Kanto region, Pokémon Technological Institute…

As far as she could remember, she had always been taught to aspire to be no less than number one in every single endeavor she undertook. That was how her parents taught her. Her family always strove to be the best of the best, and that was the reason for her to enroll in the Pokémon Tech, the most prestigious educational institution for Pokémon trainers that money could afford.

Money was never an issue for Giselle's family, of course. All she had to do was to put her own effort in being the best she could, and in the process, to encourage her classmates to be the best they could themselves. Then again, they'd have to be content with always being below her, since she had earned her place as the first of the class, and she had no intention of giving up that title whatsoever. It helped that she was attractive and popular, and she was well aware of it, so she would enjoy it as much as she could.

The teachers in the institution were of course very proficient on their areas of teaching. Sure, she and the rest of the students didn't like Mr. Elmfire's tendency to get on their nerves with his constant argument on whether Pokémon species names should be capitalized or not, and he constantly marked that on their written essays. Outside of that, they definitely did a great job. The general consensus, however, was that the best of the teachers was Mr. Noland Datsura, the battle strategy instructor, a graduate from Smogon University, no less. A very intelligent man, but he was very close to his pupils, and always willing to listen to them and give a hand even outside of class hours.

That day, he was giving a lesson about weather effects in battle, how to use them to your advantage to offer support to your team, and which abilities, moves and such were affected on which conditions, like using Rain Dance to activate abilities like Dry Skin or Rain Dish to recover from minor wounds, or Swift Swim, to boost speed. Or in the case of Sunny Day, speeding up the charge of Solar Beam and boosting Fire-type attacks.

"… thus, in order to extend the weather effects, it's convenient to equip your Pokémon with one of these."

The projector's image showed four specific rocs. Three of them were brown, with different-colored protuberances: white-bluish, red and yellow-brown. The last one seemed completely covered in a blue-transparent layer, like water. These were Icy, Heat, Smooth and Damp Rocks respectively, each one to extend the duration of a specific weather condition. The students quickly took note of these.

"Alright, any questions left?" the professor asked. Only one hand was raised. "Joe?"

Giselle looked in the direction Mr. Datsura pointed. Joe, definitely the least remarkable student of this class. That didn't mean he was bad, he was definitely good with theory, if in practice he usually left a lot to be desired. And sometimes he had… strange ideas. Once he stood up, he finally spoke up.

"Mr. Datsura. During the entire class you described sunlight, rain, hail and sandstorm as the weather conditions that affect Pokémon battle the most. Still, considering the infinity of possible weather conditions, don't you think there could potentially be others?"

"Like for example?" The teacher folded his arms with interest.

"A few months ago, I read a magazine article about one of Unova's Gym Leaders," said Joe. "Supposedly, she developed a move capable of creating lasting wind currents in battle, which boosts the speed of Flying-types and also powers up their attacks. Even though the League has yet to officially recognize it, I've heard that it's helped her win many battles, and I thought…"

Suddenly, everyone stared at him, Giselle included, like he had said something weird. As soon as he noticed, he wanted to sit back again, but in that very moment the bell rang off, letting everyone know the class was over. It literally saved him.

"Alright, that's all for today," the teacher said. "Tomorrow, we will continue studying weather conditions in the regional areas of Kanto and Johto and how Pokémon have adapted to them. Stand up, everyone."

"Thank you very much!" All students said in unison, bowing respectfully.

The teacher picked up his notes and left the classroom, with most students quickly following suit. Once Mr. Datsura crossed the door, once again the stares fixated on the student named Joe. Suddenly it became even more noticeable that he was the shortest in height in the entire class, especially with so many students taller than average around. Giselle made her way through them.

"I'll talk to him, you guys may go now," she said.

Glancing one last time at Joe, all of the students nodded and complied without a question. Once she was alone with the boy, she placed her hands akimbo and gave him a stern look.

"Joe, what was that a moment ago? Thinking of trying to apply a new move, just because you read it on a magazine?"

"I thought it sounded interesting." The boy didn't dare look her in the eye.

"That move is not yet approved officially by the Pokémon League," said Giselle. "It's just a little trick a Gym Leader invented to gain a personal advantage."

"That doesn't mean it's not useful," Joe replied.

"May I remind you where we are?" Giselle folded her arms. "We're students in the most prestigious Pokémon academy in existence. We should set the example and apply their teachings to become exceptional trainers."

"I'm not saying we shouldn't do that." Joe tried to defend himself. "Still, haven't you thought of trying to go beyond what they teach us here? To examine other alternatives and find new ways of using our Pokémon's abilities?"

Giselle sighed. There he was again with his weird ideas. Even though he was good to learn the theory, in practice Joe always ended up dead last, his winning record being the lowest in the entire class. This wasn't the first time he tried to propose something like this. For all good it'd do for him, if he couldn't properly apply the optimal tactics they had been taught during the entire course.

"Joe, when you've improved your performance, we can go to infinity and beyond about your little ideas. How are you supposed to improve if you don't live up to par to us with the traditional tactics?"

Either Joe didn't want to give her an answer or he just couldn't. He was aware that his performance was very subpar compared to the rest of the class, but she had a point. What good his ideas could be if he wasn't able to master even the basics of training? Meanwhile, Giselle actually felt bad on being so blunt in telling him these things, but he had to acknowledge his weak points if he wanted to overcome them. Even though he was the last in the class, that didn't change he was still part of the Golden Generation in the Pokémon Tech, so he had to make an effort to live up to that.

"Look, how about I give you some extra help tomorrow after class?" She offered. "I'll be free in the afternoon."

"I'd appreciate it, thanks." Joe gave her a shy smile.

"In exchange, though, you'll have to take over my cleaning duties today. That way, I'll have time to properly prepare and help you."

Joe's smiled vanished in a blink. Obviously she wasn't going to help him without expecting something in exchange. Nothing came without a price, after all, but that wasn't too much of a trade for help he really needed. At any rate, the boy nodded in resignation, and accepted the deal. Giselle smiled and left to let him do his work.

As she walked through the hallway, part of her couldn't help but wonder if she wasn't being too harsh on him. Joe was a nice kid, and a good student within the acceptable, but for the Golden Generation, being good wasn't enough, you had to be exceptional. And she wanted every single one of her classmates to be as such. She might not show it too much, but Giselle had a soft spot for kids like Joe: adorable, sweet and vulnerable. She just needed to get him to grow some backbone, and some harmless pressure was the best way to do that.

Two months later…

The term was about to reach its end, only two weeks left for the final exams. The students had little to no time to rest, they had to prepare, study and train as hard as they could. The intercourse break would come shortly after, and Giselle already had made her plans. For the past eight weeks she had been following Joe's performance very closely. The kid was very diligent on his assignments, but there was not much of a notable improvement. The brunette was starting to get worried. What was she doing wrong? Why wasn't he making any progress?

It really pained her having to discipline him so seriously, but those were the unofficial rules in the Pokémon Tech. If you weren't up to par, you had to deal with the consequences. Even if that meant having to do some heavy lifting, it helped in building character. Giselle knew Joe had potential to be better, she just had to find a way to bring it out. In the worst case, she was prepared to put him through an intensive study regime during the upcoming intercourse break. That was fine for her, she had plenty of experience playing tutor, and she enjoyed spending time with him.

That day after class, Mr. Datsura got a visit during the break hour. Apparently, a friend of his had come to talk to him about some important business. As for what it was, that was none of her concern. A teacher's personal business was not for her to stick her nose into; that would be disrespectful. At the time, Giselle was sitting underneath a tree, reading her notes on the latest lesson, reviewing everything she had seen.

"Hey, Giselle." Joe's voice interrupted her thoughts.

Giselle was surprised to see him. They had a study session yesterday in the afternoon, they didn't have one scheduled for today. "Do you need something?"

The boy scratched his temple before answering. "The other guys said they saw a couple of trainers camping just outside the school grounds."

A smile quickly formed in the schoolgirl's face. "So? What are you waiting for?"

"Giselle, is this really necessary?" The boy didn't seem quite happy with that response.

"You know the tradition. We lure them here, to show them why we're considered the best." The brunette stood up.

"I know that. What I don't get is, why do I have to be the one who plays the bait?"

"Joe." Giselle placed her arms akimbo.

Due to the school's location, it wasn't a rare occurrence that traveling trainers who had strayed a bit from the path would pass by, and there was this little tradition which, while not being part of the school regulations, had become quite common and even encouraged among students and staff alike. The idea was to lure the wandering trainers into the school grounds and challenge them to battles, as a way to show off and reaffirm their superiority.

The thing was, someone had to play bait to get their victims' attention, and that role was usually filled by the student with the lowest rankings; that is to say, the dead last in the class. Joe clearly didn't like those implications.

"Do your duty, Joe. Remember, it's the tradition we've upheld for years. Don't feel bad, surely you can deal with them. With some luck, the others probably won't even have to intervene."

"Sometimes I wish I was a bloodliner…" Joe muttered while clenching his teeth for a bit, but still not low enough for Giselle not to hear it.

"Excuse me? What did you say about being a bloodliner?"

"Wouldn't you like that?" Joe asked. "Think it over, they have really amazing abilities. Maybe some of them could even tell us what it feels like being a Pokémon. Wouldn't that be cool?"

Giselle tried not to laugh, but even she had to admit that didn't sound bad at all. The increase in the bloodliner population for the last sixteen years was making them more of a conversation topic among people, and the Pokémon Tech was not exempt from that. So far, however, at least in the Kanto building, there was no official record of any student displaying such abilities, and even if there was one, it was more likely that they'd try to hide them. The general sentiment within the institute was, more or less, tolerance with a little tinge of misgiving, due to some nasty incidents supposedly involving bloodliners abusing their powers to commit crimes and cause great harm, although there were others who allegedly used theirs to help people and save lives. As for Giselle herself, she was pretty much neutral towards them.

"It might be cool for you, but that's not my thing," the brunette replied. "I don't need superpowers to prove I'm exceptional, and neither do you. Now, be a good kid and do what you must, alright?"

Joe opened his mouth, but he finally said nothing. He sighed and accepted to play his role, going to make his part. Giselle smiled in satisfaction. Maybe that was what he needed, an easy victory to get some motivation. After all, even with his current level, it didn't change the fact that he was a member of the Pokémon Tech Golden Generation. What could possibly go wrong?

A couple hours after…

Giselle was on her way to the institute's cafeteria, since today they would serve her favorite dessert: double tiramisu cake. Those days she was always the first to get in line to enjoy it, so there was nothing that bothered her more than someone coming to interrupt her.

"Giselle! Giselle!"

Which was exactly what happened right then, with two of her classmates coming up running and stopping to breath heavily, as if they had run across the entire institute.

"What's the matter? Can't you see I'm in a hurry?" The girl protested.

"We need your help," one of the boys said, placing his hands in a prayer position. "Those two trainers…"

"Yeah, what's wrong with them? Don't tell me they were able to beat Joe?" Giselle asked, placing her arms akimbo. If they could beat him, maybe they weren't as useless, but she didn't see what could be the issue.

"They're stomping on us!" said the other, completely catching her by surprise. "On top of that, Mr. Datsura is watching everything, this is humiliating!"

"I beg your pardon? Please repeat what you just said."

"I know it sounds real crazy, but it's true!" the first one said. "If you don't believe us, let's go to the audiovisuals club room, they must have the battles in video by now."

Giselle didn't like the idea of missing out her spot as the first in line for her favorite dessert, but she had to be sure of this. What could those trainers have possibly done for her classmates to say they were 'stomping on them'?

Another of the perks of being the number one student in the institute was that she was given free access to all club rooms whenever she wanted. It wasn't like she would abuse (too much) of this little privilege, but she wasn't afraid to take advantage of it when it could come in handy, and this was one of those times. Fortunately, the audiovisuals club wasn't doing any activity at the time, so they made no objections when she asked to be let in. The main battle arena had cameras everywhere, which had a direct link to the audiovisuals club's computers. They used to record the sparring matches among students so they could analyze and learn from them.

Giselle watched the recent files, and pressed the play button immediately. The strangers looked around the same age as her, a boy and a girl. The boy was quite tall, with messy black hair under a Pokémon League Expo cap, and had a Pikachu over his shoulder. The girl who accompanied him had red-orange hair in a side ponytail, and next to her there was a Psyduck with a rather idiotic expression in its face. Could they have really beaten her classmates? They didn't look that much special.

However, seeing the course of the battles, she was left with her mouth agape. Saying that those two were 'stomping them' had been a bit of an understatement. Those couldn't be called battles: not when one of the sides completely and mercilessly dominated the other. Among the things she saw, first the boy used a Bulbasaur against a Sandshrew, keeping it at bay using little more than Vine Whip, even once preventing an escape using Dig by getting a hold of the tail and forcibly pulling it out of the hole. Later, the girl used her Starmie against a Weepinbell, and with a couple of Psychic attacks slammed the plant on the ground to leave it knocked out. These were at least a little justified on taking advantage of types. However, that was definitely not the case when the boy's Charmander savagely massacred a Geodude using Metal Claw, reducing the stone to gravel in matter of seconds, never giving it even a chance to counterattack or defend itself. Even the girl's Psyduck, for all its idiotic appearance, managed to dodge the attacks of a Venonat by seemingly tripping and slipping over the field, hitting its head every time and getting back up in a seeming daze, and when Venonat tried to launch a Stun Spore, the duck replied with what seemed a Confusion attack, sending it back directly to its face.

"What does this mean?" Giselle asked in disbelief.

"I told you we weren't kidding. Now you're our last line of defense."

"No… don't tell me that you guys…"

The boys nodded. Giselle knew that the other part of the tradition to lure trainers was, in case the initial provocation wasn't enough, tempting them with a juicy reward should they win, to encourage them to fight. The reward was anything the Tech could afford within its budget, which included the possibility of a full scholarship, should they choose to study there. Actually, a few of the members of the Golden Generation had earned their current spots that way. Nevertheless, they considered there were no empty slots in their group, and they didn't feel like letting their victory streak to be broken that year.

"Alright, if those two think they're so good, it's time for them to face me."

She was going to miss out her favorite dessert, but the school's reputation was more important. With those thoughts in mind, she and the other two students left the audiovisuals room, heading straight for the battle area. Time to show those two how thing were done in that institute.

As they approached the arena, Giselle could see a tag battle was underway. Or rather, it was about to end: on the side of the two visitors there was a Pidgeotto and a Staryu, the former of which delivered a Steel Wing strike that sent upwards a Spearow, to be finished off by a Rapid Spin from the starfish, and then dropping unconscious next to a Paras that seemed to have been knocked out for quite a while. Everything, of course, being witnessed by Mr. Datsura, who was accompanied by a portly young man, wearing glasses and with a shirt that wouldn't look out of place in the Alola region. However, she focused her attention on the pair of trainers, who stood out of the rest for not wearing the school's uniform, as they high-fived each other on their team victory. They were quite happy, and Giselle couldn't blame them: not many could have gotten that far in facing them. Too bad, now that she was here, their winning streak had just come to an end.

"Well, well, who do we have here?" She announced herself.

The pair of trainers immediately turned towards her. The boy kept a neutral expression, but the redhead frowned slightly upon seeing her. Something else Giselle noticed was that Joe seemed to be hiding behind them for some reason. That was unusual, but she didn't pay any mind for the time being.

"I think we should properly introduce ourselves," she said, taking the most courteous tone she could. "My name is Giselle, and I assume my classmates should have let you know by now that I'm our class representative."

"I'm Ash Ketchum, from Pallet Town," the boy said.

"Misty. My surname and hometown aren't important." The girl quickly followed, a little of bitterness in the second line. "So you're the ringleader of this bunch of bullies around here?"

"Excuse me, bullies?" Giselle took offense at this denomination.

"Don't play dumb," Misty said. "You use this Joe kid as a bait to lure us here, and then you get angry just because he lost to us? That was cruel."

"And he still calls you his friends." Ash added. "With friends like that, who needs enemies?"

"What do you guys know?" Giselle replied. "Here in the Pokémon Tech, we are considered the Golden Generation, and there's no place in our ranks for mediocre trainers, just for the best of the best. We're just trying to encourage him to improve his performance."

"There are other ways of encouragement, and as far as I'm concerned, that's no way to treat your friends," said Misty with a tone sounding like she was challenging them. "Anyway, your classmates promised us a prize if we could beat them all. If I'm counting well, among all of you around here, you're the only one left."

Giselle arched an eyebrow. That was quite the surprise: no one so far had been able to beat them all. With luck, maybe one or two who were at the bottom of the ranking, but in all that year, no visitor had come far enough to challenge her personally. If they had really been able to beat all of the others, maybe they could provide her some entertainment.

"Well then, let's see if you're as good as my classmates say," Giselle declared. "Which of you wants to face me?"

Misty seemed ready to step forward, but Ash extended his arm, stopping her.

"Wait. Let me handle this."

"Ash? You sure?"

"Trust me, I got this." He smiled at her.

The redhead seemed to want to protest, but she finally shrugged and stepped back. Giselle couldn't help but smirk: if she didn't know better, the boy almost seemed like he was protecting his girlfriend. Were they dating, perhaps? It didn't matter, though; he was challenging her and it was her duty as the class representative to answer said challenge.

"Alright, how about a two versus two?" Giselle proposed, taking one of the Pokéballs from a rack. She always knew which Pokémon they contained.

Posing elegantly and dramatically (attracting the stares of almost all students around), Giselle threw her ball at the battlefield. "Alright. Go, Cubone!"

The small brown Pokémon with a skull helmet and a bone in hand appeared, awaiting its orders. "Cubone, bone!"

Ash looked at Cubone, and then exchanged glances with the Pikachu over his shoulder, then a nod, and the electric mouse jumped off to take the battlefield, staring down at his opponent. Giselle couldn't help but glance at Ash; why did he choose an Electric-type to fight a Ground-type? It seemed like he needed a lesson in types' advantages.

"Cubone, the lone Pokémon. Cubone is a Ground-type Pokémon and your choice in fighting it with an Electric-type is unbelievably questionable." A robotic-like voice came out from Ash's pocket. Misty frowned at it.

"Nobody asked for your opinion."

"My opinion is always relevant, whether you like it or not."

Giselle didn't know much about it, but that voice, despite its sarcastic tone, definitely sounded like Pokédex. If that boy had one of those, maybe it wasn't just dumb luck that he and his friend/girlfriend had defeated everyone else. This could be interesting.

"Cubone, Bonemerang!" Giselle called.

"Cubone! Cu-bone!"

Cubone opened the match hurling its bone at Pikachu. Amazingly, the rodent didn't try to sidestep it, rather choosing to run forward and dodge by jumping in the last very second. The bone flew underneath spinning around without touching him. Pikachu landed on the nose of Cubone's skull helmet, and used it as a springboard, flipping it around. While Cubone was busy trying to turn it back to normal, Pikachu landed behind and bit its tail, causing it to shriek in pain, and then began scratching him around the back. Right then, Cubone managed to place the helmet back to normal, but just in time to see the bone coming right back at him…

"Cubone, look out!" Giselle cried out.

WHACK! Too late, the spinning bone hit Cubone right on the forehead, leaving it on a daze. And that was the moment Ash chose to give Pikachu his first command in the match.

"Pikachu, Quick Attack and Iron Tail!"

"Pika!" Pikachu shot forward with lightning speed, his tail taking on a metallic glow. He jumped up and from the air landed his attack right on the same spot where the bone had hit Cubone before, with enough force to cause a crack on the skull. That was enough to leave him out.

"Eh? Cubone is already down for the count?" The student who was acting as referee was shocked.

"I can't believe this," said Giselle. "Since when is a Pikachu able to fight that way?"

"Is there a rule that says that they can't?" Ash shrugged.

Giselle bit her lower lip. Technically, Pikachu had not been using moves at first, all he did was fighting literally with tooth and nail to disorient Cubone. The strangest part, he did so without his trainer telling him absolutely anything, except for that single Quick Attack-Iron Tail combo. It was almost like… like they had done this before.

"Don't party just yet, you just caught me off guard." She grabbed her second Pokéball. "It's time to get serious. Graveler, go!"

"Graveler!" The Rock/Ground Pokémon appeared on the field, slamming two of its fists daring at Pikachu to come at it.

Giselle was actually expecting Ash to substitute Pikachu, but he didn't, they simply exchanged glances once again, and the electric mouse stared down his adversary. Were they up to something? It didn't matter, except for that Iron Tail attack, they shouldn't be too much of a problem.

"Graveler, use Rollout!" Giselle shouted. The Rock Pokémon retracted its limbs and became a living steamroller, speeding towards Pikachu. For a Pokémon so heavy, it was quite fast while rolling.

"Dodge and use Iron Tail!" Ash called, and Pikachu didn't have to do anything else than jumping aside, spinning in the air to deliver a metal-coated tail slap as soon as Graveler passed by him. Graveler stopped rolling and made a groaning gesture, evidencing that it had felt the strike. Giselle didn't like that one bit.

"Graveler, Rock Throw!" First things first, better to keep that rodent away to prevent any more Iron Tail strikes. Graveler summoned several stone shards around itself, and placing the palms forward sent them speeding towards Pikachu.

"Use Quick Attack to dodge!" Ash countered.

Soon enough, Pikachu became a yellow blur leaving a white trail behind, moving around the field in zigzag and dodging the stones without much trouble. He was pretty fast on his feet, that much was true. Alright, time to give him something he couldn't dodge as easily.

"Graveler, Magnitude!"

Graveler stopped throwing stones to give a hard stomp on the ground, sending out a seismic wave across the entire field. The power of Magnitude was always at random, but luck was on Giselle's side and this one came out very powerful, leaving Pikachu immobilized and causing him to shut his eyes and teeth really hard while trying to endure the attack. Giselle smiled with satisfaction at this and decided to press forward.

"Well done, Graveler. Now use Rock Smash and finish him!" the schoolgirl shouted.

Graveler instantly obliged, rushing with a glowing fist ready to punch out Pikachu. By that time the Magnitude had finally ceased, but the rodent was still struggling to move. Giselle figured he'd try to dodge again, so she couldn't let him get away. Much to her shock, though, that wasn't what the other trainer had in mind.

"Pikachu, jump over Graveler's face and use Thundershock!" Ash yelled in the very last possible instant.

'How foolish, that's not going to do him any good,' Giselle thought.

Pikachu regained movement just in time to dodge the punch, and just as his trainer told him, jumped right to Graveler's face to unleash a point-blank Thundershock. As expected, the attack caused no harm whatsoever, and seeing that Pikachu landed close by, Giselle decided to keep her attack.

"Graveler, use Rock Smash!"

Graveler obliged, but much to everyone's shock, especially Giselle's, the punch was delivered to thin air, not even close to Pikachu, even though he was less than half a meter away.

"Graveler, what are you doing?! Hit him!" Giselle shouted, but then she saw Graveler's eyes, noticing its pupils had become contracted (and they were already very small). She then realized what had happened: that Thundershock was not for damaging, but to leave him blind by unleashing the electric flash too close to the eyes.

"Pikachu, use Quick Attack over and over again!"

Said and done, the electric rodent began speeding around hitting his opponent repeatedly. Even if the Quick Attack was not very effective, Ash's goal wasn't causing damage. While Graveler still tried to hit blindly, Pikachu kept charging forward and running nonstop, until finally, what Ash intended happened: electric sparks appeared on Graveler's body after receiving one of so many Quick Attack strikes.

"Static?" Giselle gasped. Suddenly all of those minor attacks seemed to have a real purpose. Now the paralysis would restrict Graveler's movement.

"Way to go, Pikachu! Now Iron Tail!" Ash shouted.

"Chuuu-PIKA!" Pikachu jumped up in the air to deliver a metallic tail slap once more.

"Graveler, block it with Rock Smash!" Giselle shouted in a burst of desperation.

"Grav!" Fighting of the paralysis, Graveler managed to intercept the metallic tail with his glowing fist, barely pushing back Pikachu.

"Use Magnitude!" Giselle called again, praying that it would be enough. Unfortunately, the paralysis acted in that moment, preventing Graveler from making his attack, and thus giving Ash and Pikachu the perfect chance to seal the match.

"Pikachu, Iron Tail!" Ash commanded.

With nothing to stop him, Pikachu sped up towards his opponent, once again coating his tail in metallic energy, jumping as high as he could before falling on top of Graveler, delivering a slash right in the middle of the eyes. The Rock Pokémon let out a pathetic groan, and a couple seconds after fell to the ground in defeat.

"Graveler is unable to battle! As much as I hate to admit it, the victory is for Ash," declared the referee.

Giselle dropped to her knees. She couldn't believe this. She, the first student of the class, the very best of the Golden Generation in the Pokémon Tech. Mr. Datsura had even called them the best students he had ever taught in his career, and yet they had been beaten soundly by a pair of rookie trainers. Especially her, defeated by a Pokémon with complete type disadvantage. How could that be? The worst part, her teacher had witnessed it all. How could she look at him in the face now?

"Well done, Ash." The redhead seemed quite happy with the result. "So, this means we've earned our prize, right?"

"Yeah, of course," said another of the students. "Anything you wish, even a full scholarship to study here, if you want."

"No way, I don't want to be locked in here. I think…" Misty interrupted herself when her stomach and Ash's groaned furiously. "Do you have good cooks in this place? We'd like an all-we-can-eat buffet. Right, Ash?"

The students exchanged glances amongst each other. That was an unusual request, but not impossible. Of course, the food in the Pokémon Tech was prepared by the best chefs the institution could afford. Inside, Giselle found herself happy that they didn't accept the scholarship. She wasn't sure she could deal with such competition on a daily basis.

Something else she noticed: Mr. Datsura and his friend were chattering around. The teacher looked at them, or more specifically towards Giselle herself, and then just left. That just brought her more questions: what could they be talking about? And more importantly, what would he think of them now, having seen them be defeated in such a humiliating fashion?

A little later…

When the pair of trainers asked for an all-they-could-eat buffet, neither the students nor the institute's chefs could have imagined how much that meant. Not to mention they also included their Pokémon in their request: the Pikachu alone downed no less than eight ketchup bottles before deciding it was enough. The two trainers had eaten themselves no less than twenty rations of varied dishes, and they looked like they still had a separate stomach for the dessert with various cakes (including Giselle's favorite tiramisu) and ice cream of different flavors.

From afar, Giselle noted Joe had asked Ash to talk in private for a moment, so they were now on a distant corner of the dining hall. She wondered what they could be talking about. Meanwhile, Misty was still enjoying her third slice of tiramisu cake, and seeing that she had nothing better to do at the time, she decided to approach her for a chat.

"You've got quite an interesting boyfriend."

Misty almost choked when she heard that remark, and had to pat herself on the chest to swallow it. "Say what?"

"Oh, I thought you were…?"

"Ash? No, we're not… he's not my boyfriend, if that's what you thought."

"Really?" Giselle arched an eyebrow. "Could have fooled me. I mean, the way he stepped up to challenge me, it almost looked like he was protecting you or something."

"You think so?" Misty glanced at Ash. "Actually, we haven't known each other for that long, but he's always really nice to me. More than anyone in my family, at any rate…"

Giselle glanced at her upon hearing that remark. It seemed to just slip up, and when Misty realized what she had said, she quickly shook her head.

"Pay no mind to me," the redhead said. "My point is, he's a boy, and he's my friend, but he's not my boyfriend, alright?"

"As you say." Giselle shrugged. "Admittedly, he's not bad looking, if you like tall, dark and handsome types. Plus, he clearly has talent; that's a very… unusual way to fight. I never saw anyone use a Pikachu to defeat a Ground-type Pokémon like that."

"Yeah, it's hard to believe he's just a rookie." Misty nodded.

Giselle noted that Joe and Ash suddenly looked in their direction for a moment, more specifically towards her. Joe maintained visual contact with her for about five seconds before breaking it, and Ash told him something else. They were too far to hear what they were saying, yet Giselle couldn't shake off the feeling that they possibly were talking about her. On the other hand, maybe Joe was just asking him for advice to be stronger, seeing that Ash had been able to beat the best student in the class. That was good, after all, the boy needed to up his performance.

"I still think you and the others are a bunch of bullies, by the way." Misty pulled Giselle back from her thoughts. "Why did you have to treat Joe like that? Isn't he your classmate?"

"Joe needs to improve," replied Giselle. "He's good at theory, but in practice he clearly needs help. If we're the Golden Generation of the Pokémon Tech, we all have to be up to par. We have to be firm to encourage him."

"Haven't you thought he could respond better to other ways?" Misty asked. "Not everyone is the same. Look at Ash; it's true he's has some strange training methods, but they work well for him. He did beat you."

Giselle frowned at that reminder, but as much as she wanted to deny it, she had a point. No textbook or encyclopedia could have taught her that. The methods in the Pokémon Tech worked for her, and as far as she could see, they worked for most of the students. Did she make a mistake in thinking they'd work for everyone, or more specifically, for Joe?

The brunette decided to let the redhead finish her huge cake (how could she have a slim figure after eating that much?) and once again focused her attention on Joe and Ash. She was intrigued to know what they talked about, even more for the occasional glances they gave her.

The following day…

The mood in the classroom that morning was completely different, definitely sourer than usual. It was no surprise; after suffering those humiliating defeats against those rookie trainers. The most noticeable, however, was that Joe's chair was empty, which was really strange considering that he was usually among the first to arrive to the classroom every morning. Plus, Mr. Datsura also arrived a few minutes later than usual. And when he did, everyone noticed he didn't seem to bring material for the class. That was definitely weird.

"Good morning, everyone." He greeted them as soon as he reached his desk. "I have an important announcement to make to all of you. Effective today, I've presented my resignation letter to the Pokémon Tech, so it's time to say goodbye."

The commotion in the class wasn't long in coming; saying that this announcement took everyone by surprise was selling it short. They took a few minutes to calm down enough, and it was then when Giselle, who had the biggest of the shocks, took the word to speak in behalf of everyone.

"Mr. Datsura, does this have to do with our… less than stellar performance yesterday?" she asked. "Are you disappointed in us?"

"Disappointed? For Arceus, what makes you think that, Giselle?" The teacher was quite surprised at her assumption. "Even if you lost yesterday, that still doesn't change you guys are the best generation of students I've had in my entire career as a school teacher. No, my reasons to leave have nothing to do with that."

This gave Giselle and the rest of the class a huge relief. But the question was still in the air, why did he chose to leave all of a sudden?

"Recently, I received an offer from a close friend, to join his Battle Frontier. Seeing those two trainers yesterday made me think of some things, and made me realize that even a veteran like myself can learn a lot from the new generation. So, I've decided to accept his offer, I want to learn and experience more things."

"And what's gonna happen with the final exams?" asked another of the students. "They're just around the corner."

"There's no need to worry," the teacher assured them. "I have spoken to my replacement and gave him my notes. The exams will proceed as scheduled. So before I leave, I'd like to address to you with a few words. I'm very proud of all of you, and very happy to have taught you everything I could. I am certain that you'll all become great trainers. However, I'd like to offer you some advice. Do not stick only to what you've learned in this institute, or from me. Do not be afraid to go beyond, since as you can see, there's a lot more in Pokémon battles than just knowledge. Keep on learning, and don't be afraid to take a different path to experience new things. Remember, there's a very big world out there outside of this institute, and you'll have to eventually face it head on. That's all."

The now-former teacher left the classroom, while the whispers echoed around the entire place. Strangely enough, the only one remaining completely silent was Giselle, who involuntarily glanced at Joe's empty chair. Mr. Datsura's words gave her a faint idea on why he hadn't shown up today.

A while later…

With their teacher's resignation, the students would have that full hour completely free, so Giselle took her chance to go to the male dorms. Usually, students were not allowed to enter the opposite sex dorms, but Giselle somehow felt that if she didn't talk to him now, she wouldn't have a chance later. Taking a deep breath, she knocked on the door.

"Who is it?"

"Joe? It's me, Giselle. Can we talk for a bit?"

A few seconds later, the door opened. Joe was no longer wearing the school uniform, and Giselle managed to spot an open suitcase on the bed when she looked over his shoulder. If he was packing, then her hunch had just been confirmed.

"You shouldn't be here, it's the male dorm," the boy pointed out.

"I needed to talk to you," Giselle replied. "You were planning to leave without saying goodbye?"

"I thought it would be the best." Joe shrugged. "I was never good for farewells."

"First Mr. Datsura, and now you?" Giselle asked. "What's the matter with you guys?"

"The battles yesterday gave me a lot to think about. They made me realize many things. Mainly… that I don't belong to this institute."

"Why is that? We're in the most prestigious trainer school in the entire region, maybe the world. Shouldn't we feel honored to be here?"

"Giselle, that's easy for you to say, being the first of the class and all," Joe replied. "I was always the dead last, the straggler. As hard as I tried, it was never enough. And I finally know why."

Joe took a deep breath before continuing. Giselle had the feeling she wasn't going to like what he'd say next.

"You know that I talked to Ash, right? He told me some… interesting things. Things that I had wondered at times, but I never spoke out loud."

"Like what?" Giselle placed her arms akimbo and tilted her head. This would be interesting.

"For example, he think that every Pokémon is a different individual, and they don't have to be limited by their species parameters. And he likes to develop their strong points based on that. You saw what he did with his Pikachu, right?"

Giselle looked away. She didn't want to admit it, but he did have a point, as humiliating that defeat was.

"He also told me… that I shouldn't lie down and take abuse from anyone," he continued, this time with a bit of bitterness in his voice. "Especially not from people who call themselves my friends."

"Excuse me?" Giselle suddenly felt that was aimed at her.

"You know, there were many things I disagreed with, but I never dared talk back because I considered everyone, including you, as my friend. But deep inside, sometimes I felt really hurt at the way you told me how to do things, or the punishments for not matching your expectations."

"I assure you, we just tried to encourage you to improve." Giselle tried to defend herself.

"I guess it just didn't work for me," Joe replied. "So that's why I decided to return home. I want to start from scratch with my first Pokémon, just like Ash. He showed me that the teachings of this institute are not absolute, and that I can make my own path. If he does things his own way, and it works, why can't I do the same?"

With this, Joe returned to his room, finished packing the last of his belongings, and closed his suitcase. After shutting the door for the last time, he approached Giselle and pulled out something out of his pocket. The brunette looked curiously, seeing it was a photo of her.

"I should give you this," he said. "Come to think about it, maybe I shouldn't have taken it without your permission."

Giselle felt tempted to say that he wouldn't be the first nor the last in the institute to snap a photo of her for keeping: she was used to it (and she enjoyed it). Still, she just shook her head.

"You can keep it," she said. "Even more, why don't you leave me one of yours as well before you leave? I like to keep photos of all of my friends."

"You really consider me your friend?" Joe didn't seem to buy that.

"Maybe you weren't the strongest trainer, but you were always very sweet and friendly. I liked that of you." Giselle confessed. "I'm sorry I didn't show it as much as I should have."

"Thanks." Joe smiled as he pocketed the photo again. "I guess it's time for me to go now. Be careful not to get caught around here. Goodbye."

And without a single word more, Joe left taking his suitcase, ready to leave behind the Pokémon Tech, his classmates… and her. Giselle wouldn't admit it out loud too much, but she was saddened to see him leave. Maybe she shouldn't have been so cruel to him, or letting the others do so.

As for that boy Ash Ketchum… he had been an interesting opponent. If Joe had decided to leave and follow the advice of that trainer to become stronger, maybe she should do the same. Learn from her mistake, and become stronger. Yes, she had to bring out something good out of this defeat. To analyze what she did wrong, and use it to improve herself. Plus, her plans for the break after the term had just gone down the drain, so she'd have plenty of time for that. And in case she ran into Ash again, to be ready to face him again.

"Ash Ketchum… the next time we meet, I won't lose to you."