Not long after Ash had finished his battle, Professor Sycamore had gathered a large group of the students who had successfully finished their screening battles and had sent them off with some of his assistants for tours of the campus. Clemont and his new group of friends, along with a few others, were sent along with Sophie, which he was pleased with since he knew her pretty well at this point from all the work he'd done with Professor Sycamore. She showed the group around much of the campus, which even Clemont was surprised to see, after only really seeing blueprints and pictures. He'd noticed a lot of construction around the area in the previous months, and only recently had it become clear why.

Everything was in perfect condition. Sycamore had somehow managed to get access to a large portion of the West end of Lumiose City, and there were numerous buildings set up with signs and highlighting them as lecture halls and residence buildings, training facilities and offices. Even having been aware of the setup while some of it had been going on, Clemont couldn't help but join his friends in their excited whispering as Sophie showed them all the various locations of the university.

After touring the campus, Sophie then showed the students some of the shops, cafes and restaurants nearby. Ash ended up holding back the group a couple of minutes when he got distracted by some of the food, joined by Pikachu excitedly sniffing the air from his shoulder. Eventually he snapped out of it, though, and rejoined the group. He wasn't the only one to get distracted through this part of the tour, however. Serena, Shauna and Dawn, along with a couple of other girls in the group, rushed towards a dress shop, while the males tried to keep their distance. Tierno spotted a Pokemon that was performing a dance routine with its trainer, almost looking like he was about to join in, until he was called back by Sophie.

By the time the tour of the campus and the surrounding parts of the city was over, Clemont could already tell that things were looking good for the beginning of the university. Once the group had returned to the registration building with Sophie, the Professor's assistant going inside after asking the group to wait outside, the inventor looked around at his new group of friends, happy to see them all looking so excited about what was to come. He couldn't believe how easy it had been to become friends with them all so quickly. He'd met Serena and Shauna so briefly the last month, but that had opened the door to him becoming friends with not only them, but Tierno and Trevor, and, amazingly enough, Ash and his friend Dawn. For someone who buried himself in his inventions and Gym Leader duties, Clemont was amazed at how this had all fallen into place for him.

"Hey Clemont, you okay?" Ash's voice suddenly asked, causing Clemont to jump up a bit. His glasses slid down his nose a bit and he quickly adjusted them, looking up to see his friends all looking at him kind of strangely. "You all right, Clemont?" Ash asked again, looking at the inventor with a bit of concern.

"Huh? Um...yeah, I'm fine," Clemont answered quickly, waving his hands in front of his face and smiling at the group. "I'm just thinking about the school, that's all."

Ash nodded in understanding, before turning and smiling towards the rest of the group. "This place looks great! It looks like there's going to be tons of stuff to do here. I'm not too sure what to expect from the classes, but those training facilities looked pretty awesome. What do you think, Pikachu?" he asked, glancing up at the electric mouse.

"Pi-pikachu!" Pikachu exclaimed happily, pumping his little, yellow fist in excitement.

"Do you know if the classes are going to be really hard, Clemont?" Tierno asked, glancing towards the registration building. "Is it harder for battling classes than for Coordinator classes?" His eyes then moved over to Dawn. "Not that I'm saying Coordinator classes should be easy...I'm just wondering about them."

Trevor smirked and nudged Tierno with his elbow. "You seem awfully interested in coordinating, Tierno. Is something up?"

Tierno quickly shook his head. "No, nothing...it's nothing." Clemont narrowed his eyes suspiciously. He'd been a little confused earlier about why Tierno had been watching and commenting on Dawn's battle so much. Trevor was right. Tierno was very interested in coordinating. I'll have to ask Professor Sycamore to give him a chance at a contest battle, Clemont told himself.

"The classes aren't going to be easy, but the idea is that if you were able to get through the screening battles, that you'll be able to get through the classes," Clemont said, answering Tierno's question. "That's all I really know. We've already done what I set up. It's new for me as well at this point."

"I'm kind of nervous about the classes," Serena admitted, looking a little embarrassed. "It's not like I've been doing any kind of schoolwork recently. Even if the classes are focused on Pokemon and performing, I don't know how prepared I am."

"You'll do fine!" Ash told her confidently, standing up straighter. "You did an awesome job with your battle, so I'm sure you'll do well with your classes as well. I'm sure everyone will. As for me, I know I'll be fine as long as I get to battle enough. I can't wait to learn more about the Interschool Pokemon League. It seems like an awesome challenge from what Professor Oak told Dawn and me."

As soon as Ash spoke those words, Clemont thought of his own wish to join the Lumiose University battling team. He had to admit, the thought of how difficult it would be to make the team had crossed his mind as soon as Ash had shown up. Standing right in front of Clemont were now three trainers who had participated in the Kalos League. The Lumiose Gym Leader knew he wasn't a bad trainer, but these three, along with any other trainers here he didn't know about, made it a difficult task. I just have to see where it goes. I'm not here just for that. I have a lot to learn from my classes as well.

"It sounds like it'll be pretty tough," Trevor chimed in, looking seriously at Ash. "From what I know, a lot of trainers that could compete in league competition are in school while they run. There are plenty more tough trainers for us to battle out there. It should be the same for Coordinators and Performers."

"Oh I hope most of us can make it onto the teams," Shauna said a little worriedly. "Some of these trainers looked pretty good in those screening battles. I know we've all done well before, but it's a little nerve wracking."

"No need to worry," Dawn told her confidently, although Clemont noticed a hint of nervousness in her eyes as well. "We just have to do our best, just like we did in our screening battles."

Serena nodded, looking at Shauna with a smile. "As long as we don't give up, we'll at least make a strong case to be on the team." She then looked around at the group, taking a deep breath. "It would be really great if we could all get the chance to work together for this."

Before anyone could answer Serena, the doors of the registration building opened up, and Sophie emerged, holding a stack of papers in her hands. "All right, everyone, if you could please follow me, I'll be taking you to the registration offices next door so that we can get everyone registered for their classes." She then took a step forward towards the group, holding out the stack of papers to the nearest student, in this case Clemont, who took the stack. "These are the full list of courses available, which many of you will already know about. Some are not going to be available until your second and third years. Please look over and confirm your choices once we are at the registration offices." As she turned away and began leading the group further down the street, Clemont quickly took one of the lists, before handing it off.

As he glanced down at the list of courses, Clemont felt his nervousness about this unfamiliar environment almost double. Worrying about making it onto the IPL team was instantly pushed to the back of his mind with all the names of the different classes in front of him. He'd obviously looked into what classes he'd be taking before, but now the that he was actually about to officially select them, his nerves were acting up much more. I think I'd rather take on the Machoke again than have to make these choices, Clemont thought to himself.

"That's kind of weird," Ash suddenly said, walking next to Clemont. The inventor looked over to see Ash staring at his list with a bit of confusion. "It looks like there isn't too much of a battle focus in the first semester."

"Well, just because you're in the advanced classes, it doesn't mean you'll be battling all the time," Clemont informed Ash, forgetting his own course selection a little. "You'll still learn some of the fundamentals, but it'll be applied in a more advanced setting. Like the abilities class will involve you learning about an ability and finding out its strengths and weaknesses, before applying it in a fast paced battle. Kind of like what you did with Rhyperior's Lightning Rod earlier."

Ash chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck nervously. "Yeah...I wasn't really thinking too much about that. I just knew that if it had Lightning Rod, I'd be able to distract it while Pikachu attacked at a key moment. I guess it'll be good to learn about those more. I understand some abilities, but others are a challenge for me sometimes." He then glanced at his list again, once again looking a little confused. "This says Standard Battle Trainers have to take a Pokemon Healthcare course and a Pokemon Breeding course. Why is that?"

Before Clemont could answer, Serena came up to Ash's other side, holding up her own list in front of her as she walked. "It's the same for Performers," she said quickly, pointing out the required courses under the Performers section of the courses list. "It makes sense, though, doesn't it? We need to be able to understand how our Pokemon develop and how we can make sure they remain healthy."

"Oh...right, I probably should have realized that," Ash admitted, looking up at Pikachu a little guiltily, although the electric mouse just looked amused. "Well, in that case, I'll make sure to become just as good of a Pokemon doctor as Nurse Joy."

Serena giggled a little at that, while Pikachu gave an exasperated shake of his head from Ash's shoulder. Clemont then pointed out the information for the class on Ash's list. "I don't think you'll be getting into it that much," the inventor informed Ash with a laugh. "It's mostly basic healthcare and making sure you can care for your Pokemon until you can get it to a Pokemon Centre."

"All right," Ash said, looking quite interested in the whole thing as he scanned his list. "Wow, things are going to be really busy, here, aren't they? I can't wait to get started."

"There's definitely a lot to learn," Clemont admitted, glancing at his own list and seeing the many classes available for him. "We might be in the advanced classes, but we're still beginners when it comes to this whole school thing."

"You can say that again," Ash muttered, scratching his head as he continued to look at the courses, just as the group of students stopped behind Sophie out front of the registration offices. "Battling in the Kalos League is easier than just saying some of these course names."

The group of students that had taken the tour of the campus together were now all in a room in the registration offices, each sitting at a computer while they selected their courses. Dawn was sitting next to Serena, who was on her left, and Tierno, who was on her right. The Coordinator was not exactly having an easy time with this task, and seeing Serena clicking away next to her made her feel a little uneasy that she wasn't able to pick her courses so easily. Of course, Tierno seemed to be even more confused than her, so she wasn't alone.

There were so many courses to choose from and if Dawn was being honest, she didn't see how a lot of them would be useful to her for coordinating. She did notice, however, that many of her classes seemed to fit in with both the battling and performing courses, so she was a little confused as to why Serena seemed to be picking her courses so quickly.

"I don't know what to pick. I can't decide which classes I should use for battling and performing," Dawn said aloud, glancing over and watching as Serena selected a course title "Appeals" which Dawn realized would probably suit her needs as well and she quickly picked it as well.

"Maybe since you're a Coordinator, you should try to balance it out between battling courses and performing courses," Serena suggested, looking over at Dawn's screen which only had the mandatory Pokemon Healthcare and Breeding courses, along with the Appeals course she'd just added.

Dawn shrugged, rubbing her tired eyes while she tried to think through some of her options. There weren't exactly many good options for her, as the battling courses were mainly theoretical to begin with, and oddly enough didn't appear to be battle-focused. She was more interested in doing something, rather than sitting in a class and listening to a teacher talk. Ash is gonna go crazy, she realized, smirking a bit at the thought. She finally opened her eyes and looked at the course list again, before glancing at her screen. "Maybe I should do something that will help with my performance skills first, and then I can work on battling in the next semester. And I'll hopefully get battling practice anyways if I can make it onto the IPL team."

"That's a good idea," Serena said happily, smiling at the Coordinator. "I'm taking Grooming, Fashion and Appeals so that I can focus on making my Pokemon look and feel good during our performances. Maybe that's something that would work with you as well. The Pokemon are focused on even more than the trainer during Contests, aren't they?"

"Yeah, the Pokemon is the star," Dawn answered, feeling a little more relieved that she had an idea of where to go now. She liked Serena's suggestions, and knew that they'd work for now, and that she could select more battle courses later on. "Fashion and Grooming...those would really work. Don't you think, Pipulp?" she asked, looking down at the Penguin Pokemon who was resting underneath her chair.

"Pip-piplup!" Piplup nodded in agreement, looking excited, although probably more so because Dawn was looking happier now.

Serena nodded, looking quite pleased that Dawn had managed to make a choice, although the Coordinator did realize that she was essentially just copying Serena's classes. Whatever, it's still useful to learn and I'll be able to make my Pokemon look and feel much better during Contests, just like Serena said.

"I'm still really confused on what to pick," Tierno said suddenly, and Dawn turned to see him eyeing her screen with her class choices so far. "Do you think it would be a bad thing for my battling classes if I took the Appeals class?" he asked, glancing away nervously.

"I think that would be a great idea. You seem pretty interested in coordinating," Dawn told him, thinking of some of his previous comments about it. "I think you should give it a try. Who knows? Maybe you'll turn out to be a great Coordinator, rather than a dancing battler."

Tierno chuckled a little uneasily at that, but nodded, while he quickly selected the Appeals class for his first semester of courses. He continued to search through some of the other courses in silence, and Dawn noticed he kept on pausing over many of the Coordinator focused classes or the battle classes that would be of use for coordinating. He might be in the wrong program, Dawn thought to herself, biting her lip as she watched the dancing enthusiast struggle to choose his courses.

Over the next few minutes, Dawn continued to look over her class options and discussed some of the possibilities with Serena and Tierno. While Serena seemed the most at ease, Dawn and Tierno were still able to finish up making their choices. Serena seemed to have picked up on Tierno's interest in coordinating as well, and she and Dawn were able to convince him to take a couple more classes in that field, although he didn't need convincing for the dance class offered in the second semester.

Once Dawn finished up with her course selection, she decided to head over to where Ash was sitting with Clemont, while Serena and Tierno went over to where Shauna and Trevor were sitting. As Dawn approached, she smirked at the sight of Ash pestering Clemont with questions. He was clearly becoming a little uneasy with the idea of sitting in a classroom after his years of travel and battling.

"I get to battle in this class right?" he asked, as he pointed towards one of the classes on his list. "What about this one? There's no way you can't battle in Pokemon Nutrition class! Food helps Pokemon fight!"

Dawn was wondering if Ash was joking, but once she saw the look on Clemont's face, she quickly realized that this wasn't even the most ridiculous class that Ash had declared battles necessary for. The inventor glanced at her, looking like he was a little exasperated and Dawn noticed that he'd already finished his course selection, while Ash was only about halfway done. "Ash, I think part of the point of these courses is to help you be a better trainer while not battling."

Realization seemed to suddenly hit Ash and he stared at Clemont blankly for a few moments, before looking back at his computer and laughing. "Wow, I guess I just really wanted to get into battling, but that does make sense. I do need to make sure Pikachu and my other Pokemon are well taken care of."

"And learning about developing your Pokemon, their abilities, types, all that stuff. It might be boring sitting in a class while you learn it, but you'll be able to apply it soon enough," Clemont added in, smiling in relief at Ash finally understanding.

"Picking these courses is tough, isn't it?" Dawn finally said, sitting down in an empty chair next to Ash, which a student must have just vacated, as she saw one approaching Sophie, who was now talking to the assistant she recognized as Cosette. "I pretty much just copied Serena for my first semester classes. If the classes are this hard, I don't know what I'm gonna do."

Ash nodded as he seemingly rushed through picking the rest of his courses. Dawn could tell he'd already spotted the ones he wanted, though, because he seemed to be looking at circled ones on his list before selecting them on his computer. She supposed his complaining to Clemont was just to see if he could find any more battle-focused courses. "I just hope Pikachu won't get too bored. Do you know what our Pokemon are supposed to do during classes?" he asked, glancing over at Clemont.

"The student residences each have facilities where you'll be able to leave your Pokemon for the day," a voice suddenly said from behind them, and Dawn turned to see that Cosette was now standing behind them. "I'll be able to show you once you finish up here. Your dorm rooms have all been assigned and your belongings are all there."

"Awesome!" Ash exclaimed, clicking a few times as he finished confirming his course choices and then backed away from his computer. "I can't wait to see it. Sounds like it'll be a good place for you and Greninja, don't you think, buddy?" he said excitedly, looking up at Pikachu.

Pikachu actually didn't look too excited, as Dawn could see his cheeks were twitching and his eyes were narrowed. However, the brief look of irritation left his face and he smiled at his trainer. "Pi-pikachu!" he exclaimed quickly. He clearly didn't like the sound of splitting up with Ash, but was trying to embrace it for his trainer's sake.

It took a few more minutes for everyone to finish up with their course registration, but eventually everyone was finished and Cosette and Sophie led everyone back outside. There were a few other assistants helping out as well, and some of them already had groups of students with them. Dawn soon realized that everyone was getting split into groups for the assistants to take the students to their residences. She couldn't help but give a worried glance to her friends, wondering how far away they'd end up being from each other.

Ash noticed her slightly panicked look and gave a sad smile. "Hey, we're still friends even if we're not in the same residence."

"Yeah," Clemont said in agreement, as they watched students begin to get called into their groups. "Besides, I'm sure we won't get scattered across the campus. Our classes are mostly in the same area, so we'll probably be fairly close."

"I know...I guess it's just been fun so far with the little group we've made," Dawn admitted, glancing over at Serena and Shauna who were watching to see when their names would be called. "As long as it's comfortable for Piplup and the others, I'll be happy with it, I guess."

With that, Dawn suddenly heard her name called, and she glanced up to see that Cosette had called her name. She felt a little relieved as she saw Trevor and Tierno heading over as well, followed bye a few other students, including an excited pink-haired girl with a Jigglypuff. Knowing that they would at least be nearby made her a little relieved. She turned and said a quick goodbye to Clemont and Ash, before beginning to walk over. Serena and Shauna waved to the Coordinator as she passed them and she smiled back, hoping the rest of her friends would be placed together, as clearly Serena and Shauna were good friends and it seemed like Ash and Clemont were getting along well too.

As their group began to head out with Cosette in the lead, Dawn began walking next to Trevor and Tierno. "Looking forward to finding out what our rooms look like?" she asked, hoping she wasn't the only nervous one. This would be her new home and it was somewhat of a scary prospect.

"Well if it's like the rest of this place, I think we should be pretty happy," Trevor pointed out, gesturing towards all the well kept buildings of the university around them. "It sounds like we'll have a good place to leave our Pokemon as well so we don't need to keep them in their pokeballs all the time."

"Yeah, Cosette mentioned that earlier," Dawn said, looking ahead to the purple-haired assistant leading them towards their destination. She then glanced down to Piplup who was waddling along next to her. "I think Piplup will stay with me, though."

It wasn't long before they rounded a corner and Cosette stopped, signalling for the large group of students to stop behind her. "All right, everyone, this is your new residence," she said, pointing up to a large building about three stories high and spread out wide along the street. There was yet another sign above the entrance which welcomed all new students. Dawn could see that there must have been a few other groups that had already gone inside, because she could see lights on through some of the windows. "This residence is called the Chesnaught Building. To the right," she then pointed to the right of the building and Dawn noticed two other buildings further down the street, "are the Quilladin and Chespin buildings which house the intermediate and beginner students. We hope that you'll be able to help them along as best you can, being in the advanced classes."

"Um, excuse me!" a girl suddenly called out from behind Dawn. The Coordinator turned her head and recognized the girl with the Jigglypuff that she'd seen before. "I'm not in the advanced classes. I'm a beginner." The girl was in a pink T-shirt and jeans. She had long, pink hair which was done up in loops at the side and bright, blue eyes which looked pretty nervous at the moment. Dawn's eyes widened at the sight of this girl. She looked like a younger version of Nurse Joy, but without the nurse outfit.

"Oh, right," Cosette said quietly, reaching into a bag and pulling out a clipboard. "Marie Joy, correct?" Well that explains a lot, Dawn thought to herself as the girl, Marie Joy, nodded. "Unfortunately we ran out of room in the beginner residences so a few students had to be moved to the others. "You'll be with Dawn Berlitz." Cosette's eyes then moved to where Dawn was and she smiled encouragingly. "Is that all right, Dawn?"

Dawn's eyes widened a moment, shocked at the sudden announcement of her roommate. She glanced over towards Marie, who was looking a little nervous, but also somewhat excited. It could definitely be worse, Dawn thought, before smiling at her new roommate. "Yeah, that's fine. I'm sure we'll get along great."

"Welcome to the Greninja Building," Sophie announced, turning around in front of the tall residence building and looking at the gathered students in front of her. Ash's eyes scanned the building quickly. It looked normal enough. It was three stories high and spread out along the side of the street. He could see some lights on through the windows which showed that a few people were already inside. He looked to his left and saw Serena looking excitedly up at the building.

"This looks all right, don't you think?" he asked the Performer, glancing back and seeing that Shauna and Clemont were looking impressed as well.

"Yeah," Serena said quickly, turning her attention to Ash, "and it's great that we'll be in the same building. Too bad Dawn, Trevor and Tierno aren't here, though."

Ash nodded as Sophie called for the students to follow her inside the building after quickly explaining that there were two other buildings next to this one that were called the Frogadier and Froakie buildings. Apparently they'd be working with them in the future. "That's all right, though," Ash finally said to Serena as he looked around the lobby of the building which had a few elevators in the middle and what looked like a large dining hall on one side, while some kind of indoor forest was on the other side, which he assumed was the place for Pokemon to stay while their trainers were in classes. He could see that there was apparently a lower level as well, along with an extension outside the building. "I think we'll still be able to spend time with them," Ash finished, looking back at Serena, who was also looking around the lobby of the building.

Serena nodded, looking ahead to Sophie who had just stopped in the middle of the lobby between the elevators. "All right, everyone, this will be your new home. The Greninja Building is home to to many of the advanced students, although we do have some beginners and intermediates here as well. Upstairs are the dorm rooms, of course, but down here, we have the dining hall where you will have your meals, along with the Pokemon Habitat where you will be able to leave your Pokemon. We ask that you only leave a maximum of six, though, and that you make arrangements with either Professor Sycamore or someone back home to leave anymore Pokemon so that we can keep enough space here."

"Oh, I bet Braixen, Pancham and Sylveon will love it there!" Serena exclaimed, looking at the habitat through one of the windows. Ash could now see that it was far better than just a forest. There was a pond and various streams, along with a miniature mountain that he could see a Mankey was climbing on.

"If you would like to leave your Pokemon here before we go upstairs, you're free to do so," Sophie announced, seeing that not only Ash and Serena, but most of the students, were staring at the habitat in awe.

Ash quickly called out Greninja, while Serena, Shauna and Clemont all called out their Pokemon as well. "You don't have to stay if you don't want to," Ash told Greninja, who looked back at him with confusion after seeing what was going on. "Pikachu's sticking with me for now, so you can as well."

"Braixen-brai!" Braixen suddenly shouted, patting Greninja on the shoulder with her paw and then turning and following Clemont's Luxray through the opened doors to the habitat. Greninja turned and gave an uneasy look towards the fox Pokemon, but eventually shrugged and followed. Before he went in he turned and gave a quick nod to Ash.

"Greninja's a bit stubborn, isn't he?" Shauna asked, watching as her Ivysaur went out of sight. "He probably wants to be in a battle right now, huh?"

Ash nodded, although he had a pretty good idea about why Greninja wasn't looking too happy. They hadn't exactly done much training lately with Ash preparing for school. At least, nothing that would help them with their Ash-Greninja form. Ever since losing to Alain and then collapsing against Gary, Greninja had been so focused on getting stronger. He probably wasn't too ecstatic about lounging in a makeshift forest.

For the time being, though, Ash had to just hope that Braixen and the others could make it an enjoyable enough visit for Greninja. Ash wanted to get back to training as well, and he wasn't going to forget a huge reason for why they'd come here. Greninja, Pikachu and I, along with all my other Pokemom, will get stronger and we'll win together.

"Come on, Ash, let's not fall too far behind!" Clemont suddenly called from a few feet in front of Ash, snapping him out of his thoughts. He turned to see that Shauna and Serena were all following the group of students towards the dining hall, where Sophie was presumably about to show what kinds of meals would be available to them. Obviously this was something Ash could not miss and he quickly made his way over to the group.

"This will be where you'll have your meals. Dinner will be tonight, after you've all unpacked and been settled into your rooms." Ash immediately started to wonder about something that was clearly not only on his mind, but his friends' minds as well. Sophie answered the question without needing to be asked, though. "You are free to eat at any of the residences, so long as there is enough room," she informed the students, and Ash breathed a sigh of relief along with his friends.

They had a brief look at the dining area and looked at the lists of what kinds of meals would be served. Ash was immediately happy to see that some of his favourite food would be available, not only from Kalos, but from other regions as well. He supposed it made sense, given the fact that many students were coming from the other regions, just like him.

After their little tour had finished, Sophie quickly led everyone back out to the lobby, before standing between the elevators and pulling out a clipboard. "All right, everyone, so now that we've finished our little tour, I'll be giving you your room numbers and room keys," she explained, holding up one of the room keys as an example. It had a little Greninja figurine as a key chain. "There are three floors and each floor will have a laundry room. The rooms each have one bathroom, a small kitchen and a small lounging area, along with two private bedrooms. There isn't a lot of space, but it should fit your needs. Each room comes with a computer and pokeball storage. You can even use your computers to transfer Pokemon to and from home if need be."

"Awesome, it'll be easy to bring back some of our old friends. Isn't that great, Pikachu?" Ash asked excitedly, this little bit of knowledge being the most important to him out of everything that Sophie had said.

"Pikachu!" Pikachu answered excitedly, smiling at the news.

At that, the group of students immediately went quiet as Sophie began reading off the list for roommate pairings and the room numbers. Eventually she stopped, once she'd listed off all the students except for Ash and his friends. "Well, lucky for you four, you'll be paired with your friends right away. Ash and Clemont, you two will be in room three-oh-nine and Serena and Shauna, you'll be right a couple doors down in room three-oh-five. All your belongings should be in your rooms. Clemont, your father and sister arrived earlier with some of your inventions. They've been let up and will be there once you go up."

"Okay, thanks," Clemont said, taking his key turning towards the elevator. "Hopefully Bonnie hasn't destroyed our room," he muttered to Ash, who took his key as well, before they walked into one of the opening elevators, followed by Serena and Shauna.

"Who's Bonnie?" Ash asked, clicking the button for the third floor and watching as the elevator doors closed.

"Clemont's sister," Serena explained, smiling with an amused expression. "She's really cute. She was teasing Clemont a lot earlier today before the screening battles started."

Shauna giggled, apparently remembering whatever Clemont's sister had been doing. "She kept on asking us to 'take care of Clemont'. Do you know what she means by that, Clemont?" she asked sweetly, looking at Clemont with a smirk and narrowed eyes.

Clemont blushed, looking very uneasy. Ash was relieved for him when the elevator doors opened, although he wasn't expecting the inventor to leap out like he did and immediately start rushing down the hallway. Ash smiled and just followed Serena and Shauna out the elevator and the three of them made their way down the hall, following the direction Clemont had gone.

It was pretty much what Ash had expected. The halls were pretty bare, except for a few pictures of Pokemon on the walls and some pictures of famous trainers, such as Diantha and Aria. The rooms seemed fairly well spread out, and Ash assumed there were probably about twenty-five of them. The rooms spread out along both sides of the hallways.

They finally rounded a corner and Ash immediately got his introduction to Clemont's little sister, as the little blonde girl instantly appeared in front of Serena and Shauna. "Serena! Shauna!" she shouted excitedly. "Please, will one of you take care of my brother?"

"BONNIE! I've told you a million times!" Clemont yelled embarrassment all over his red face. Ash glanced up and noticed the inventor was standing next to a man who was probably his father, out front of what was likely their room. He clicked a button on his backpack and a cable with some kind of hand on the end of it extended out and plucked Bonnie off of the ground and carried her back over to where Clemont was standing. "Please, stop doing that, Bonnie," he said tiredly.

Ash exchanged an amused look with the girls in front of him, and then the three of them made their way over to where Clemont and his family were standing. Ash glanced up and noticed that they were, indeed, standing in front of room three-oh-nine. A quick glance inside showed him a small hallway with a little closet which would presumably hold his shoes, jacket and things like that. Just past that, he could see the entrance to the small kitchen, which just had a little fridge, a sink, a counter and a small stove. He didn't plan on doing any cooking, but he supposed Clemont might make use of it. Past the kitchen, Ash could see the small lounging area, and to the left of that, he could see a small hallway which presumably led to the two rooms.

When Ash looked back at Clemont and the others, he noticed the inventor's father was looking at him with interest. "Well, well, isn't this quite the surprise?" he said excitedly, reaching a hand out to Ash. "Ash Ketchum, correct? My name is Meyer, and this is my daughter, Bonnie," he greeted, gesturing to himself and then Bonnie as Ash shook his hand.

"Nice to meet you," Ash said, smiling back to him, before looking over towards Bonnie, who now had a Dedenne perched on top of her head. "You too, Bonnie. And don't worry, I won't get Clemont into too much trouble. I don't think you need to find someone to...um...take care of him."

Bonnie shrugged, as though it wasn't that big a deal to her. "It's your choice, but neither of us will be able to help him out forever. He needs a nice girl to take care of him at some point."

Ash just laughed and looked over to Serena and Shauna, both of whom were giggling at Bonnie's antics, although they looked like they were ready to go and check out their own room. "Well, I guess we'll see you two later," Ash told them, turning away from Bonnie. "Do you want to try and eat with Dawn and the others later on?"

"Sure, sounds good," Serena answered quickly, nodding at the idea. "Nice seeing you again, Meyer and Bonnie," she said with a wave, before she and Shauna turned around, heading over to room three-oh-five and opening it up.

"All right," Ash said, turning back to Clemont and his family. "Let's see what our room looks like, Pikachu."

Serena looked around her room, hands on her hips, feeling pretty proud with what she'd done with such limited space. It wasn't a big room, with just a bed next to the door, a desk along the wall and some drawers opposite it, with a window between them both on the far end of the room. Serena had made up her bed nicely, hung up her Princess Keys along the walls, along with some pictures her mother had taken from her Masterclass Showcase. She'd also made up her bed and stored some of her clothes in the drawers. It wasn't perfect, but overall, she was quite happy with how her room looked. From the sounds of it, Shauna wasn't as happy with the lack of space, but Serena knew that she'd be able to make do eventually.

With most of her organizing done, Serena decided to take a brief rest and lie in her new bed for a few minutes. So far, it had been a crazy day, and it wasn't really even close to being over yet. She'd started an entirely new adventure, won a Contest Battle of all things, and she'd even met Ash, along with Dawn. She was a little irritated that Ash hadn't remembered her from Professor Oak's camp, but she supposed she'd only remembered him properly a a couple of months ago, so it wasn't fair to be upset about that. She'd hoped the handkerchief would have reminded him, but unfortunately he didn't seem to think anything of it. Oh well, at least I've made a new friend. A few new friends, Serena told herself, smiling at the thought. Things were already starting off so well for her here at university.

I wonder what the classes will be like. It seems like it will be pretty basic at first, but they are advanced classes, so there has to be a good reason for it. Serena looked over to her computer and remembered that they would be receiving their class schedules some time before dinner, so she made a note to check on that fairly soon. She assumed she'd be in a lot of classes with Shauna and Dawn, but she hoped that she'd get to be in classes with the others too, even if just one or two.

Serena continued to lay in bed for a while, thinking about what kinds of things were to come. After a long journey through Kalos on her quest for Princess Keys to participate in the Masterclass Showcase, Serena definitely felt strange about the idea of sitting in classrooms. She hoped that she'd be able to do a lot more with her Pokemon than some of the course descriptions seemed to hint at. She knew that if she made it onto the IPL team, she'd have the opportunity to perform in competitions, but she also liked to train with her Pokemon once in a while, and with all the new things she'd be learning, there would be a lot of new routines she'd be able to try out.

The thoughts of what was to come continued to play through Serena's mind over the next few minutes while she lay in her bed. There was so much that was about to happen. She could barely believe it. It was kind of tiring just thinking about it all. Her eyes grew heavier as she imagined working away at homework, training with her Pokemon, hanging out with her new friends, competing in the IPL. Before she knew it, there was a knock on her door, and Shauna's voice was waking her up from a dream.

"Serena? Serrreeenaaa!" Shauna called out, knocking on the door again. "Are you in there? I thought you should know that the class schedules have been sent out. We should check them out before we head out for dinner."

Serena quickly hopped out of her bed, rubbing her eyes to wake up a bit more. She then rushed over to her door and opened it to let Shauna in. "Sorry, I fell asleep. It's been a pretty tiring day so far."

"I don't blame you," Shauna told her, laughing a little. "I nearly fell asleep too, but I think I was too frustrated with fitting all of my things into such a small room."

Serena shook her head, laughing at the thought, and then she and Shauna headed over to her computer. It took her a couple of minutes to get logged on, and then she quickly found her schedule and opened it up.

Monday: 8:30am-9:50am – Pokemon Healthcare – Nurse Joy

Monday: 1:00pm-2:20pm – Grooming – Suzie Yuki

Tuesday: 10:00am-11:20am – Breeding – Reggie Weyland

Tuesday: 2:30pm-3:50pm – Fashion – Paris Hudson

Wednesday: 8:30am-9:50am – Pokemon Healthcare – Nurse Joy

Wednesday: 1:00pm-2:20pm – Grooming – Suzie Yuki

Thursday:10:00am-11:20am – Breeding – Reggie Weyland

Thursday: 2:30pm-3:50pm – Fashion – Paris Hudson

Friday: 8:30am-11:20am – Appeals – Fantina Melissa

"Wow, that's...a busy schedule," Shauna said slowly, after the two of them looked over it for a few seconds. There wasn't exactly much to say, given the fact that neither of them knew too much about the teachers, or even the classes, with the exception of Nurse Joy.

"Well it looks like I'll be getting up early in the morning on most days," Serena sighed, not exactly liking that idea, especially with Monday and Friday. The classes did seem interesting from what she'd seen earlier, though, so hopefully that would be enough motivation for her to wake up in the morning. She quickly printed out her schedule, and then looked at Shauna. "Let's see what you've got, now." Shauna nodded and then she leaned forward and logged into her own account, before opening up her own schedule on screen.

Monday: 8:30am-9:50am – Breeding – Reggie Weyland

Monday: 1:00pm-2:20pm – Grooming – Suzie Yuki

Tuesday: 10:00am-11:20am – Pokemon Healthcare – Nurse Joy

Tuesday: 2:30pm-3:50pm – Fashion – Paris Hudson

Wednesday: 8:30am-9:50am – Breeding – Reggie Weyland

Wednesday: 1:00pm-2:20pm – Grooming – Suzie Yuki

Thursday:10:00am-11:20am – Pokemon Healthcare – Nurse Joy

Thursday: 2:30pm-3:50pm – Fashion – Paris Hudson

Friday: 8:30am-11:20am – Appeals – Fantina Melissa

"Awesome, we've got three of the same classes!" Shauna exclaimed happily. "Too bad Healthcare and Breeding got swapped."

"Well I'm glad we're at least in a few of the same classes. Hopefully some of the others will be in the classes we don't have together," Serena said hopefully.

After a few more minutes of looking over their schedules and talking about their classes, the two performers decided it was time to head out. "I guess we'll go and see if Clemont and Ash are ready first," Shauna suggested as they stepped out into their little hallway and made their way to the door.

Serena nodded and then the two of them made their way out of the room, Shauna closing the door behind them. Serena then led the way towards room three-oh-nine. Just before she was about to knock, though, it opened and Ash's face emerged from behind the door.

"Oh, hi Serena," he greeted quickly. "Are you two ready for dinner? Dawn sent us a message that she and the others were gonna come here."

"Yeah, that sounds good," Serena nodded, stepping back so that Ash could get out. A few moments later, Clemont emerged as well and then they locked up, before the group set off towards the elevators. Serena noticed that Ash and Clemont had their new schedules in their hands. "Oh, what schedules do you guys have? Maybe we have a class together."

Ash held his schedule out to her. "Here, have a look. I hope I'm gonna have enough time to train with all these classes, but it looks like it's gonna be tough," he admitted, as he and Serena exchanged schedules. "I hope there's more battling in the classes than I think there is."

Serena laughed, hearing the slight panic in his voice. She was pretty sure that despite the appearance of these classes not having much to do with battling, performing and coordinating at first, there would be plenty of it to do. It was a school focused on those things after all. She glanced down at Ash's schedule, wondering if she'd be able to put him at ease with what she'd be able to see.

Monday: 8:30am-9:50am – Pokemon Healthcare – Nurse Joy

Monday: 1:00pm-2:20pm – Levels and Experience – Yuzo Konishi

Tuesday: 10:00am-11:20am – Breeding – Reggie Weyland

Tuesday: 2:30pm-3:50pm – Natures – Joshua Ishida

Wednesday: 8:30am-9:50am – Pokemon Healthcare – Nurse Joy

Wednesday: 1:00pm-2:20pm – Levels and Experience – Yuzo Konishi

Thursday:10:00am-11:20am – Breeding – Reggie Weyland

Thursday: 2:30pm-3:50pm – Natures – Joshua Ishida

Friday: 8:30am-11:20am – Abilities – Augustine Sycamore

"Oh cool! We have Healthcare and Breeding together," Ash said happily as he handed Serena's schedule back to her, while taking back his own. "Breeding should be interesting. I had no idea he'd be teaching here, but I know Reggie. He's the brother of one of my rivals, Paul. He definitely knows his stuff so I bet he'll be able to teach us a lot. Clemont will be in the same class as well for that."

"I wasn't really expecting we'd have any classes together," Serena admitted, as the group arrived at the elevators and stopped, while waiting for them to open. "I bet we'll have a few classes with Dawn," she said, turning to Shauna as the elevator doors opened and the group headed in.

The group went down the elevator in relative silence, but once they stepped out, they were met with a great deal of noise coming from the dining area. However, Ash quickly noticed Dawn, Trevor and Tierno, who were all standing with a girl who Serena was sure was a younger version of Nurse Joy. The group quickly headed over to greet their friends.

"Hey guys, what's up?" Ash greeted happily, standing at the front of the group. "I guess you two are roommates, right?" he asked, looking at Trevor and Tierno.

"Yeah," Trevor answered, smiling. "I guess we got lucky, or they just knew we were friends or something."

Everyone began heading inside, and Ash and Serena slowed up to walk alongside Dawn and the young Joy who was with her. "Is this your roommate, Dawn?" Ash asked, holding his hand out. "Hi, I'm Ash Ketchum." he greeted, before looking up to his shoulder. "And this is my partner, Pikachu," he finished, before looking back, while Pikachu chirped out a greeting.

"I'm Marie Joy," the girl greeted, shaking hands with Ash and then Serena. "Dawn invited me along. I hope that's all right."

"Sure," Serena said happily, "of course it is."

"Marie is here for the beginner's battling courses," Dawn explained, while the four of them lined up behind their other friends. "There wasn't enough space, so she got paired with me in our residence."

Serena glanced at the young Nurse Joy, looking a little confused. "So, are you not interested in becoming a Nurse Joy?" she asked, hoping it wasn't an insulting question.

"I am," Marie explained, smiling as though the question didn't bother her. "I just want to learn how to battle as well. I always like watching the Pokemon Leagues on TV. By the way, Ash, you were really awesome at the Kalos League."

"Haha...thanks," Ash said sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head and exchanging an embarrassed look with Pikachu.

"Anyways, I just think learning a little bit of battling would be fun. I had to beg my parents to let me come here, but eventually I managed to convince them that it would be useful for becoming a Nurse Joy." Marie then pulled out a pokeball and held it up to the group. "And my Jigglypuff needs to get stronger anyways, if it's going to be a Wigglytuff that can help me with my nursing."

Dawn nodded, watching as Marie put her pokeball back. "I think it's a good idea. It's kind of like how I wanted to improve my battling skills a bit so that I could use them in Contests."

"Battling is a great way to improve your bond with your Pokemon," Ash said seriously, exchanging a look with Pikachu. "I'm sure that you and your Jigglypuff will grow a lot together throughout your time here. And maybe when you're ready, we can have a battle."

"That would be awesome!" Marie shouted happily.

They continued their wait in line in relative silence, and then finally they reached the buffet style setup and were able to get their food. Ash ended up stacking his plate so high, Serena was sure he was about to drop it all over the floor, but he somehow made it over to the table where Clemont and the others were waiting. When they reached the table, Dawn quickly reintroduced Marie to the group, and then everyone sat down.

"So what kinds of schedules do you guys have?" Serena asked, once they were all comfortably seated. "I have three classes with Shauna, two with Ash and one with Clemont. It looks like there's a lot of early morning classes."

With that, there was a rapid exchange of schedules as everyone began looking over each the lists while eating. Eventually, everyone seemed to have had a good look at the schedules, and Serena managed to get hers back without any food stains on it.

"Cool, so I have Pokemon Healthcare with you and Ash!" Marie said excitedly, looking at Serena. "I'll be able to help you guys out if you have any trouble. Hopefully my cousin won't be too hard on us all."

"The Nurse Joy teaching the class is your cousin?" Serena asked, not exactly surprised.

"Yeah, well, second cousin once removed or something like that," the young Joy answered, rolling her eyes at the confusing family titles. "Anyways, she's seemed nice enough from family gatherings and stuff, so hopefully it'll be fine."

"And it looks like I have Fashion and Appeals with you and Shauna," Dawn said to Serena, eyes lighting up with excitement. "And Tierno's in our Appeals class as well. That one will be really fun, I think. I can't believe Fantina will be teaching it!"

"I guess that means her gym will be empty again," Ash muttered quietly, chuckling a little, Pikachu joining in. Apparently there was a joke everyone else seemed to be missing.

As they continued to eat, Serena looked around at the group, feeling a great sense of comfort. This had been an exhausting day, and she knew all these classes would be tiring and difficult. However, with all these new friends, she couldn't be more excited about the future. With her new friends and her Pokemon, she would become a much better Performer, trainer and person overall.

Author's Note:

When I added a bunch of chapters on here, I didn't put on the author's notes, which this one kind of needs. So...here's the author's note from FanFiction, which explains some stuff for this chapter.

Okay, first thing would be this Marie Joy thing. Myoriginal plan was to have an Alola character like Lillie orsomething. However, I didn't feel that would be right since I have noidea what those characters are like yet. Then, I considered puttingin Miette, but realized that she wouldn't fit in that role. I neededsomeone who wasn't going to be on the IPL team and Miette mightreturn...somewhere else. Anyways, Marie Joy just kind of popped intomy head when I planned this. I thought, "It might be kind ofinteresting to have a young Nurse Joy in the school." Why? I don'treally know. Does she have a role in the story? Yes, but not amassive one. Did she have to be in it? I think so. It's kind of hardfor me to explain, but hopefully as we go along, it'll be easier tounderstand what I've got going on.

And classes and dorm rooms. I set those up so that thethree Kalos starters and their evolution lines are the residencebuildings in case that wasn't obvious enough. And also, Serena's roomis three-oh-five, because Braixen is number five in the Kalos Pokedexand Ash is three-oh-nine, because Greninja is number nine. Oh, I'm soclever. These groups will be important later on. Well...somewhatimportant.

As for teachers, well it's kind of hard to come up withthem. I have different assistants from a couple of the PokemonProfessor doing some of the classes. Then, I've decided to bring inReggie for the breeding class, Suzie (one of Brock's loves) for thegrooming and Paris (a character of the day from one episode) forfashion. For last names I used either Japanese names or voice actors.Again, I'm so clever. Flint and Agatha will be in next semester forAsh, don't worry. And they'll have...another role for this semester.