Getting an Education By Anthony Massa Prolouge Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon. It belongs to Gamefreak, Nintendo and it’s creator. Ash looked at the blank piece of paper that lay on the table before him. He was writing a letter to his mom and all of his friends and neighbors who she’d undoubtedly show it too. He chewed on the cap of his pen, trying to think of the right words to put down. Pikachu slept on his bed. They had been staying at the Pokémon Centre for the past two days, and Ash had finally decided to go back home. He wanted to send a letter beforehand though, remembering all the times his mother had wished he would call and warn her. He recently had the thought of sending a letter, because it felt more personal than a call, and knew that she would reward him generously with a big stack of pancakes. He was nearly salivating at the thought. Anyways, he pushed the pen hard against the paper, as if to force out the words. Dear Mom, Hi Mom! It’s Ash. Sorry I haven’t called in a while, but I’ve been a little busy on my adventures. How is Professor Oak doing? Well, I’ll probably be seeing you soon, seeing as I’m going to be coming back home in a week, which is the same time as my birthday! I hope you’re making your home-made Chansey cake! The thought makes me so hungry, I could eat a Ponyta! Well, I’ll be seeing you. --A. Ash smiled and folded the paper, slipping it carefully in a blue envelope. “Come on, Pikachu!” He said, shaking his furry friend, who grumbled back, but then jumped up onto his shoulder, deciding to doze off a bit there instead. “Gotta get this letter to the Post office.” Ash waved goodbye to Nurse Joy, thanking her for the room, as he left. Walking down the road of Gleamstar city, he couldn’t help but think of his friends whom he hadn’t seen in so long. Brock, Gary, May, Max, and of course, Misty, whom he missed the most. Not for any romantic reason, he told himself, but because he’d seen her the least. Yeah. He hadn’t seen her for so long, that he wondered how much she had changed. When he last saw her, she had changed very little. She had a figure, and was sporting a new yellow outfit. But other than that, she was still the hotheaded girl who was afraid of bugs that he’d always know. “Morning Ash.” officer Jenny said as she drove up to him on her motorcycle. “What’re you up to?” “Hey, Officer Jenny.” he waved the envelope, “I was just taking this letter to the post office. I’m going home to Kanto to see my mom in a week, and I just wanted to give her a heads up.” “Had enough of Ol’ Siertio, eh?” She joked, “You have been here for over a year, after all.” True, Ash had traveled through Siertio, a region south of Johto, discovering new Pokémon, and meeting new people for quite a while. So far, he had only won three out of ten badges. The Gym Leaders were far tougher than he had imagined. Ash chuckled and shook his head. “Nah. My birthday’s coming up, and my mom always wants me home for it, but usually, I can’t make it. I’m gonna surprise her.” “Well, happy birthday Ash. Hope you have a good one.” She smiled. “See ya later!” And she drove off, as Ash waved her goodbye. “Bye!” Pikachu waved too, and then hopped on the ground, after resting. The two walked in the post office and Ash handed the letter to the mailman who was almost out the door. “You’re lucky!” The Mailman said. “I was just on my way out.” Ash thanked him and left, to make his way to the next town, where he’d take the ferry to Veridean city. They had just built a dock down there, and, although the price was higher, Ash wanted to take it so he wouldn’t be walking mile after mile. “Oh my gosh!” Delia, Ash’s mother screamed as she ripped the envelope to Ash’s letter. “My little baby sent me a letter!” As she scanned it over, she almost woke the whole neighborhood with her excitement. After pounding on Professor Oak’s door, and showing him, she had got him and the rest of the neighbors to help her prepare the party. “Ash is coming back to Kanto?” Brock asked, as she talked to Delia on the phone. “That’s great!” “Yes, and it would be wonderful if you would come to the party.” She said, smiling softly. “Have you talked to him lately?” “No, not for a few months.” He was very happy to know that Ash would be coming home, and voiced his excitement by offering to buy Ash something nice for his birthday, like a new Poke watch. “I’ll make sure to call Misty. She’ll be even more excited than both of us.” The two shared a laugh, but Delia mentioned she already called her. “Misty’s the first one I called.” She said, “Apparently, her sisters had taken over the gym, and changed half of it into a theatre for water acrobatics. She was veeery angry about that!” Delia giggled. “But to occupy her time, they sent her to a Pokémon academy for Advanced trainers.” “Yeah, I heard about that.” he nodded, his eyes shut as always. “So what were you planning to get Ash?” Delia looked to the left, and to the right, as if someone would be watching her, and then whispered. “I enrolled Ash in the same school!” She said. “I’m sure he’ll love it, having missed school when he was younger, due to traveling around all the time.” Brock sweat a bit, knowing Ash would never want to go to school, but kept his mouth shut, knowing how much that school costs to get in. “That’s great Mrs. Ketchum.” He said half-heartedly. “Well, I’ll see you in a few days! Bye.” After saying goodbye, the two hung and got ready for the next few days. Brock sat up and walked over to his dresser, and looked at an old photo. It was him, Ash and Misty sitting by one of the many campfires they had made over the years, mugging and posing for the camera. “Memories…” He said with a smile. “Pikachu! Look!” Ash pointed too something in the distance. “See that field? That’s where Pallet town begins! We’re almost home!” The two started to run, nearing their destination more and more every minute. “Pikaa!” he yelled with joy. After 15 minutes of running, they finally reached Pallet town, only to find the streets and fields desolate and empty. “Huh? Where is everyone?” Ash asked. “Hellooooo?!” He yelled many times as he walked through town. “That’s weird…” He finally reached his house and opened the door. “Hello? Mom?” But nothing. He opened the back door to the back yard. BOOM! He heard party bombs go off. “Surprise!” shouted the entire town, as well as all of his friends who came. “Happy Birthday, Ash!” Ash nearly jumped in surprise and grinned from ear to ear. “Wow! Thanks everyone!” He said, waving. “You guys are the best!” He ran down the steps and over to the giant crowd of people, who all patted him on the back and said “Happy Birthday!” and “Welcome back!” Finally, he had found his mom, standing by the snack table, along with Brock and Max. May had soon walked over afterwards. He had noticed how sharply everyone was dressed, Brock and Max wearing Blue and black tuxedos respectively, and May wearing a Red dress with an opening down the side of her thigh and her back exposed. May sure grew since he last saw her, chuckling at the thought. “Mom!” He cried, giving his mom a big hug. “Ohh, Ash, I’ve missed you so much!” She cried. “When I got your letter I almost had a heart attack.” He laughed and then turned to his friends. “Wow, Max,” He said, noticing the boy, who had grown significantly taller, and sported contact lenses. “You’ve grown, haven’t you? Even though it’s only been a year!” “A year and 232 days to be exact.” he said. Still as smart and quick as ever. Ash laughed and shook his hand, noting how strong his handshake was getting. He then turned to May. “I know, I know, stunning.” She joked, grinning with a pose. “Oh, May, please!” Delia laughed, waving her hand. “You’ll melt the ice cream cake!” Ash couldn’t help but blush. Going through puberty, Ash had occasionally thought about May whenever he…well…experimented. After that, he felt guilty a lot, because he didn’t love her, and he was raised to only ‘love’ the one’s that he truly loved, often making his quickly think about Misty and then shaking the thought out of his head. What a silly thought. Misty was his best friend, that’s the only reason he felt so close to her. Yeah. “Good to see you Ash.” Brock said, smiling. He knew he had just saved Ash from an embarrassing situation. “Happy birthday, kid.” he shook his hand and patted his back. Ash smiled, but then grimaced. “Where’s Misty?” He asked with worry. He looked to his mom. “Oh, relax, sweetie. She just had to freshen up in the bathroom.” Ash had wondered why he hadn’t seen or heard her when he walked in, but then he thought that she probably just didn’t want to ruin the surprise. “Phew…” Brock, May and Max all laughed, causing Ash to ask just what they were laughing at. “You were so worried! It was cute!” May teased, poking his reddening cheeks. Ash groaned. Not this old crap again. “Alright, alright.” he said. “I didn’t really care. I was just confused, is all.” He sighed, sitting on the side of the snack table. “Confused about what?” said a familiar voice. Ash’s eyes darted to the source of the voice. “Misty!” He jumped to his feet and ran towards her, but stopped himself before he was about to hug her. Misty smiled and sweat dropped, but put her hand out for him to shake, which he did. “Hehe…How ya doing Mist?” He asked, still holding onto her hand. He noticed she was wearing a pink dress, that, thankfully, was not as skimpy as May’s. She was also wearing white high heeled shoes, and had her hair down. Apparently, she had grown out of her ponytail and wore it down all the time. “Oh, I’ve been better.” She chuckled. “My sister’s sent me to school, so I’m always working on some kind of report or paper. I was lucky I could come here today.” Ash frowned. That meant that he’d see even less of her. Great. “Yeah…” She sighed. “But Happy Birthday, Ash! I got you something I know that you’ll love.” Ash smiled again, at the thought. “But, anyway, we can catch up later! Let’s party!” Ash’s mom had pressed play on a boom box that had started playing dance music. “Come on, everyone!” She shouted. “Dance time!” Ash blushed in embarrassment, but what’s worse, Misty dragged him along to dance with her, furthering his embarrassment. Ash’s mom made sure to take plenty pictures. But May danced with Brock, and Max danced with a girl Ash knew, who lived down the street from him. “God, Ash, I can’t believe it! You’re not so little anymore! You’re almost taller than me.” She laughed. “And you’ve actually got some muscle mass in your body!” he said, jokingly teasing her. “Ugh, Ash, you’re still a twerp…” Misty turned around, but kept dancing. She thought that maybe if he saw her butt, then he’d say something a little nicer. But he only laughed. “Aw, Mist, I was just kidding.” Misty sighed and turned back around. After 20 minutes of dancing, Delia announced that it was time to open presents. “Awesome.” Ash said, as Misty brought him to the table with the stack of presents. He picked up a box that had mudkip wrapping paper. “I love it already.” “Don’t forget to read the card, sweetie.” Delia said, taking a picture. Ash sighed and opened it. The gift was from Gary, who apologized about not being able to be there. He was doing some studying in the Orange Islands. But he had sent a fossilized Pokémon to Ash as a gift. “Ew! How could Gary send something like that!?” cried Delia. Ash laughed and put it aside. The next present was from Brock. It was new video game for his Nintendo. The third present was from May. It was a polo shirt. “Thanks for the shirt.” He said half-heartedly. He hated getting shirts for his birthday. May grinned. “No problem!” She exclaimed. Misty grimaced. She didn’t really like May all that much. She was exactly the opposite of her. Chippy, dopey and prissy. But she beamed when Ash got to her present. She noted that next time, she shouldn’t go all out with the wrapping paper. The most expensive paper money could buy was being torn apart and tossed aside. When Ash saw what it was, he nearly shuddered. “It’s…It’s…” His hands were shaking. “It’s my old hat! I thought this was long gone!” Ash hugged it. “Oh, I missed this ole’ rag!” Misty giggled. “That’s new. I found it in a Poke Mart and I bought it. I even stitched your name into it, see?” Ash looked on the inside and found his name stitched in cursive. “Wow, Misty, that must’ve taken forever.” Brock said. Misty blushed, and covered her face. “Oh, it did…” she whispered. “But it was worth it.” Ash took off his old Sinnoh hat, and basically tossed it aside like a piece of garbage, and put on his old new hat. It fit perfectly. “I assumed you still never cut or combed your hair, so I got it in a big size.” She chuckled. “Very sentimental, Misty.” Delia said, taking a snapshot of her son wearing the hat with a grin on his face. “Now, Ash, I have one more present for you.” She said in a voice that mother’s use when they have some sort of surprise. Ash’s grin widened as he awaited the surprise. Was it a new Pokémon? Or was it new clothes? Could it have been a lot of cash? Or maybe… “What is it mom?!” He asked, unable to wait any longer. Delia took out a pamphlet with a picture of a Squirtle and a Charmander dressed up in school uniforms. Ash cocked a brow and tilted his head in confusion. “You got me Pokémon clothes?” “No, Ashy!” she said. “I enrolled you in the Cerulean City Pokémon Academy for Advanced Trainers!” Ash went wide eyed and the blood drained from his face. School? No way, he thought. She was kidding. “Haha…Okay, Mom. What did you really get me?” He asked, grimacing. Delia frowned. “I-I…I enrolled you in a school.” She repeated, visibly confused. Ash’s jaw dropped. She was completely serious. “And it cost me a lot of money!” “Aw, come on Mom! I don’t want to go to school!” Ash was starting to fuss, and he didn’t care that everyone in town was watching him. “Oh, Ash, I knew you wouldn’t like it at first, but give it a chance!” She pleaded with her son, “At least go for one semester!” Ash crossed his arms. “Fine then.” She said, as Ash looked at her with confusion. “No more travelling then.” … “WHAT?!” Ash yelled, loud enough to wake people in Sinnoh. “Fine! Fine! I’ll go to the stupid school!” Ash whined. “But only for one semester!” Delia smiled, and when Misty heard that Ash would actually be going to the same school as her, she smiled too. But she didn’t tell him yet. She wanted to surprise him. She imagined the look on his face when they met in the schoolyard, books in hand, looking deep into each others eyes. Another romantic fantasy. Ash would ask her to the movies on the spot and whisk her away. She couldn’t help but sigh dreamily, causing looks of confusion by people near her. Ash packed his bags. It had been two days since the party. Pikachu was packing little bags of his own as well. Packing mostly ketchup. The next day, they would be in Cerulean city. END OF PROLOUGE Hey, guys, I hope you liked this. I haven’t written a pokemon fic in so long. Please send me any comments to SparkyMassa14@aim.com Hopefully, if enough people like this, I’ll make more parts. But if no one reads it, I suppose it would be silly.