“He’s done it again, folks!” blared the commentator over the loudspeakers. “Ash 
Ketchum has defeated Steven Stone and achieved rank number one worldwide!” The 
crowd went wild as Ash’s Pikachu raised its arms in victory over Steven’s 
knocked-out Aggron. Steven recalled the monstrous pokemon to its ball in a thin 
beam of red light and stepped down from his podium to congratulate Ash. 

“Yes, folks,” continued the commentator, “we have a new pokemon master!” If 
possible, the crowd exploded and became even louder, with a hundred cameras a 
second nearly blinding the young boy of fourteen. He squinted and smiled up at 
the huge camera focused on him, his face appearing on the instant-replay screen, 
a perfect duplicate.

A pretty red-haired girl ran to meet him, but just before she could reach his 
podium, a dozen or so interviewers and reporters cut her off and formed a wall 
around Ash. He saw Steven and the girl trying to push their way through the 
media, but they weren’t about to give up their spot next to the Pokemon Master.

“Ash!” yelled the girl, above the questions of the reporters. “Ash! Wake up, 
Ash!” she said, her voice sounding a little different. Deeper, more mature. 
“Wake up, Ash! Wake up!” That voice definitely wasn’t the girl’s voice. But 
whose voice was it? “Ash! Get out of bed right now!” the voice commanded. Of 
course! It was his mother’s!

Ash Ketchum’s chocolate-colored eyes darted open and were greeted by an unhappy 
Delia Ketchum hovering directly over him. “How did you sleep through your alarm 
again? Get out of bed immediately, mister! It is your first day of school and 
you will not be late!” She paused to let the words sink in.
     
If possible, Ash’s eyes opened wider than they had before. The first day of 
school? Oh yeah. His first day of high school at Pokemon Tech in Viridian. He 
had turned fourteen a few months ago and his mom wouldn’t have any “nonsense” 
about continuing his journey. He was going off to high school, and that was 
that, she had said. Baloney, he was doing just fine for himself. The Orange 
League Champ and high rankings in the Indigo and Silver Conferences, why quit?

Ash hurdled off his bed and onto the floor. After glancing at the clock, which 
read 7:24, he walked straight down the hallway, took a right, and there was the 
bathroom. He stepped into the shower and turned the knob labeled “H”. That’s 
what I need to wake me up, thought Ash. A hot shower. 

I wonder if anybody else from Pallet besides Gary is going, he wondered as the 
water washed over him. Maybe John will go, he was a decent trainer. Top Sixteen 
in the Silver Conference, I think. Or Steph, maybe. Her mom would definitely 
want her in that sort of school. And Misty’s going, but she’s from Cerulean. 
Brock is definitely going, Nurse Joy is their Care and Breeding teacher this 
year. Ash chuckled to himself and squeezed some shampoo onto his head. 

At least they have an inter-school Pokemon Cup challenge. Maybe there will be 
some decent trainers for Pikachu to fry. And their Training and Battling teacher 
is supposed to be really good this year. It won’t be all bad I suppose. I get a 
week-long leave for the Orange League Championships, that’s pretty cool. Ash 
turned off the water and parted the shower curtains to look for a towel. There 
was one on the floor, so he grabbed it and dried himself off.

After changing into his black shirt and blue jeans, he raced down the stairs and 
into the kitchen. His mom was waiting for him. “School starts at eight, and it’s 
7:34! You don’t have time for anything fancy, grab a bagel or a Pop-tart or 
something,” she advised. Ash walked past her and opened up the cupboard. The 
s’mores Pop-tarts were at the front, so he reached in, grabbed a pack and pecked 
his mom on the cheek.

“Bye, Mom. Before you ask, I tried to comb my hair, I did brush my teeth, yes, I 
have deodorant on, I am wearing clean underwear, and I will stay out of 
trouble,” he informed her, and started to head out the door, pocketing his 
breakfast.

“Wait! Ash!” his mother called out. He turned around and raised an eyebrow.

She ran up to him and hugged him. Ash squirmed a bit and silently thanked 
whoever built their house for installing a wooden door and not a glass one. 
“Maybe you can get into a little bit of trouble,” she allowed. Ash grinned.

“Thanks, Mom.” And with one last wave and a smile, he picked up his backpack, 
which was sitting next to the door, and headed towards Professor Oak’s place. He 
could just make out his mom saying something about bringing a girl home as the 
door closed behind him. Ash shook his head. If his mom ever met his girlfriend, 
assuming that he had one, she would obsess over it like her little Ash was 
getting married.

“They grow up too fast,” Mrs. Ketchum sniffed, and walked up the stairs to Ash’s 
room. She opened the door and called out, “Pikachu!” There was no answer. 
“Pikachu!” she repeated. Still nothing. “Ketchup!” she tried, positive that her 
trump card would lure the small electric mouse out from its hiding place.

Pikachu was an obedient pokemon, so unless Ash had told it otherwise, it would 
stay in his room. Where else would Ash have told it to go? Delia’s eyes got 
wide. His backpack! That clever boy, she mused and shook her head. She would let 
it go today, but tomorrow she’d have to make sure Pikachu stayed at home. 
Student’s pokemon weren’t allowed on campus unless the principal said otherwise.

But she knew Ash wouldn’t leave Pikachu at home for the life of him. It was 
probably best to not even try and separate them. Maybe you can get into a little 
bit of trouble, she remembered saying. A smile formed at the corners of her 
mouth. “Just a little bit,” she said aloud, and headed back down the steps.

~~~~~~~~~~

Ash rang the doorbell to Professor Oak’s house. Gary would be inside, and they’d 
walk to school together. A bus didn’t come down to Pallet town, Viridian was a 
ten minute walk or so from Ash’s house. It was probably around 7:40 or so now, 
so they needed to get a move on if they wanted to get their schedules in time to 
find their first class.

Tch. If Gary was my brother, Mom would have a heart attack over how long he 
sleeps in, he thought to himself. He unzipped his backpack and his ever-faithful 
pokemon, Pikachu, hopped onto his shoulder from inside the bag, panting for air. 
“Sorry, buddy. Didn’t want Mom to see me take you to school. It’s against the 
rules for pokemon to be brought on campus, so you’ll have to lie low all day,” 
he explained.

Pikachu cocked its head to one side. “Pikapi, pika pikachu pikapi?” it asked 
curiously.

“I dunno why they made that rule. It sure is stupid, though. It’s a high school 
specializing in pokemon. Why can’t you bring pokemon on campus?” He made a face, 
pulled his Pokemon League Expo hat out of his backpack and jammed it on top of 
his unruly black hair. 

Gary chose just that moment to throw open the front door, also carrying a 
backpack, but wearing his customary purple sweatshirt, jeans and boots. His 
ying-yang charm hung around his neck, like usual, and his spiky brown hair, just 
as untidy as Ash’s was not covered by a hat, but rather uncovered. Ash’s mom 
often said it made him look like a porcupine.

“Hey, Ash,” Gary greeted his friend. “Ready to go?”

“I’ve been ready, man,” came the reply. We’ve got to find our first class in 
about twenty minutes or else we’re in for it. It’s our first day, don’t you want 
to make a good impression?”

“Yeah,” agreed Gary, “but I wanted to sleep more,” he said with a smile. “Did we 
get schedules in the mail or anything, or will they give us those when we get 
there?”

“I didn’t get one in the mail,” Ash told him. “I think they’ll give us our 
schedules when we get there. Come on, let’s go!” he urged.

The two boys set out towards the Pallet Town exit, leading towards Route One. 
Pidgey, Sentret and Ratatta were all you would ever find on this route, and at 
very low levels. Nevertheless, Ash fingered his pokeball belt anxiously. He had 
brought a spare pokeball, just in case something caught his eye.

Gary noticed Pikachu on Ash’s shoulder. “Isn’t bringing pokemon onto campus 
against the rules?” he quizzed.

“Rules were meant to be broken,” Ash replied, grinning. “Yeah, it’s against the 
rules, but this is Pikachu. I couldn’t have left him at home even if I wanted 
to.” Pikachu made a victory sign with its paw.

Gary raised his voice to sound like Ash’s. “Don’t you want to make a good 
impression?” he mocked. Ash fumed as Gary laughed in triumph. “Relax, I’m just 
joking.” He paused for a minute. “So, are any other kids from Pallet going?”

“I dunno,” Ash said, shrugging. “Besides you and me, I think John might be 
going, but that’s probably it. I’m not even sure about John going or not. 
Haven’t talked to him since the Silver Conference,” he realized. “Misty and 
Brock will be there for sure, though.”

“Misty? The redhead? Doesn’t she live in Cerulean city?” he asked.

“Yeah, but she’ll probably take the train to Viridian. The one they just built 
that goes through Mt. Moon and past Viridian Forest. They built that just for 
this school, I think,” Ash guessed. Gary was skeptical. “Why else would they do 
it?” he reasoned.

“Pikapi! Pikachu pika!” yelled Pikachu, and pointed straight ahead at a huge 
building, much bigger than the city’s gym. The words “Pokemon Tech High School” 
were printed on the school’s walls just above the main entrance. 

Gary and Ash looked at each other with wide eyes. “Cool,” Gary finally said, and 
walked towards the building. He stopped and looked back at Ash, who wasn’t 
walking with him. “Come on, Ash, we’ve gotta get there before we’re late,” he 
called out. The shorter boy had a look of indecision on his face. 

“I gotta figure out what to do with Pikachu!” Ash whispered. Gary smacked 
himself on the forehead.

“You meant you brought Pikachu all this way and now you don’t know what to do 
with it?” Ash nodded. “Put it back in your backpack!” Gary suggested. Ash and 
Pikachu shook their heads no simultaneously.

“He hates it in there,” he protested. “Doesn’t like the dark, I suppose. I think 
I’ll let him stay outside on the grounds for today and see how he does. Alright 
with you, Pikachu?” Ash asked. His pokemon nodded.

Gary shrugged. “They might think it’s wild and take it away,” he noted.

Ash shook his head with a smile. “Nobody can catch Pikachu!” he bragged, and 
lowered his arm to the ground. Pikachu used it as a makeshift springboard and 
jumped onto the earth, then dashed behind the school without being seen. Gary 
was impressed, but didn’t let it show. “Let’s go inside and get our schedules 
before we’re late,” advised Ash. The two boys walked over to the building and 
pushed open the double doors to reveal checkered tiles for the floor, and 
expensive looking lights hanging from the ceiling.

“Cool,” Gary repeated. Nobody seemed to be around to hand them their schedules 
right when they walked in, so the boys looked around. To their right there was 
an office-like section encased by glass walls. Ash walked up to the door and 
boldly opened it. Gary followed him in and shut the door softly behind them.

“Hi, I’m Ash Ketchum, and this is Gary Oak. We’re both supposed to start here 
today. Do you know where our schedules are?” Ash inquired of the secretary 
sitting behind the main desk. She said nothing in response to the boy’s 
questions but began leafing through some papers that looked like they might be 
schedules.

There are more than a few schedules left. That means class hasn’t started or 
there are lots of other people late besides us, reasoned Ash. He felt Gary tap 
his arm and turned to look at what his friend was pointing at. The clock said 
7:57. Not cool, panicked Ash.

“Ketchum and Oak. Here you are,” said the secretary, and handed them their 
respective schedules. “This school goes by block scheduling, so you’ll have four 
ninety-minute blocks each day, and lunch, of course. Today is an “A” day, so you 
look under “A” day next to “period one” on your sheet. You both start with Mr. 
Francis in Biology. There’s a map on the back to help you find your way around. 
Biology is in the science wing, which is on the other end of the building. You 
have two minutes,” she finished.

Ash and Gary both turned and bolted out the door, not caring what kind of 
impression they were making on the secretaries, but instead focusing on getting 
to their next class on time. Taking a left and running down the long hallway, 
both boys glanced at their sheets. “Right!” they shouted simultaneously, dodging 
several students on their way down the hall. One teacher yelled at them to stop 
running, but neither of the two paid any heed and kept running. Both boys scaled 
the staircase at the end of the hall in three jumps, bringing them to the 
science wing.

“We go this way!” Gary said, and pointed right. “There it is! 304!” he 
exclaimed, and both boys walked nonchalantly into the classroom as if they had 
been doing nothing wrong. The bell rang right as they took their seats in the 
front and center of the room.

A short, heavyset man set at the desk at the front of the classroom. His hair 
was black-turning-grey, and he wore loose-fitting khaki pants and a button-up 
shirt with a breast pocket with the words “Pokemon Tech” on it.

“I am Mr. Francis,” the man introduced himself, standing up as he began talking, 
“your Biology teacher for the year. Let’s take role here and then we’ll break 
the ice before we move on to today’s assignment. I’ll call out your last name 
and you answer with your first name to show that you’re here. Birch!”

“Brendan!” replied a boy with spiked white hair. He dressed completely in black, 
except for the shirt we wore under his jacket, which was a dark maroon. He could 
have been a punk if he had dyed his hair and he hadn’t been wearing a friendly 
smile on his face.

“Chamberlain!” barked the teacher.

“Wesley!” came a voice from the back.

“Ebstein!”

“Joe!” came a high-pitched voice from the back. Ash and Gary couldn’t help but 
turn around. The boy had shaggy brown hair almost covering his eyes and glasses 
too big for his nose. He had to keep pushing them back up the bridge of his nose 
to keep them from falling off.

“Hikaru!”

“May!” came a strong female voice from the front near the left. Ash and Gary 
turned and saw a brunette-haired girl with a red bandana on her head, wearing a 
red windbreaker jacket and way-too-short shorts hugging nicely shaped legs.

“She’s not half bad looking,” Ash muttered to Gary. Gary nodded in agreement. 
Mr. Francis turned his head, having heard exactly what Ash had said.

“Is whatever you’re saying so important that you must interrupt my roll call?” 
he questioned Ash. That guy has pretty good hearing, observed the student in 
question.

“No sir,” Ash replied, going a little bit red in the face, but it was barely 
noticeable thanks to his tan. “It wasn’t important.”

“I think it was, since you had to disturb my roll call to communicate it. What 
did you say to your friend, Mr...” he paused, giving the impression he had not 
learned the student’s names yet. Ash saw the opportunity and went with it. “Oak. 
Gary Oak,” he fibbed.

“Funny, Mr. Ketchum, but I’m a bit smarter than that,” Mr. Francis laughed. Ash 
looked surprised. He was caught off-guard! By the teacher! When was the last 
time that had happened to him? “Tell the class what you said to your friend, 
Ash,” he demanded.

Ash decided that if the teacher was this sharp, honestly was the best policy. 
Besides, if the teacher didn’t ask, nobody would know who he was referring to. 
And why would it hurt if anybody knew about it? “I said, ‘She’s not half bad 
looking,’” Ash announced.

“Who isn’t half bad looking?” Mr. Francis asked again.

“May,” Ash replied cooly. Out of the corner of his eye he spotted May’s cheeks 
going red and the shy glance that she shot him out of the corner of her eye. 
Brendan didn’t look too happy about this statement, and cracked his knuckles and 
scowled. He suddenly looked a LOT more like a punk. Now all he needed was the 
black hair.

“I see. Thank you for your honesty, Mr. Ketchum. You may sit down. Do not 
interrupt again you or will be sent to the principal’s office,” Mr. Francis 
warned. “Hiroshi!”

“Ritchie!” came a voice from the back.

Ash turned around suddenly. It couldn’t be, but it was! There was Ritchie, same 
spiky auburn hair, same cap and vest, same trademark smile. The same kid he had 
met at the Kanto Indigo League and suffered a heart-crushing loss to in the Top 
16. “Ritchie?” he repeated. 

“I wasn’t kidding, Mr. Ketchum,” reminded Mr. Francis. “That’s two 
interruptions. Principal’s office. Now.” Ash didn’t argue.

This is going to be a long first period, realized Ash, as he walked out the door 
of room 304.

~~~~~~~~~~

Author's Notes: The AAML and KentaMarina are coming, don't you worry. I've 
already dropped the first HoennShipping hint, see if you can find it in there. 
There are going to be some mixups between which characters are familiar with 
who. I'm going to twist some of the character's adventures so that they never 
met certain people and will have to start their relationships from scratch. I 
think you'll find the story pretty easy to follow once it gets rolling. Thanks 
for reading!