Pokemon High

Chapter 4

Ash entered his first class, "Pokemon Battles", and looked around. Surely he knew someone in here besides Gary and Clemont.

He took a seat next to Clemont who had finally caught his breath from all the running.

He smiled when he saw Professor Oak enter the class. 

Everyone quieted down. The professor was a prominent figure of the Pokemon study.

"Hello class! As you all may know, my name is Professor Samuel Oak! Since it is everyone's first day off their travels, why don't we just sit back and relax?" He said.

A few people groaned, including Ash. 

Oak smirked and cocked a brow. "Oh? You don't want to? Then why don't we have some Pokemon battles?"

Everyone cheered.

Oak laughed. "Now, I have a list of all your names so we'll let my Reuniclus here do a random generator for who will have the first battle. Reuniclus, if you please."

Reuniclus performed psychic and took the slips of papers that had all the trainers' names in the bowl and spun them like a wheel. Oak picked two from the moving wheel and smiled.

"We have Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town with his Pikachu!" Oak declared.

Ash cheered and he and Pikachu raced to the front.

"Good to see you, Ash!" Professor smiled. "Versing Ash is...oh...Misty Waterflower of Cerulean City with her Gyarados!"

Ash blinked and then excitedly looked for his best friend from long ago.

He saw her approach Oak with a frown.

"Hey. Misty!" He waved.

She didn't wave back. In fact, it was like she was ignoring him.

"Ok! Reuniclus! The battle field, please!" Oak exclaimed.

Trainers yelped in surprise as the classroom divided in half and revealed a battle field underneath. 

Misty smiled when she saw it resembled her beloved gym back home. A water pool with floating circle pads for non-water types.

"Does anyone want to be the referee?" Oak asked.

One hand went up and Ash smiled again. It was Brock.

"This is a match between Ash of Pallet Town vs. Misty the Cerulean City Gym Leader! It's a one on one match. Begin!" Brock yelled.

"This will be like our first battle, Mist!" Ash laughed, good naturedly.

Misty smirked. "Thanks for the first move, Ashy Boy. Gyarados! Hyper beam!"

Her pokemon roared and a huge light emitted from it's mouth.

"Pikachu, no!" Ash yelled as Pikachu took the hit.

He pulled out his pokedex and pointed it at Gyarados.  'This Pokémon has a vicious temperament, so use extreme caution. Its fangs can crush stones and its scales are harder than steel'

"Pikachu, electro ball!" Ash ordered. Pikachu jumped into the air and hit a ball of electricity towards Gyarados.

"Gyarados, bounce!" Misty yelled quickly. Her gyarados dodged the attack by a mere few seconds. "Now, bounce on Pikachu!"

"Dodge it!" Ash screamed but watched helplessly as he was too late and Pikachu was hit with the flying attack. 

Gyarados slid back into the water as Brock checked to see if Pikachu could continue.

"Pikachu is unable to battle! Misty is the winner!" Brock declared.

Trainers cheered for the water Gym Leader as she recalled her Gyarados. 

Ash grabbed his Pikachu just as the battle field retracted. 

They found their selves face to face as the field retracted them towards each other.

"Nice battle, Misty." Ash beamed and he held out his hand.

Pikachu jumped into Misty's arms and nuzzled her. Misty kissed the top of Pikachu's head. "It's good to see you, too, Pikachu." She whispered and let it jump back to Ash before she went back to her seat.

"That was a great battle! We shall have more battles in tomorrow's class! Have a good day!" Oak waved as the bell rang and people left.

Ash grabbed Clemont's hand. "Come on ,Clemont! You have to meet my friends!"
"You mean Misty? She was an exceptional battler. I'll have to battle her since you lost against her. What a woman..."
"I know! She's right over-"

Ash stopped dragging Clemont when he saw Misty walking out with Gary, Brock, and Tracey.

"All my friends from Kanto..." He whispered.

"Um...Ash? Why'd we stop? We still have more classes." Clemont questioned when they didn't move for several minutes.

Oak walked up to them. "Ash, next class starts in a few minutes. Something on your mind?"
Ash turned to Oak with a frown. "Um, are they... are they all friends?"
"Who?" 
"Misty, Tracey, Brock, and Gary." 
Oak smiled softly. "Ah, yes. After your travels in Sinnoh, they all became good friends since they didn't have you anymore. That was actually the start of their friendship. They were all lonely. But now they have each other. I heard you're in the same room as Gary. I bet he told you that I made him come and that's true. I wanted them to expand their circle but it looks like they're not ready yet. If you're worried that they are distant to you, don't worry. They'll come around. They just need time." 

Ash nodded. "Thanks, Professor. See you tomorrow!" Ash said and ran out the door, dragging along poor Clemont.