizu’s fur. His bangs were strung in split ends but matched his well-tanned being all the way. His eyes were cyan and narrow, already he seemed to take on manhood at the age of thirteen.

"Oh, hey there Akira. Are you getting your homework done?" The boy named Kurokawa asked, Kitty found it a strange name. Now that she thought about it a lot of people’s names here had been sounding rather odd, must have been a different language…

"Leave her alone Kurokawa." Akira repeated, Mizu prepared to launch off his shoulder. "Or at least act like a prefect and go give a teasing to someone who deserves it." Kurokawa looked roughly thoughtful.

"Yeah, I should I suppose…"

"Why are you even here anyway? Third years don’t have lunch at this time." Akira stated plainly.

"I actually came here to send a message to this girl here. But it seems that she is completely oblivious that I’m even standing here." Kurokawa said.

"And you thought that teasing her would give you her attention?" Akira said with a sigh.

"How right you are Akira," Kurokawa said brightly. "But I think she got the message, if she didn’t, it’s her own problem. All right, see you later, come on guys before Mr. Mizumi has a cow." With a single motion of his hand, the three or four of the other third years followed him, one a rather strict looking girl with…wait a minute, it was Ebony?

This caught both Kitty and Soldier by surprise as she followed the other three boys back and out of the cafeteria. Akira had been down slightly and seemed to be speaking to the girl, as she had her big and hopeful lovely orbs on his, but Kitty didn’t hear anything.

I wonder why Ebony didn’t do anything about that…and why was she with Marine? Kitty thought, just then, Akira came back with Mizu still perched on his shoulders, with Bijou behind him, Lil’ Cinder in her arms.

"She’ll be joining us for lunch. Is that all right Kitten?" Akira asked, Kitty smiled as the girl sat down next to her.

"Of course it’s all right, very pleased to see you again Bi-chan! You too Lil’ Cinder! Oh! Did you not eat yet?" Bijou’s stomach growled in response, she blushed heavily. "I suppose that’s a no, I’ll go and get you a meal all right?"

"You must hurry Kitten, the bell for the ending of first lunch will end in fifteen minutes." Akira stated, with that Kitty hurried away, leaving the others to eat. Akira’s silver stones landed on the small and timid girl. He sighed.

"You must remember to eat Bijou, you’ll get heavily underweight that way, I rather not see you get ill." He stated. "You’ll also regret it if you both go hungry…how are you expecting to care for your pokemon Bijou? If you keep this up…you won’t be able to catch any pokemon and keep them alive, thus, not be able to graduate from first year." Bijou nodded, sinking into her seat. Soldier carefully eyed them both, with lowered eyes he ate the remains of his meal.

"And do at least try to make a conversation with people Bijou, or you’ll have no friends." Akira continued. "With no friends…you’ll continue going down that road of nothing-ness. Do try to understand that, and Kitten is open to anyone and everything. Give it all time…but if I can say a few more words. Kitten is already your friend," Bijou’s eyes remained glued to the table’s surface.

"All right! Here ya go! Good thing I got there when I did! They were about to put different foods in the small tin thingys!" Kitty cried as she placed a tray in front of Bijou and Lil’ Cinder. Lil’ Cinder began to eat instantly. Bijou on the other hand looked from the food, to Kitty. Akira and Soldier watching her. Without a glance up to Akira, Bijou began to eat. Making Akira smile, Soldier peered up at the blue-haired Marine.

Things might just get easier…