May: It's just me today!

Me: Awww! Why?

May: I don't know. So… a lot of people asked this so… I might as well too! Why is Brendan so…?

Me: Exaggerated. How can you even ask me that? I can't spoil the plot! Yes… this story has a plot!
May: You're being sarcastic for Drew, aren't you?

Me: Yeah… shockingly I've come to enjoy having him in these conversations.

May: Yeah… A Rose for me-A Rose for you doesn't own Pokemon.

Me: OK… I promised a certain blonde friend of mine I'd update this story in size 14 font and it would have 7 pages. The things I promise in History! Anyway… here it is!

Chapter 5
First Day

Brendan rose with the sun. He watched the usually azure sky be painted a vivid red. The sky was like that. It put on a mask of pleasant blue, but when no one was watching, it would shed the mask and become something else. Brendan was like that too. He stroked his baby blue egg and read his letter one more time.

Dear Brendan Birch
Here are the results of your personality test:
Your most suited career is: Trainer
Your Pokemon Type is: Secretive Water
You have a secret past and a personality you don't want people to know about. You find it safer to play the fool than to let people know the real you. At least let your Pokemon know the real you. If you can do that, you will have a trusting relationship with your Pokemon.
Enjoy!!

Brendan sighed. It was easier to write it on paper… than it was to undo years of lies.

"Joey!" Brendan yelled, glomping his brother.

Joey fell to the floor.

"Whoa! Morning bro," he laughed.

A sombre Brock stood beside Joey. Drew eyed him funnily.

"What's wrong with you? You're not trying that 'strong and silent' thing again are you?" Drew asked.

"No."

"…Then what is it?"

Joey grinned.

"He doesn't like his results."

Brock huffed.

"It's just so… girly!"

"What? Don't tell me your ideal career was a model?" Brendan laughed.

"I'm a maternal rock type."

"…Don't you mean paternal?"

"No."

Drew shook his head.

"What did you get Drew?" Joey asked.

"Romantic Grass."

"Wow," Joey laughed.

"I'm going to go see Riku and Ash," Brendan announced.

"It's not funny! Where is it?" Ash demanded.

Riku chuckled.

"I don't know where it is."

"I didn't eat it!"

"I didn't take it."

"Riku! Where's my pillow?"

Riku laughed at his simple friend.

"Under your bed," he said.

Brendan bounded in.

"Hey guys!"

"Hi," Riku said.

"So? What type did you get?" Brendan asked.

"Determined Electric," Ash said (well… that might have been what he said. He was under the bed after all).

"Strong Fire," Riku said.

"Cool. Hey… did you get some weird advice at the end?"

The room suddenly fell silent; an agreement of 'yes we got one but we'd rather not talk about it.'

"…Well bye!"

"What am I going to wear?" May sighed.

"Clothes would be a great start," Sapphire groaned.

"Saph, you pick for me!"

"Like… oh my god! I so totally think you should wear those baby blue jeans and that white frilly top that comes off your shoulders! You'd look like so totally tubular!" Sapphire said, rolling her eyes.

"Hey… yeah! Thanks!"

Sapphire has to laugh. Her cousin was so… simple! Not in a mean way! Gosh no! But she saw the world through a child's eyes.

'And then there's me. A messed up chick with a split personality and an attitude problem,' Sapphire though sadly.

She looked down at her quiz results. It had her down to a 'T'; a conflicted Fire type, torn at a crossroad and too afraid to choose.

"Hello? Earth to Saph? Houston, this is May. We've lost Sapphire. Requesting back-up ASAP. I repeat. Saph has left the building," May giggled.

Sapphire snapped out of her daze and smiled.

"Sorry."

"I love my type! Dramatic Normal…"

"Or air-head," she laughed.

"…That too," May winked.

Misty and Rachael laughed. This was… hilarious!

"It's not funny! It burst everywhere!" Steph groaned, rubbing the smeared Bulk Berry from her cheek.

Rachael laughed.

"Sorry… but at least purple is your colour!" she giggled.

Steph had to laugh.

"At least it tastes good," she said, licking the juice off her fingers.

She put the remaining mixture in the fridge.

"There. Put it in your hot chocolate tonight, and you'll sleep better."

Misty grinned.

"Thanks! So… what was your type?"

"The Nurturing Normal type. Nurturing! Where did they get that from?" she laughed.

"…Was there…"

"Yeah."

Rachael frowned slightly.

"Who do they think they are? They can't assign a personality to us and tell us we have a problem! They don't know us!" she ranted.

"How accurate was your personality?" Steph asked.

"Right on the money, but that's no the point. It's the principal!" Rachael huffed.

Steph shook her head.

"What type did you get?" she asked.

"Hostile Fire," Rachael said

"… Lonely Water type," Misty said.

There was a long awkward silence.

"Well… water! Go you!" Steph smiled.

"Yeah! I know! I'm ecstatic about that!"

May and Drew had agreed to meet in the courtyard behind their dorm rooms (and as it happens, Sapphire is a lot more forgiving when it comes to late night phone calls than Max is). So at 7 o'clock on the dot, the two of them sat on the seat and talked.

"Hi," May grinned.

"Hey," Drew said.

"I'm so excited!"

"I guess."
"Aren't you nervous?"

"No. Should I be?"

"Yes!"

"Why?"

May sighed.

"What if everything changes? What if…"

Drew laughed.

"What's going to change? Maybe… we'll get a bit taller or we'll get a new haircut. Maybe we'll make new friends. Maybe we'll meet new rivals. Maybe we'll discover some sort of hidden talent. Maybe we'll learn something new about ourselves. Why does all that matter though? At the end of the day… no matter how tall we get or what hair style we have, we're still us. No matter how many friends we'll make, we'll still have our old friends. No matter who stands in our way, we'll still try just as hard. No matter what talents we have, we're still people. And no matter what we learn about ourselves… that stuff is all irrelevant because if we're trying our best and living our lives the way we want to… it's all just a little speed bump on the road of life."

May sighed once more.

"How do you know?"

"Because we aren't the first people to be scared of change May. Change happens. And as terrifying as it is… it's natural. But anything can be scary if you look at it in darkness. They say darkness is the absence of light. Riku will argue that light is the absence of darkness, but it all means the same thing. If you think it's going to be scary, then it will be the most nightmarish time of your life."

May whimpered. Drew smiled lightly.

"But if you think of it as an experience you're going to go through with the people closest to you then it won't seem like a horror movie. It will feel like…"

"Winter."

Drew laughed.

"Winter?"

"Yeah! Winter is a time when everything seems bleak and grey. But when you're with your loved ones it has so many colours and you find out it's not bleak at all. It's…"

"Christmas?" Drew guessed.

May shook her head.

"It's unimportant. If I'm with people who will help me, the cold outside can't hurt me."

Drew nodded.

"Things change May."

"I know... you won't change though, will you?"

There was a desperate plea in her otherwise innocent question. Drew smiled.

"Nah! I'll still always be better than you!"

It seemed the entire first year students had conjugated in the auditorium. A woman with mouse brown hair and large, thick-rimmed glasses stood in front of them.

"Good morning everyone. My name is Mrs Knowles and I am your headmistress. I don't know any of you, but I hope to. Each of you carry something precious in your heart, and our aim here is to nurture that precious thing and help it to grow and bloom into something wonderful. Now, your name is on the list over by the door. Next to your name is a code. Memorize your code. This will enable you to access certain areas of the school and it will be used to determine what lessons you will take. Now, here we have..."

Sorry, but I thought it would be wise to leave the assembly. You see, I remembered I neglected to tell you something. You see, this school is different from your average school. There are many tasks one must complete. The sad thing is… you wouldn't even know if you were under surveillance, so there is no time to prepare yourself. You'd rarely even know what the task was! But… since you're here… you might as well know the first task. You see… the eggs they received need to hatch by the end of the month. If it doesn't… then the task is failed and they have to leave. It's unfair… but if a trainer can't hatch a simple egg in a matter of a month… what hope do they have when the real deal comes along? As unfair as it seems to the students… how unfair is it to subject the Pokemon to the pain of having a trainer who can't care for them?

"I CAN'T TURN THE DAMN THING ON!!" Misty yelled.

"There's a button under the screen," Rachael called through.

"NO THERE'S NOT!!"

"It looks like a cherry."

"Oh… there is one then."

Misty pushed the button and grinned as the screen lit up.

"Where do I put my card?" she called.

She paused.

"…Rach?"

She heard a laugh and turned to the window. Riku was sitting on the window sill, chuckling lightly.

"A bit stuck?" he asked.

"I may be a bit… technologically disadvantaged. Computers hate me."

Riku laughed once more.

"They hate Ash too. Don't worry about it. Do you need help… Misty wasn't it?"

"That's me. And yes please! Last time I tried doing something like this, I ended up setting the computer on fire. All I wanted to go was Google search!"

"Right… anyway take your card and put the plug in that plug hole in the corner."

"What plug?"

"The one next to the mouse."

"Right. Got it."

"Now, put the cable end of the plug in the USB port. That's the slot with that weird picture of some sort of fountain above it."

The computer bleeped. Misty jumped back, sending the chair flying.

"What did I do?" she asked, worried.

"You put your card in. You did fine. Now you need to right-click and-"

"WHAT? This makes no sense to me at all!"

Riku sighed and crouched on the window sill. He leapt across and landing beside the shocked Misty.

"H-how did you-"

"What? Jump? I can jump further. Back home, we have contests all the time! I'm the long jump champion."

Misty grinned.

"So… how do I do this?"

Riku clicked a few buttons and typed in a few words and…

"Here you go. Now you just click a few buttons and you should be done."

Riku looked up and whistled.

"Wow… this room looks pretty big."

"I guess so. What does this mean?"

"System Crash? NO!!"

Riku began furiously tapping on buttons and clicking the mouse. The screen flashed blue. He sighed relieved.

"What did you press?" he asked.

"Ummm… that one I think."

"… The re-boot button? Misty! Use the keyboard!"

He looked at the screen.

"Oh. You've chosen your lessons."

"I have?"

"Yeah. It's printing now."

"It is?"

"Why don't you believe me?"

"I can't believe I did something right!"

"Apart from the system crashing incident."

"Let's keep that between us."

"Only if the fact that I was in here and helping you never leaves this room."

"OK. Thanks Riku."

"No problem."

Riku leapt back across the gap and exited through his room.

"That is so cool," she sighed dreamily.

The printer finished printing her timetable. Misty shook her head of the day dream and grinned.

"Alright! Trainer, Breeder, Coordinator, Gym, Leader and… ENVIROMENTAL STUDIES? NO!!"

The older girls giggled and waltzed over to Solidad.

"Hey Solidad! Have you seen Gunter lately? He is so hot!" the bluenette giggled.

Solidad resisted the urge to sigh.

"I suppose. I don't take notice."

"Solidad! Guten tag!" Joey grinned.

Solidad smiled slightly.

"Hi Gunter. How was Germany this summer?"

"Sehr gut danke!"

"Really? I heard it rained all summer."

"Nein. Not in my place of being," Joey replied.

The girls sighed.

"I love his accent. It's so cute!" the lilac hair girl sighed.

"Gunter. I need your help," Solidad said.

"OK. I will assist with what is needing to be assisted with."

Joey followed Solidad down the corridor and in to an empty classroom.

"Joey! You can't keep lying to them! Those girls think you're Gunter! Other girls think you're Pierre from France. And most of the girls from the year above think you're Jose from Spain. You're lying and it's wrong!"

"I'm too far in to tell the truth," Joey shrugged.

"You're so… what kind of example are you setting for Brendan?"

"… People like Gunter/Pierre/Jose/Edward."

"Edward?"

Joey laughed sheepishly and ran his hand through his blond hair.

"Edward is a very English gentleman who enjoys Croquet and having tea on the lawn with mumsie."

"You're ridiculous!"

"Don't you like my accents?"

Solidad sighed. It was time to change approach.

"I do. I think they're amazing. But they're not real."

Solidad turned to leave.

"What accent do you like then?"

"… Irish ones are pretty sexy," she said, blushing.

She left and Joey grinned widely. She was just so… wow.

May groaned. Was she crazy?

"What's wrong?" Sapphire asked, stretching her arms above her head.

"This egg…"

"What about it?"

"I don't know. I think it's talking to me. I'm sure it was calling my name. Am I losing the plot?"

"You need to have had the plot to lose it."

"Saphie!!"

"Sorry. Well… some trainers are known to have a telepathic bond with their Pokemon. Maybe… it's possible. What's it saying?"

"It needs to hatch soon. It wants me to be its trainer so it needs to hatch."

"Oh… OK then. Well… maybe you should hatch it as soon as possible."

"Maybe I should… thanks."

May looked at the egg once more. It was so small and inside it was a life and she was responsible for it. The thought sent shivers down May's spine. But maybe…that kind of change wasn't so scary.

"Top of the morning. Top the morning. Top of the morning. How's that?" Joey asked.

Brock groaned.

"Scottish! Leave me alone and go to sleep!"

"You do better!"

Brock sighed and winked.

"Top of the morning to you laddie! My name is Patrick. Do you know if there be gold at the end of the rainbow? If you have the luck of the Irish and if the leprechauns be smiling on you, Irish eyes may be smiling and you may get what your heart desires."

Joey stood, perplexed. That was… perfect!

"How the- what the- who the- BROCK! Teach me!"

Brock laughed. It was nice to have some as hopeless with love as he was.

Me: Ha! 8 pages!!

May: Overachiever!

Me: What can I say? I don't do things by halves.

May: True. Let's review this chapter shall we?

Me: We shall! Drew's type is Romantic Grass

May: My type is Dramatic Normal

Me: Brendan's type is Secretive Water

May: Sapphire's type is Conflicted Fire

Me: Ash's Type is Determined Electric

May: Misty's type is Lonely Water

Me: Riku's Type is Strong Fire

May: Rachael's type is Hostile Fire

Me: Brock's type is Maternal Rock

May: And Steph's type is Nurturing Normal.

Me: Now, I know some of you may think this is one of those stories where they go to school and fall in love and stuff like that! And it kind of is. But this is more of a story with a plot-line, and multiple sub-plots! So… don't judge it when it hasn't even begun.

May: So please. REVIEW!!

Me: Yeah! And remember… my friend made me write this. I still have little confidence in this at the moment. Don't be too harsh. But don't say it's good when you think it's horrid. Thank you.