8

"Okay, all of you!" Professor Green had led all the students out into the field in front of the building, but had specifically instructed the students to bring their bags out.

"Place your Pokeballs, both occupied and not, on these trays," Professor Green ordered, gesturing towards a stack of trays like the ones at the airports. The students, confused, unclipped their pokeballs from their belts and placed them into the trays.

"What's the point of this?" Cynthia asked, confused.

"Now then, all done?"

The class nodded.

"Great!" Professor Green said, smiling. "Now then, for your first class, I thought it would be best for each of you to catch a pokemon!"

Sango and Cynthia both raised their hands.

"Yes?" Professor Green asked, frowning.

"I don't capture pokemon," Sango said, shaking her head. "I don't agree with it."

"…Okay…"

"Um, Professor, how are we supposed to capture a pokemon without any pokeballs?" Cynthia asked, confused.

Professor Green raised her lips into a smirk.

"Simple," she said, chuckling. "You'll be catching a pokemon with your bare hands."

The class let out a collective shout of shock.

"How are we supposed to do that?" Blake exclaimed.

"You can use anything you have on hand, and anything in your bag, but you cannot use any pokemon or any pokeballs. You can ONLY capture them with your own skills. Anyone failing to do so will fail for the day."

Sango's eyes widened in excitement.

"So I can catch them but I don't actually have to use pokeballs or have it be permanent?" Sango asked, cheering. "Awesome!"

"Not awesome!" Cynthia said, frowning. "How the hell?"

"Okay, get started!" Professor Green declared. The class stood there for a second, stunned, before heading out into the grass.

"Remember, you cannot leave the fence border," Professor Green declared over a megaphone.

"Crap, Blake, any ideas?" Cynthia asked, the two of them running into the forest to look for pokemon.

"I'm totally blank," Blake said, shaking his head.

Cynthia noticed a Weedle scurrying through the grass, and grinned.

"Okay, I've got this!" Cynthia lunged at the Weedle, but it skillfully dodged her, bringing its stinger down on her hand before scurrying up a tree.

"OW!" Cynthia cried, holding onto her hand in pain. "Stupid Weedle…"

"Guys, any luck?" the two turned to see Reiner and Nick approach them.

"Cynthia just tried to capture a Weedle, but it didn't go that well," Blake said.

"It stung my hand…" Cynthia wimpered, frowning.

"Yeah, we haven't had any luck either…" Reiner said, frowning.

"This is really hard…" Nick complained.

"Come on, guys," Cynthia said, smiling. "We've only been out here for a few minutes. She said we had the entire period."

"That's only an hour," Reiner said, frowning.

"The Professor said we could stay for an additional two hours if we wanted," Nick said, Reiner sighing.

"Whatever. This is a pain in the ass anyway."

"Who can catch a pokemon with their bare hands, anyway?" Blake asked.

"Hey, guys."

Everyone turned to see Sango walk up to them, smiling.

"Sango, found any pokemon yet?" Cynthia asked.

"Yup," Sango said, nodding. "I caught myself a cute little Weedle."

"Go kill yourself," Cynthia seethed.

"So, I figured that since I was done, I could come help you guys out."

"What about Julia?" Blake asked.

"She's out in the field, but no luck from what I've seen," Sango explained.

Julia, meanwhile, was not having much luck. She reached out, holding up a blanket, and moved towards a Shinx. She jumped onto the small blue and black feline, but it jumped out of the way. Electricity crackled in its teeth, and it bit down on Julia's hand, shocking her.

Julia glared at the Shinx, who ran up onto a rock, looking at her mockingly.

Julia narrowed her eyes, angered.

"I never knew… catching pokemon… was so hard…" Cynthia panted. They had been at it for about a half hour, and had found dozens of pokemon in the forest; of course, they'd all escaped.

"What a pain in the ass…" Reiner complained. Then, he noticed a Pidgey sitting on the branch of a tree.

"There we go!" Reiner said, running towards the Pidgey. However, as he was running, the ground gave out beneath his feet, and he found himself running on air. Then falling through the air.

"Reiner!" Cynthia cried, running over to the edge of the pit, the rest following after. The pit was only a few feet deep, but Reiner looked very uncomfortable laying in it.

"Yes, I did it!" a soft voice could be heard coming from behind the tree, and Nikita emerged from behind it.

Nikita leaned over the edge, and her face fell.

"What are you doing in my pokemon pit?" Nikita asked, frowning.

"That's what *grunt* I want to know…" Reiner muttered, Blake helping him out. "What sort of person would build a pit for pokemon?"

"…Um…" Nikita looked down, obviously embarrassed and apologetic.

"Don't worry, no harm done," Cynthia said, stepping between the two. "Anyways, I like your idea! It's pretty smart!"

"…Really?" Nikita asked, looking up at Cynthia with amber eyes.

"Yeah, and don't worry, we can still work with it," Cynthia said, grinning. "We've just got to string the tarp back up."

Cynthia and Nikita put the tarp back in place and covered it with leaves and grass.

"Well, good luck then," Cynthia said, smiling. "Got any tips for us?"

"Um… in the Johto Region, people could find pokemon by having their pokemon use headbutt on the trees…" Nikita suggested. Cynthia's eyes widened.

"Oh, that's a good idea!"

She turned to Blake, and pointed towards a nearby tree.

"Okay, Blake, headbutt that tree."

"Absolutely not."

"Don't you want to find a pokemon?" Cynthia exclaimed.

"Why do I have to do it?" Blake demanded.

"Well, obviously because you're the one here with the thickest head."

"What's that supposed to mean?!"

"Well, Blake, you're really stupid and dense!"

"What? No I'm not! How can you say that?!"

"You are! You're so stupid and dense you haven't even noticed my feelings for you!"

Cynthia exclaimed, holding her hand over her mouth when she realized what she'd just said.

Reiner and Nick were taken aback, while Sango's mouth was open in shock. Nikita

blushed, surprised at the sudden confession.

"You… what…?"

"I… I like you…" Cynthia said, looking down, blushing. "Ever since we met, I thought that I must have had a crush on you…"

"…"

The two stared at each other in silence. Sango watched them with anticipation, excited.

"You're just saying that to get me to headbutt that tree, aren't you?"

"Damn it!" Cynthia cursed, stomping the ground in frustration. "Just do it already! God!"

"You do it!"

"I'm a girl! What sort of jerk makes a girl headbutt a tree?"

"What does being a girl have to do with it?" Blake asked, confused. "No one should be making anyone headbutt a tree, whether it's a boy or a girl."

"Girls have more delicate heads."

"Right, and that's you."

"I'm as delicate as a flower!" Cynthia said, frowning.

"

Okay, that's a flat out lie," Sango interrupted. "Guys, let's just all work together."

"How did you capture that Weedle, then?" Blake asked.

"Oh, that was easy," Sango said, shrugging. "Berries."

"Berries?" Blake asked, interested.

"In my Wildlife class yesterday, my Professor took us out here and showed us all kinds of berries we can use to attract wild pokemon. There are all different kinds out here."

To show her point, Sango walked over to the tree they were standing under, and lifted herself up onto one of the branches. She skillfully began to climb the tree, Blake paying attention to what she was doing intensely.

"…Nice ," Blake commented.

"Very nice," Cynthia agreed.

"What was that?" Sango asked, turning to look down at them, and noticing she was wearing a skirt.

She flushed red, pulling her skirt down to cover up as she sat on one of the branches. She pulled her vest off and formed it in the shape of a bowl, picking several berries off of the branches. She climbed down with one hand, the other hand cradling the berries gently. She jumped down, placing the berries on the ground.

She turned to Blake and Cynthia, flicking them on their foreheads.

"Ow!" the two cried simultaneously, holding their foreheads in pain.

"That's for peeking up my skirt," Sango scolded.

"Can I use some of these?" Nikita asked quietly, Sango turning to her.

"Of course!" She beamed. "These are Oran Berries, and are some of the best ones to attract different pokemon. If you're looking for certain kinds of pokemon, it might be better to use more specific classes of berries, but since you're just looking for pokemon in general, Oran Berries should be enough."

"Excellent lecture, Professor," Cynthia applauded, Sango's face glowing a bright red.

"I-It's just something anyone who wants to be a Pokemon Ranger should know, that's all."

Nikita took a few handfuls of the berries and placed them in a small pile on top of her pitfall trap. Everyone moved back, away from the pit. A Rattata scurried up towards the pitfall trap, its whiskers twitching about. It moved closer, and soon enough its body was fully over the tarp, falling through and hitting the bottom of the pit.

"Yay!" Nikita cheered. She reached down towards the Rattata thrashing around in the hole, and lifted it up by wrapping her hands around its torso.

The Rattata thrashed around a little, but Nikita held onto it tightly.

"Thanks," Nikita said, running back towards the classroom with the Rattata in hand.

"Well, that was nice, but what about us?" Blake asked.

"Simple, we'll just fix the booby trap up again," Sango said, smiling. They set the pit trap up again, and hit behind the trees. A yellow pokemon came running up to eat the Oran Berries, and just like the Rattata before it, fell into the pit.

The group ran over to the edge, but didn't see what they were expecting. At the bottom of the pit, instead of a pokemon thrashing to get free, a large hole had been dug, burrowing deep into the ground. A few feet away, the Sandshrew that had been trapped burst out of the ground, running back into the bushes.

"Well, so much for that," Sango sighed, lifting up the tarp and examining the large hole that had been ripped through the center of it.

"Great, what now?" Cynthia asked, frowning. She punched a tree in frustration, a pokemon falling out from its branches and landing in Nick's arms, a Kakuna.

"Oh, cool," Nick said, smiling. "Thanks, Cynthia!"

He headed out as well, Cynthia flushing in anger.

"Okay, this is starting to get annoying," Blake said, frowning. "Anyone have any other ideas?"

"Well, she said we could use anything in our backpacks, right?" Reiner said. "Well, maybe one of us will have something we can use."

Blake and Reiner both opened their bags, and turned to Cynthia. Cynthia looked away, uneasy for some reason, her face red.

"What about your bag?" Blake asked.

"N-no, it's fine, there's nothing in here we can use," Cynthia said, refusing to make eye contact with them.

"Fine, let me see," Sango said, grabbing the backpack from Cynthia before she could react, unzipping it for them to see.

"…" Blake and Reiner both looked at the contents of Cynthia's bag, Cynthia's face getting more and more red.

"Yeah, I-I don't think I have anything we can use," Cynthia said, quickly zipping up her bag.

"Why would you bring those things to class?" Sango exclaimed, holding her hands over her face in embarrassment.

"I-it's just reading material!" Cynthia exclaimed. "Wh-when I'm bored!"

"…" Sango stared at her derisively, shaking her head.

"L-let's just get back to catching pokemon!" Cynthia said, desperate to change the subject.

The three of them continued to make attempts at both finding and grabbing pokemon, Cynthia even using her tree punching again, but no luck.

"I got one!" Cynthia and Blake turned to see Reiner holding his shirt over a squirming shape.

"A Caterpie," Reiner explained. "It was scurrying up that tree."

"Lucky…" Cynthia complained. She turned to Blake. "I guess it's just you and me, then…"

Blake continued to look through his backpack to find something they could use, but other than his textbooks, he didn't have a lot in there.

Suddenly, he thought of something.

"I have an idea," Blake said. "Come on."

Blake grabbed Cynthia by the hand and led her out of the forest and back into the fields, Sango following after.

"What are we doing now?" Cynthia asked, confused.

"Okay, if I remember from my map…" Blake took the campus map out of his bag. "Right, there's a small stream that connects to the main river, and a lake too."

Blake and Cynthia headed into another section of the forest, behind the building, leading up towards the mountain the school was built beside. And the map was correct, a little ways into the forest, but still inside the enclosure, was a small lake. A thin tributary was flowing into it, no doubt connect to the large river flowing through the center of campus.

"Why did we come here?" Cynthia asked, frowning.

"Well, I think the lake and the river are big enough for pokemon to be swimming in, right?" Blake asked, Cynthia and Sango's eyes widening.

"Oh, good idea!" Sango said, nodding her head eagerly. "So, I assume you have a fishing rod in your backpack, right?"

"…No."

"Then what the hell is the point of your idea?"

"Do you have a fishing rod?" Cynthia asked Sango.

"Nope."

"I thought you were sport girl?" Blake asked, confused.

"Fishing is not a sport," Sango said, rolling her eyes.

"It's kind of a sport," Cynthia shrugged.

"Well, I don't have a fishing rod, but I do have one thing," Sango said, reaching into her bag, and pulling out a sleek neon green one piece.

"That won't fit me," Blake said, shaking his head.

"It's not for you, moron, I'm going to put it on."

Sango moved behind a tree, glaring at Cynthia and Blake. Blake got the hint, and turned away from her to face the other direction.

Cynthia continued to stand there, as if she didn't realize there were any problems. Sango narrowed her eyes at her.

"Hey, come on, I'm a girl!" Cynthia complained.

"Turn. Around."

Cynthia grumbled, but turned the other way. The two didn't look back until they heard Sango slip into the water.

"You two owe me for this, I already caught my pokemon."

Sango ducked underwater, and surfaced a few seconds later.

"Well, Blake, you were right. There are a ton of water pokemon in here."

"Great!" Cynthia said, smiling. "Blake, go get one."

Cynthia placed her hand on Blake's back, and before he knew it, he found himself tumbling into the water. As he hit, Blake was just grateful he'd left his headphones back in the classroom; he couldn't afford to get those wet.

Freezing water surrounded him, and he felt several things bump into him. Then, two soft hands grabbed onto him and he felt a slight tug, and was pulled up into something soft.

"Hey, are you okay?" Sango asked. Her arms were wrapped around his chest, which means his head was pressed against her…

"Yeah, I'm fine," Blake said, pulling away, treading water. He turned to Cynthia. "What was with that?"

"Come on, aren't you feeling refreshed?" Cynthia laughed. "It's nice to swim every once in a while, right?"

Cynthia herself then jumped into the water. She surfaced a few seconds later, her cherry colored hair matted all across her forehead.

"You're swimming in a skirt?" Sango asked incredulously.

"What's wrong with that?" Cynthia laughed.

"If you were going to come in anyway, why did I even come in here in the first place?"

"…To show off your cute bathing suit to Blake and I, right?"

"I'm leaving, go catch your own pokemon," Sango grumbled, swimming over to the edge of the lake and climbing out.

"…So, what happened to you two?" Professor Green asked, stifling a chuckle as she looked at Cynthia and Blake's soaked forms as they showed the Goldeens they had captured.

"I don't want to talk about it," Blake said, glaring at Cynthia, who smiled innocently.

"Well, the two of you pass," the Professor said, checking off their names. "…And you two might want to go dry off."