Part 5! I don’t get very many reviews for this story, for some reason. Is it not exciting enough? It is the prequel to CCA…

Disclaimer: Destiny, as always, is mine. Pokemon is not.

Part 5: School :)

Ash was nervously pacing back and forth in his room. It was going to be his first day of school, and he was very anxious.

“I’m scared, Sunny! What if all the people are mean to me?”

I’ll protect you! Sunny promised, standing up on her back legs to lick his face. Ash giggled and patted her on the head.

“I know you will.” He said. He bent down to tie the shoelaces on his new dark blue-and-white sneakers. His mom had gotten him a bunch of new clothes for school. Right now he was wearing a bright yellow t-shirt and jean shorts. His hair was slicked down with hair gel, but it was starting to spike up again.

“Ash, are you ready for breakfast?” Delilah asked from downstairs. Ash stood up and ran down.

“Yep! What’s for breakfast today, mom?” Ash asked.

“Waffles with strawberry jam and scrambled eggs.” Delilah said, sliding a warm plate in front of him. Ash’s eyes lit up and he began digging into his food.

“Just don’t get anything on your new clothes!” Delilah reminded him.

“I know, mom.” Ash said slowing down in his movements to keep his shirt clear of flying food. When he finished fifteen minutes later, Delilah sent him upstairs to fetch his backpack and to wash his hands and face.

Ash put on his new green backpack with a picture of a dancing pikachu on the front. It was a bit big, but not too heavy. The straps buckled nicely, and the entire thing shone brightly, since it was plastic. Sunny helped by putting his snacks in the front pocket.

Don’t be nervous. Sunny said in his ear.

“I’ll be okay.” Ash said, more to reassure himself than to Sunny. Sunny trotted behind him all the way to school. When they got there, Ash went to play on the playground. Sunny followed him.

“I’m sorry, but pokemon are not allowed at school unless they stay in their poke balls at all time.” The supervisor said.

“But Sunny doesn’t have a poke ball.” Ash told her.

Mrs. Jackson rubbed her chin. “Well, then, it will have to go home.”

Sunny growled. Ash buried his face in her spiky fur.

“But without Sunny here, I won’t have any friends!”

“The purpose of school is also to make new friends.” The playground teacher said. “Now just send your pokemon home.”

Ash hesitated, but finally turned to Sunny. “I’m sorry, but you have to leave.”

Sunny looked shocked, but bounded off into the bushes surrounding the playground.

Ash was left alone. He quietly played on the swings by himself until the bell rang for class.

“Hello, class. Welcome to kindergarten.” The teacher, Mrs. Wang said. She was a young teacher, and this was her third year teaching. Most of the students like her, since she was nice. “Today, we will be taking a diagnostic test to determine the level at which all of you are on, in order to properly structure the course curriculum.”

Ash blinked. “What’s a die – ago – nostic test?” He asked.

“Oh, just a test to see how much you know. Did you do any math in preschool? Do you know your multiplication tables yet?”

Ash thought back, but he only had a few blurry memories, none involving school in any way. “I can’t remember.”

“Well, that’s what this test is for.” Mrs. Wang said pleasantly. “Now, would anyone like to help me pass out the test?”

“I’ll do it!” Michelle said. Her braids swung bath and forth as she walked around slowly, distributing half of the papers.

“Teacher’s pet.” Gary muttered from his seat. Michelle’s reply was simple. As she walked by to give him his paper, one of her pigtails whacked him in the face.

“What did you say?” Ash asked cluelessly. He had, unfortunately, ended up next to Gary at the table.

“She’s such a suck-up. No wonder she got the best grades in preschool.”

Ash blinked, but decided that it didn’t sound nice, so he wouldn’t repeat what Gary had said.

After a few minutes…

“You may begin now.” Mrs. Wang said. She settled down at her desk with a book on child psychology and began to read, after adjusting her bifocals. (You do have to use different parts for distance and reading, I should know, since I wear them.)

Michelle immediately started writing at warp speed. She was good at math and science, plus one of her parents was a math major and the other was a chemistry major, so they had spent the summer teaching her more so she might be able to skip grades in the fall.

Gary leaned over to try and copy her answers.

Ash rubbed his chin as he stared at the numbers. * This is strange… oh well. I’ll just imagine the numbers actually happening. *

“Psst! What’s six plus eight?” Gary asked. Michelle had noticed his actions and was now blocking her paper with her left arm.

Ash refused to answer while he did the problem in his head. * Okay, six mice plus eight mice is fourteen mice. Right? * He wrote fourteen down and proceeded onto the next problem.

Gary growled. He wasn’t used to being ignored. So he leaned towards the other guy at their table, Bruce, to ask for help.

Bruce, being somewhat of an easy pushover, handed over his paper. Gary copied all his answers and handed Bruce’s paper back. Unbeknownst to him, Bruce was great at writing and spelling, but terrible at math.

Ash stared at his paper. * Eighteen times two? Um, is that Thirty-four? * He wasn’t sure, so he wrote it down anyways.

After twenty minutes, Mrs. Wang told the class to pass in their papers.

“Okay, I have to correct these. So why don’t you go play in the ‘Game Corner’?” She suggested. The girls all squealed and ran off to play dress-up with the fancy clothes Mrs. Wang had brought in over the summer. Two of them went to play house, after having dragged an unwilling little boy over. Gary plunked himself down by the tricycle and began riding in circles, not letting anybody else use it. Michelle stayed at her desk and drew on a piece of paper. Bruce went over to play blocks with another kid.

Ash settled himself down by the bookshelf. He picked out a picture book. It was titled ‘Eevee goes to school’. It sounded interesting, so he read it. By the time Mrs. Wang was finished, Ash had finished two picture books and two paragraphs of a chapter book detailing pokemon evolution.

Strangely, it was quite easy for him to understand the book on pokemon evolution, but Ash didn’t notice it.

Mrs. Wang passed back the tests. Gary gaped when he saw his test score. “No way! I only got ten out of twenty-five right?”

“That’s okay. You’ll learn all the harder math later.” Mrs. Wang said as she walked around.

“I only missed one.” Michelle said in obvious relief. * Good, mom and dad won’t be mad. *

Ash looked at the yellow smiley face sticker on his paper. * Oh, I only missed six. Not too bad. Mom will be happy. Maybe she’ll make chocolate cake for dessert! *

Bruce shrugged indifferently. His parents knew that he was weak in math, so they would not mind too much. Besides, he still had a year to learn.

“Well, class. You have all done rather well, and I can safely judge your ability now. You have no homework tonight.”

“Yay!” The class cheered.

“All right, now we will have recess.” Mrs. Wang said. The children smiled and ran outside to play.

Ash went out. He walked over to the bushes and sat there with Sunny until the bell rang for class again.

“I have to go now, Sunny.” Ash said sadly.

Sunny licked his face. Have fun! And don’t worry! After all, it wasn’t so bad, was it?

“No, it was okay.” Ash said. He gave Sunny a pat on the head and his apple from lunch. Sunny crunched quietly as Ash walked away.

< Is he okay? > A voice asked in her ear. Mew floated in front of Sunny, tail waving.

< Yes, he’s fine. He seems a bit lonely, but I’m sure that will wear off. > Sunny replied.

< Good. Make sure he stays safe, please. >

< I will, Mew. > Sunny replied. Mew flicked her tail, nodded, and flew off into the distance.

As Mew flew off, she thought about the situation. * Be careful, Ash. You’ll have to walk the path of shadows, but I know you can do it. *

End Chapter 5!

Comments and Criticism most welcome, and please leave a review and feed the starving plotbunnies! Flames will be used to toast French bread.

Completed 1/13/03