Just then, there was an explosion, and one of the students were coughing. Ash turned, irritated, to see Lucas, a Double Star student in IP Class A, coughing as his invention exploded. As Phillip was next to him, some of the soot also got to him, and he was glaring at Lucas, irritated, as he wiped the ashes off his face. Everyone stopped what they were doing as they stared at the scene.

"You just have to, don't you?" Phillip said to Lucas, who gave him a sheepish look, and went to clean the mess up.

'At this rate they're going to kick him out of Gifted and Talented.' Ash thought, as he knew that it wasn't uncommon.

After the last class ended, it was time for their CCA. But Ash had to make a stop at the General Office to submit the Class Diary, before making his way to the meeting place of the Pokémon Conference Club, which Ash was a captain of. All of them were in the battlefields that the school had. Paul, the Vice-Captain of the Pokémon Conference Club, handed him the attendance list, which he took with a nod of thanks.

He sat at the bleacher taking attendance while watching the nearest battle, which was Pete Pebbleman, a Single Star student, battling Bianca, a fellow Single Star. Both of them had their Fire-types out, an Arcanine and an Emboar respectively.

"First to move wins! Arm Thrust!" Bianca commanded.

"Dodge with Extreme Speed!" Pete called out. The Arcanine managed to dodge it, and at the same time, hit Emboar with Extreme Speed.

"Let's use Flame Charge!" Bianca said, as Emboar managed to raise his speed with Flame Charge while damaging Arcanine.

"Aerial Ace!" Pete commanded.

"Counter with Flame Charge, once more!" Bianca pointed. Both attacks clashed, and there was an explosion.

"Time for our new move! Scald!" Bianca commanded. Emboar unleashed a very powerful Scald, which hit Arcanine. Arcanine struggled to get up, and that was when Ash raised his hand.

"Alright, that is enough. Both of you, take your Pokémon to the Academy's Pokémon Center nearby. Bianca, good job on the Scald move, though. If I hadn't stopped the battle, you would've won."

"Thanks, captain!" Bianca cheered.

"Pete, you might want to decrease the time you take to react to your opponents. Remember, even as attacks clash, your opponent may be able to attack. You never know."

Pete nodded, as they returned their Pokémon, and headed to the Pokémon Center building.

Just then, the door opened and Ash turned to see Cameron running in. He was a BP Class A student with the potential to be transferred to Intermediate Programme soon, and how he got in the best class (albeit being in Beginner's Programme) was a mystery to Ash.

"You're late." Ash said. "Explain."

"I'm sorry, I thought it starts at 4pm, you see." Cameron said sheepishly.

Ash sighed, as Espeon and Lucario also sigh. Cameron had always been notoriously bad at keeping track of time and numbers. However, his mistakes with timing pale in comparison to his mistakes with numbers. This actually affected his grades, for sometimes he was late for his exams.

"For the millionth time, it starts at 2pm, two!" He held up fingers for emphasis. "Got it?"

"Yes, captain." Cameron laughed sheepishly.

"Go put your bag in the bleacher and start training." Ash pointed, just as the door opened, and Trip came in.

"You're late." Ash said curtly. "Any explanations for this?"

"Yeah." Trip said with a swagger. "I've got cleaning duty to do."

"Right...." Ash mumbled. Cleaning Duty would never take half an hour to finish. Ash bet that it was just an excuse, and wondered if Trip did it on purpose to be what Jude would call "fashionably late".

Ash snorted inwardly at that thought. Even they, who are really busy, popular people that was held up with other business, they are never late for any CCAs, classes, or events.

"But let's get down to business." Trip said.

"What?" Ash asked.

"I want to challenge you for your captainship!" He declared.

Ash sighed. This had been happening for years, but yet Trip never won.

"I am pretty busy right now." Ash said. "Would a one-on-one do?"

"It will." Trip replied, as they found an empty battlefield, with Cameron as the referee. Espeon and Lucario were on the side cheering for him.

"This would be a two-on-two..." Cameron was cut off by Paul saying, "One-on-one!"

"Ok, sorry. This would be a one-on-one battle between Trainer Trip and Captain Ash. Trainers, please send out your Pokémon."

"Serperior, go!" Trip sent out the final form of Snivy.

"Your Serperior has a good look about it, I'll give you that." Ash said. "Well, then, I'll go with a Grass Type too. Leafeon, go!" He sent out the Grass type Eeveelution.

"Alright, battle begin!" Cameron announced.

"Serperior, start things off with Leaf Storm!" Trip commanded.

"Leafeon, Sunny Day, followed by Dig!" Ash countered. Leafeon made the afternoon sunlight even harsher, as it shone down on the battlefield, and used Dig to evade Leaf Storm.

"Use Toxic into the hole!" Trip said, and Serperior shot it into the hole. Surprisingly, Leafeon didn't come out.

'What is he smiling about?' Trip thought, seeing Ash's slight smile.

"Now, Leafeon." Ash said, as Leafeon appeared, and attacked Serperior. Much to his surprise, Leafeon didn't seem fazed by the Toxic.

"How?" Trip wondered.

"My Leafeon's Ability is Leaf Guard. Leaf Guard prevents Pokémon from being afflicted by non-volatile status conditions and Yawn during sunlight." Ash explained. "Now, Leafeon, Leaf Blade!"

"Dodge!" Trip shouted. Serperior gracefully dodged the Leaf Blade.

"Nice speed." Ash complimented, and Trip growled at him.

"Serperior, Leaf Tornado!" Trip shouted.

"Iron Tail!" Ash countered. The Iron Tail destroyed the Leaf Tornado, and Ash called for a Leaf Blade, which Trip responded with a Dragon Tail.

"Energy Ball!" Trip commanded.

"Shadow Ball!" Ash countered. As both attacks met in the middle, Ash called out for an Aerial Ace, which was super effective on Serperior.

"Serperior, use Wrap!" Serperior proceeded to wrap its body around Leafeon and squeezing it.

"Leafeon, don't panic. Use Toxic." Leafeon managed to spray Toxic in Serperior's face, poisoning him.

"Now, Trip, are you sure you want to continue?" Ash asked. "Your Serperior is poisoned, and I know for one your Serperior doesn't know any moves to remove that status condition."

Tripe gritted his teeth, before finally shouting, "Serperior! Giga Impact!"

"Leafeon, Grass Knot." The Grass Knot made Serperior trip, making it crash to the ground.

"Now, finish it off with X-Scissor!" Ash called out. That move finally knocked out Serperior.

"Serperior is unable to battle! Leafeon wins! Which means, Captain Ash is the winner!" All the members cheered at the fact that their captain managed to defend his title.

"Well, Trip, better bring your Serperior to the Pokémon Center." Ash advised him. Trip glared but he made his way to the Pokémon Center to treat his Serperior.

"Ok everyone, show's over. Continue with your practice." Ash ordered.

He walked past Virgil training his Eevee. One thing unique about Virgil was his team consisted of the entire set of Eeveelutions (except Sylveon), which made everyone call him "The Eevee Trainer". While it's true Ash had the entire set of Eeveelutions like him, he was well-known for other things as well. Virgil was currently trying to train Eevee so she could evolve into a Sylveon.

"Oh, hey Captain." Virgil said, turning to face him. Ash raised his eyebrows when he saw Virgil's Star Rank.

"You're a Double Star now?" Ash asked.

"Oh yeah, apparently my grades were good enough to get in the Intermediate Programme. I went back to school to take another exam to determine which class I'd go, and I got Class B. They said they'd monitor my progress and if I'm good enough, I'll be in Class A!"

"Good for you. Congrats." Ash nodded.

"Thanks." Virgil replied. "My goal for now is to get into the Advanced Programme, and be a Triple Star student."

"Oh! I hope you make it! You'd be the same level as the most popular group in school!" His Eevee spoke up. However, only Ash understood what she was saying, but Virgil seemed to be able to sense what she was saying, as he replied with, "Yeah, me too."

"Are you going to get another Eevee once you've evolved her into Sylveon?" He nodded to the little Eevee on his shoulder.

"I don't know...maybe? That way, I'd have the complete set." Virgil mumbled.

"Well, this might interest you: The Vice-Captain of the Pokémon Showcase Club, Aria, told us about a wandering Eevee in the school. It goes around eating students' Poképuffs. If you're lucky, you might be able to see it and be given the chance to try and obtain it, but I hear no one has been able to catch it so far." Ash said.

Virgil looked thoughtful. "I'll think about it. Thanks Captain."

'I wonder how the others are doing at their CCA.' Ash thought, as he noted that he had to go for his Basketball CCA next.

Phillip and Tommy were now playing a board game called Ghosts.

At the start of this game, both players are given eight ghosts, of which four are good (represented by a blue dot) and four are evil (represented by a red dot). The ghosts are assembled in two rows of four ghosts at the player's own edge of the board. At each of the four corners is an exit from the castle.

The idea of the game is that neither player knows which of the other player's ghosts are good and which are evil, as all ghosts would look the same while facing the front. The dots are located on the back. The players can arrange the good and evil ghosts in any formation before they start the game.

This game is turn-based. On his or her turn, each player moves one ghost one square, either horizontally or vertically. A ghost may capture an opponent's ghost by moving to its square. Only when a ghost is captured does the opposing player know whether it is good or evil.

If a player captures all four of the opposing player's good ghosts, he or she has won the game. But if a player captures all four of the opposing player's evil ghosts, he or she would lose. The game can also be won by moving one of the good ghosts through one of the exits at the opposing side of the board. The strategy of the game play involves mainly trying to guess which of the opponent's ghosts are which by their movement patterns and trying to fool the opponent with confusing movement patterns.

Currently, Phillip had two of Tommy's good ghosts and one evil, while Tommy had three of Phillip's evil ghosts and no good ghosts so far.

Tommy was looking at Phillip's remaining ghosts, and decided to capture the one on the far right. When he checked, much to his relief, it was a good ghost.

"Nice move. But it's my turn." With that, he decided to move one square forward.

Tommy decided to capture that one, and much to his chagrin, it was the evil ghost, which meant he lost the game.

"I was sure that was the good one. You were moving it towards my exit!" He knew another way to win was to move one of the good ghosts through the opponent's exit.

Phillip shrugged. He was always the master strategist. But he had to admit Pakura could give him a run for his money when it comes to strategies.

"Well then, you should find another person to play a board game with you." Phillip said, as he moved on to supervise the others playing their own games.

Three of the students, Anita, Assunta and Thomas were playing Ludo. Phillip watched as Assunta managed to roll a five, the number of steps her final piece was away from her home column, and won the game.

"Argh! We lost!" Anita complained.

"Well, this game is all about luck, you know." Phillip said. "Besides, it's just a game. Maybe you guys can win next round."

"Captain!" The three of them were startled to see their captain behind them.

"It doesn't matter whether it's winning the game or losing. We're here to have fun, you know." Phillip swung a chair from a neighbouring table, and straddled it. The girls swooned as it was almost as if Phillip came over to their on purpose to speak to them. What sets him aside from other nerds is that he is a cute boy (and doesn't need to wear glasses, which puts emphasize on his blue eyes), and he was also sporty as well, which was why he was one of the most popular boys in school.

"Yeah, that's true." Thomas mumbled. "What do you all want to play next?"

"How about 13 Dead End Drive?" Assunta said.

Anita shrugged, and got the game board, and they began playing. They invited Phillip to play, but he excused himself as he noticed something. He walked towards Grimsley and some other students, and he sighed as Grimsley, his Vice-Captain, was betting again.

"Grimsley, you may be the Vice-Captain of this Club, but how many times must I say that you are not allowed to bet?" Phillip sighed.

Grimsley looked up from his deck of cards. "Come on, loosen up, Phillip. The teachers would never know."

"Oh, really?" A voice said from behind. Phillip and Grimsley turned to see Drayden, one of the advisors of the Dragon Club. He also teaches the MSD (Middle School Division for short) Classes Chemistry. Apparently, he was walking past and he had overheard. Phillip sneaked off as he heard Drayden berate Grimsley, and even giving him a detention, as he needed a drink.

The good thing is in the school, there are various vending machines that sells either drinks or snacks, so in case if a student wants something to drink or to nibble on, they can get from the machines which are located all over the school. In fact, there are convenience stores all around the school as well that sells food, drinks and snacks.

There used to be no limits on what a student can buy but ever since Morgan bought so much at one go the other students didn't have anything left two years ago, limits were put on the amount they can buy (as usual, dependent on Star Rank). That is another reason why Morgan was very unpopular in the school.

Rosaline was in the school library (which has four floors) helping to sort books in the shelves according to alphabetical order in the Fiction Section located at the very first floor. The Library Club members usually helped out in the library, but they also wrote about books that were recommended and post them either online or on the bulletin boards all over the school.

"Excuse me, can you help check these books out for me?" A voice asked. Rosaline looked up to see a pre-teen boy with a one star pinned to his collar holding a book out to her. He looked nervous, probably because Rosaline was part of the most popular group in school.

Rosaline thought this boy must be from the Middle School Division. The books he were holding was about all the Kanto, Johto and Hoenn Region (each regional Pokémon having one book to itself) Pokémon, their names, types, their movesets, and any Mega Evolution, if any.

"Sure." Rosaline took the boy to the checkout counter. "Could you just give me your Student I.D. Card?" The boy did, and Rosaline scanned the barcode in his card. Rosaline learnt that the boy's name was Joe.

"So, Joe, why are you checking these books out?" Rosaline decided to make some small talk.

"Well, I want to figure out how to take down each Pokémon." Joe replied.

"I would have you know, type match ups aren't everything. People can win even at a type disadvantage." Rosaline replied, as she scanned the books one by one.

"They can?" Joe was surprised.

"Don't be surprised. Even if the Pokémon have the type disadvantage, some of them may be able to learn moves that are super effective against Pokémon that have an advantage over them. Try to battle one of the captains of those Pokémon type clubs (with each Pokémon type having their own club), you'll get what I mean." Rosaline answered and pressed "Print Receipt" on the screen.

She tore it off, and handed the books and the receipt to Joe. "Here you go."

Joe took the books, and nodded. "Thanks a lot." Joe said.

"Any time." Rosaline waved, as she continued to arrange the books

"Miss Valerie! Please use that move again!" The girls, who were members of the Fairy Club, was currently admiring the way she battled another member of the Fairy Club.

Valerie, a pretty Double Star student and also the Vice-Captain of the Fairy Club, smiled elegantly. "Mawile, finish it off with Fairy Wind!" She commanded. Mawile obliged, and sent a very powerful Fairy Wind towards the opponent's Cottonee, who was caught up in the Fairy Wind. When the move was over, it fell to the ground with swirls in its eyes.

"Cottonee is unable to battle. Mawile wins. Which means, the winner is Vice-Captain Valerie!" Kali, one of the girls who admired Valerie and is also the member of the Fairy Club, announced, since she was the acting referee.

"Good job, Mawile." Valerie returned her Pokémon. She turned to a bored Pakura. "What do you think, Captain?"

"I've seen better battles than that." Pakura muttered, while her Pokémon did not make a comment. Valerie gave a wry smile, while the other girls were dismayed at the lack of respect the captain was giving Valerie, but understood what she meant as they had seen the Captain herself battle before, and Valerie was actually nowhere near her level.

"I guess I have a long way to go to earn your approval, Captain." Valerie said politely.

"Do it as fast as possible, so I can give up this captainship." Pakura mumbled, much to the shock of the other members. If Pakura quit, the Fairy Club would be left without a star member, and this may affect their popularity of the club as well, since Pakura is the most popular girl in school.

"I don't think we'd be happy if you left, Captain." Valerie said lightly. "You know I need all the help I can get, with my other commitments." This was actually true, as Valerie was also the new Publicity Ambassador of HSD IP Class B. In addition, she was also the Vice-Captain of the Design Club, and is the Secretary of the Fashion Club. However, this was very easy to handle compared to what the five of them had.

"And I don't have them?" Pakura mumbled, petting her Skitty, who purred.

"Not all of us are as efficient as you when it comes to managing your time." Valerie laughed. "We all know you're the type to finish your holiday homework way before the holidays end."

'That's because to me, because I ran away from home to my older brothers.' Pakura thought, sighing, but she responded with, "Yeah, whatever." She turned to the group of girls.

"What are you all standing there, gaping about? This is the Fairy Club, not the Fan Club. Go back to your practice!" Pakura ordered, as the girls scampered away to practice their Pokémon's Fairy-type moves.

"Shouldn't you be checking how your fans are doing?" Pakura muttered at Valerie, who chose to sit next to her.

"Shouldn't you?" Valerie shot back.

Pakura waved dismissively. "We all know the members here are big fans of yours, and they join because they want to learn under you."

"Not true." Valerie replied. "Everyone knows that you are much stronger than I am when it comes to battling with Fairy-types."

"If you say so." Pakura muttered, as she took down notes of the current battle between Katherine and Blossom.

Ash was in a meeting with his Current Affairs Club members, where they discuss local and global issues, along with school issues as well. Today's topic was about the tutoring system the Beginner's Programme had in their school. Pikachu and Lucario were off to the side whispering about something.

"So, what's the news?" Makoto, the President of the Newspaper Club, asked Ash.

"Apparently, Cynthia reported that she saw a Middle School Division student named Joe being forced to run on a treadmill while his friends quizzed him on facts about Pokémon." Ash said. "Am I correct, Cynthia?"

Cynthia nodded. "That's right. We all know the MSD Beginner Programme students always try to aim for the Intermediate Programme, because they felt inferior to the other students in the IP or even the AP, so they help each other. But this...." She trailed off, as no words could describe what she really thought about this matter.

"Do you know who is in charge of this tutoring system?" A student asked.

"Usually, if I'm not wrong, top students would be the ones helping the one who are not so smart. So if we research who is the Top student of the MSD Beginner Programme, we can tell who the one in charge is." Ash concluded, just as there was someone shouting commands down the corridor.

"Man, they're noisy." Makoto mumbled.

"Cynthia, take over this meeting for a while. I'm going to check it out." Ash ordered, as he left the meeting room, Espeon and Lucario following behind, and walked towards the school's battlefield. Sure enough, the Dragon Club members were meeting there, and they are practicing their moves.

"You know, we'd appreciate it if you'd keep things a little quieter." Ash said to Lance, who was the Captain.

"Yeah, Ash was having a meeting, and we can hear you from all the way down there." Espeon frowned in disapproval. Lance did not understand what Espeon was saying, but judging by the expression in his face, he had a good idea, as Lucario also had the same expression.

"I'm sorry." Lance said sheepishly. "I guess we got too excited."

"Looks like you got here before I did, Ash." A voice said. Lance turned to see Pakura, who was also frowning, much to Lance's discomfort. Sylveon was also looking somewhat annoyed.

"Did they interrupt you too?" Ash asked.

"Yeah, they disturbed my Japanese Cultural Club meeting, which was held two floors above. We were practicing the procedures of their tea ceremony. The noise shocked one of my members into spilling her tea."Pakura replied hugging Ash

"I'm really sorry!" Lance apologized. "I-"

"So you came to visit, huh?" A voice asked.

"Clair." Pakura said curtly. "No, we are about to leave, we just came to warn your captain about the noise you all are making, which disturbed our meetings."

"You can't leave just yet!" Clair said. "You'll have to battle me first!"

"All of us have CCA at the moment, so we can't afford to stay." Pakura replied brusquely.

"Your members can wait for you." Clair said dismissively.

"What a self-centred brat." Sylveon muttered.

"Does she really think Pakura has to fit her in our schedule?" Skitty wondered.

"Cousin, she already said she doesn't have time." Lance said firmly. "Please do not waste her time by going into unnecessary battles."

"But I need her to battle so I can take away her title of being the strongest Dragon user!" Clair protested. "Besides, I just want to prove that just because she's born in the Dragon Clan doesn't mean she can strut around like she owns the school. There is bound to be someone better than her.

"Go back to practice. Now." Lance ordered, as Clair reluctantly returned to practicing her Dragon type Pokémon, but not before giving Pakura an "I'll get you for this" glance.

"I can't believe she's behaving like this." Lance sighed. "I'm really sorry. I hope you don't take it personally or anything."

"No problem." Pakura said

When they left the battlefield, Pakura mumbled, "Oh well, at least the noise is better than Poképuff making during Pokémon Showcase Club sessions. Arceus knows how many times Jessie has succeeded burning her creations, and making everyone suffocate from the smoke emitting from her oven."

Ash had to laugh at that remark as he kissed her before heading back

After his Scouts meeting, Ash decided to head to his room for a shower before ordering dinner. Fortunately, dinner is provided either in the room or the dining hall. There was something like the Room Service for those who wants dinner in their room.

All the student needed to do was to press a button that was located near their bedside, and they would deliver meals (drinks included) to their room in actual dishes and cups and once the student is done, all the student needed to do was to place the dishes outside his or her door once they are done, and the cleaners would come to pick them up, which took recycling to another level. However, the amount of food delivered also depended on Star Rank.

He saw Phillip drinking a bottle of water, while holding his Football bag. It was clear he had just returned from his Football practice, judging by the sweat on his forehead. Pachirisu was sitting on his shoulder.

"Yo, how was CCA?" Ash came up to his friend and asked.

"Other than trying to get used to the fact that we'll have six hours of CCA every day? Not bad." Phillip replied, as he stabbed the elevator button. Classes usually end at 2, and CCA times can last until 7. Due to the fact that all five of them had a lot of CCA to go to, their last CCA would always end at 7 or 6:30 on weekdays. "How about you?"

"Good." Ash said

"Are you going out." Phillip asked

"Yeah Luckily I did my work before." Ash said as Philip nodded as they both left

Later Ash was out in the town enjoying fresh air until he saw his ex parent and hide behind a tre

"We need to get his trust." Delia said

"So we can bring him home. After becoming champion and all those thing" Larry said smiling

"Yeah. I missed him a lot. I messed up big time." Delia said sadly

"Do you think. We should engage him with Melody." Larry asked as Ash darken

"Yes she was Ash first girlfriend." Delia said as Ash had enough

"Oh really." Ash snapped scaring the couple

"ASH." Delia said scared

"I want you to stay away from him." Amethyst said glaring as Ash turned surprised to see his older siblings

"He my SON." Larry growled as Amethyst laughed

"Your son. Our Father raised him." Amethyst said as Larry glared

"Plus I am his older sister." Red smirked as Delia brighten up seeing her

"Amethyst." Delia said as she walked towards her

" Hello Mother." Amethyst said as she slapped Delia as she fell down to floor

"How could you." Delia asked getting up

"How could you hurt my younger baby brother." Amethyst said as Ash face Palm blushing embarrassed

"Sis really." Ash said little annoyed

" I am your older sister. My job as a sister is to make sure your happy." Amethyst said as enlarging a pokebal

"Turn and leave." Ash ordered seeing Amethyst might attack only for A Latios grabbed him and was gone

"Now we can deal with you." Amethyst said darkly knocking the couple out to leave some scar