2

"So, Blake, which dorm hall are you in?" Cynthia asked as she followed Blake across the grassy fields of the campus. Their homeroom had ended, and as Blake left, he had noticed the redhead following right after him.

"Um, why are you following me?" Blake asked, confused. "We're buds, aren't we?" Cynthia asked, smiling.

"We are?" Blake asked. "Oh, come on, don't be like that!" Cynthia huffed. "We had a super-fun pokemon battle, that makes us friends already, doesn't it?"

"I guess," Blake said, nodding. "Right, see?" Cynthia said, nodding. "So come on, what house are you in? Tell me?"

"…Bulbasaur House," Blake said. "Seriously?" Cynthia asked, ducking in front of him so they were face to face. "Me too! What floor are you?"

"3rd floor," Blake said. "ME TOO!" Cynthia said, practically jumping into the air. "Awesome! Let's hope our rooms are next to each other, right?"

"Um, sure…" Blake said, shrugging."Definitely!" Cynthia said, nodding. "My room is 321, what's yours?" "307," Blake said.

"Darn, that sounds pretty far away," Cynthia sighed. "Oh well, let's get going! To Bulbasaur House!"

Cynthia ran top speed towards the brick building that was their dorm, Blake following after her. When Blake arrived, she was pulling on the double doors roughly, but they weren't opening.

"What's the matter with these things?" Cynthia demanded. "They won't open!" "You have to use your ID card, remember?" Blake said, walking over to the panel on the side of the door, sliding the card through the slot. The green light flashed to show the door was unlocked.

"Wow, you're right, I totally forgot," Cynthia said, laughing sheepishly. The two walked into the dorm, and headed up the stairs to the third floor, which was filled with suitcases and boxes of students moving in.

"Welp, this is me," Cynthia said, stopping in front of the door labeled 321. "I think yours is down the hall. See ya around, Blake!"

Cynthia slid her key into the knob and turned, heading into her room.

Blake headed down the hall until he stopped at the room labeled 307. He reached down to unlock the door, only to find it was already unlocked. Blake turned the knob and headed inside, noting that two people were already in the room.

"Oh, so you're the third, huh?" a boy waved to Blake; he was sitting on the normal bed, on the opposite side of the room as the bunk bed.

He was rather short, almost as short as Cynthia. He had brown hair and brown eyes, and looked a little nervous.

"…Yeah," Blake said, nodding. "I'm Blake, Blake Harker."

"Well, um, I'm Nick Elwood, and that's Reiner," the boy, Nick, said, gesturing towards the other student, who turned to look at Blake from where he was hanging up a poster.

If Nick was short for 15, this guy was tall for it, even taller than Blake. He had tanned skin and green eyes, and a pale scar along the bridge of his nose. His hair was also brown, but messier than Nick's.

"…" Reiner stared at Blake, and then returned to hanging up his posters, one with a Treecko on it and the other one a large map of the Hoenn Region.

"Reiner took the top bunk, so the only bed left is the bottom," Nick said. Blake nodded and dropped his bag on the bottom bunk, and then headed into the hall to take his suitcases and stuff in.

"So, how did your first battles go?" Blake asked.

"I lost mine," Nick sighed, shaking his head.

"I won," Reiner said, turning towards the two of them, grinning. "What about you?" "I won," Blake said.

"Awesome," Reiner said, cracking a smile. "Let's have a battle, sound good?"

"Well, my pokemon are kind of exhausted, it's been a long day," Blake said. "Besides, I need to finish unpacking.

"Well, this room is pretty big, and there's a closet and drawers for each of us," Reiner said, gesturing towards the large wooden closets. "I already got the ones at the foot of the bed, so you've got the ones on the back wall."

Blake opened up his suitcase and began putting clothes away, when all of a sudden a knock came on the door.

"Who could that be?" Reiner asked, confused. He had been halfway up the ladder to his bed, but he jumped down and walked up to the door, opening it.

"Hello there!" A loud voice familiar to Blake rang out. "I'm looking for my buddy Blake, is he in here?"

"Hey, Blake, you've got company," Reiner said, moving back and opening the door for Cynthia to stroll in.

"Hello boys," Cynthia said, grinning. "Blake, how nice to see you again!" Nick looked away, embarrassed. "What are you doing here?" Blake asked, confused.

"Oh, you know, just came in to check on you," Cynthia said, grinning. She flopped down on his bed, stretching her arms and legs.

Cynthia sat up, looking at Reiner and Nick.

"So, who're you guys?" Cynthia asked. "I'm Cynthia."

"Reiner," Reiner said.

"…What about a last name?" Cynthia asked.

"Reiner Zollern," Reiner said, grinning. "What kind of name is 'Zollern'?" Cynthia asked, laughing.

"What's your last name?" Reiner asked, frowning. "Fafnir," Cynthia said.

"Fafnir isn't much better than Zollern," Reiner said, smirking. "Who named you that anyway?"

"Not important," Cynthia said, laughing. "So, what about the shy guy over there? What's your name?"

"…Nick… Elwood…" Nick said, looking away from Cynthia, who frowned. "God, so boring," Cynthia sighed. "Blake, your roommates are pretty weird. Mine are much cooler."

"Are we?" everyone in the room turned to see a girl with short, messy blonde hair and brown eyes walk into the room. A Castform floated behind her.

Behind the blonde, a girl with tan skin and long dark hair stood in the hallway. "These would be my roommates, Sango Akana and Julianna Keruz," Cynthia said, nodding to them.

"What's up, bitches?" Sango asked, grinning. "I'm Sango, this is my partner, Silver."

"…Julie," the other girl, Julie, said, waving at them. "…More girls…" Nick said, looking at the ground.

"Yes, sir," Reiner said, walking up to Sango. "Nice to meet you all, I'm Reiner Zollern."

"You're Blake, right?" Sango asked, turning to Blake.

"That's right," Blake said, nodding. "I heard from Cynthia that you're pretty good at battling," Sango said, smiling. "Of course, you'd have to be better than the guy I had to fight."

"Who was that?" Blake asked. "Oh, just some guy," Sango said, shrugging. "I had to borrow some pokemon from the faculty, since Silver's the only pokemon I have."

"Really?" Reiner asked, surprised. "Yup," Sango said, nodding. "I'm aiming to be a Pokemon Ranger. That's why I signed up for 'Pokemon Caretaking' for freshmen."

"Oh, hey, I'm in that class," Blake said.

"Really?" Sango asked, smiling. "Well, that should be interesting, then."

"So, why are you guys even here?" Reiner asked. "Well, we came to get our roommate here for dinner," Sango said. "There's the freshman barbeque tonight. You guys want to come with?"

"Um, I'm not so sure," Nick said, frowning. "I'm not that hungry, so I think I'll just-" "Don't be a spoilsport, virgin!" Cynthia said, grabbing Nick by the wrist and pulling him off of the bed. "Let's go get some food!"

The group of six headed out of the dorm hall, and out onto the large center field outside of the dining hall. Sango ran at the head, drawn in by the scent of cooked ribs, Silver following after her.

When they reached the field, a lot of students had already arrived, setting out colored blankets.

"Mm, food…" Sango drooled. She ran to the line and picket up one of the paper plates, Blake and Cynthia getting in line behind her.

"I'll go grab us a blanket," Reiner suggested, Nick and Julie getting in line behind Blake and Cynthia.

"Seriously, guys?" Reiner asked, as the group made their way to the blanket he had laid out. "You guys didn't get any food for me?"

"Not our job," Sango said, plopping down on the blanket, a pile of ribs stacked on her plate. Reiner sighed and got into line, the rest of the group sitting down.

"Here, Silver," Sango said, feeding some of the slices of meat to her Castform.

"So, if you're trying to be a Ranger, that means you don't keep your Castform in a pokeball, right?" Blake asked.

"Nope, I just let Silver do what she wants," Sango said, patting the pokemon on the head.

"I like having Rose out too," Cynthia said, Rose emerging from her pokeball. "Still, remember the school rules? Only pokemon of a certain size can be out of their pokeballs at all times."

"Why is that?" Julie asked.

"Well, the way I hear it, there was a trainer last semester who had a Lairon that was always out of his pokeball," Sango explained. "And when he was changing after gym class, his Lairon evolved into an Aggron, and the size change caused it to break down the wall between the boys and girls changing rooms."

"That's not true," Julie said, shaking her head.

"I swear, ask one of the sophomores!" Sango said, frowning. "I believe it," Blake said, nodding.

"So, Nick," Cynthia said, turning to the boy who was trying very hard not to look at any of the girls there. "You're not talking that much, why's that?"

"Well, I just… I'm not good around girls…" Nick said, embarrassed. "…Pff, why not?" Cynthia chortled. "Um, I just, um…" Nick said, his face turning bright red.

Cynthia was obviously having a blast at getting Nick embarrassed, moving closer to him.

"Listen, Nick, I think the best way to get over embarrassment around girls is with a little skinship, don't you think?" She asked, wrapping an arm around his shoulder.

"Cynthia, you're bothering the poor boy," Julie said, putting her hand over Cynthia's mouth and pulling her off. "Mmm," Cynthia said, Julie pulling her hand back. "She licked me!" Julie said, frowning. "…" Cynthia stuck her tongue out, grinning.

At this point, Blake decided it was the best time to disconnect with the rest of the world. He placed his headphones over his hears and closed his eyes, leaning back on the blanket, cutting off the sounds from the world around him.

For about 2 seconds. The headphones were ripped off of his ears by Cynthia, who leaned over him, frowning.

"Blake, you have GOT to be more social," Cynthia said, frowning.

"Oh, come on, lay off the guy," Reiner said, sitting on the blanket with his plate of food. "He's just trying to relax, take it easy, all that stuff."

"I disagree with that," Sango said, frowning. "People like you are my least favorites, you just sit around and do nothing when there's so much adventure to be had. Relaxation is so boring."

"Everyone needs to unwind sometimes," Reiner said, shrugging. "That's why I ride my bike," Sango said, grinning. "Or run." "Well, what if it's raining?" Reiner asked, frowning.

"Silver," Sango said, smirking, "is capable of changing the weather." "Seriously?" Reiner asked, shocked.

"Yup," Sango said, nodding excitedly. "See, I always want to be DOING something, whether that's running, bike riding, mountain climbing, or the like. That's why I want to be a Pokemon Ranger; I'll be able to go anywhere, find tons of new adventures, and do a ton of awesome things, it's the best job EVER!"

"I totally get it!" Cynthia said, clasping Sango's hands in her own. "I've always wanted to live a life of excitement and adventure!" "See?" Sango said, smiling brightly. "You're just like me!" The two girls giggled, smiling. Then, Sango turned to Julie.

"So, Julie, do you have any pokemon that you like spending time with?" Sango asked, smiling. "Blake, what about you?"

"…This is Wolfie," Julie said, releasing a Poochyena from a pokeball. The Poochyena wagged her tail and nuzzled up against Julie in affection. "She's very special, I've been with her since I was a little girl." "Oh, how cute!"

Cynthia said, petting the dog pokemon. "Blake, you're up," Sango said, smiling. "Show us what you've got."

"Well, here we go," Blake said, releasing his Servine from her pokeball. "This is Servine, she was my one of my first pokemon, too."

Servine looked at the trainers and turned her head away, frowning. "Yeah, she can get kind of moody, too," Blake said, laughing.

"You have no idea about moody grass types," Reiner said, shaking his head. "I've got a Treecko that absolutely refuses to interact with any of my other pokemon."

"Servine, you want some food?" Cynthia asked, holding up a scrap of meat to the snake pokemon. Servine turned away, frowning, refusing the food.

"…" Cynthia frowned, and turned to Blake. "She's not very friendly," Cynthia huffed. "Servine, behave," Blake ordered. Servine looked at him, huffed, and begrudgingly ate the meat.

"See?" Cynthia asked, smiling. "It tastes good, doesn't it?" "…Serv," Servine said, blushing, shaking her head in denial. "She likes it," Blake said, smiling.

"It's getting dark, huh?" Julie said, looking up at the dark sky, stars already visible beyond the encroaching leaves of the trees surrounding the fields. "The fireworks are going to start any second!" "Fireworks?" Blake asked, shocked.

"Yup," Julie said, nodding. "Didn't you check the schedule? There's a fireworks display in celebration of all the freshmen being admitted today."

Julie opened her mouth to say something else, but a big flash of light and a "pop" of sound distracted all of them, the students turning their heads to see green lights in the shape of a Venusaur lighting up the sky. The next firework that went off resembled a Charizard, and then a Blastoise.

"So beautiful…" Cynthia gasped, her eyes as bright as the fireworks going off overhead. "Amazing!" Sango cheered, pumping her hands into the air in excitement. "What a performance!"

The kids watched the fireworks display, inspired by the sight before them, each student on that field resolving once more to carry through on the dreams they had joined the school to accomplish.

…Soon… Blake thought to himself, placing his headphones over his ears. I'll see you again…