Disclaimer: I don't own anything except for my OC, Tally Evans.

Author's Notes: In this fic, Ash is 14 and goes to school - having learned that all Pokémon trainers past 14 must attend school for one year just to prove that they still HAVE a brain and then can go back to Pokémon training. So Ash is six months into his year at Pallet Town Comprehensive School. Gary attends the school too, but is in a different class because he is now a Pokémon researcher. Also I have based Ash and Giovanni off an old fic of mine, Essence. Basically; Ash knows that Giovanni is the leader of Team Rocket, but still talks to him.

"Mr. Ketchum?" Snore. "Mr. Ketchum?" Snore. "MR. KETCHUM!" Snore.

"Ash!" came the frantic tone of a fellow student. Ash opened his eyes when someone poked him, yawned loudly, looked up into the enraged cerulean eyes of the teacher and sunk down in his chair so only the very top of his hair could be seen, "Uh... hi miss." came the squeak. The class giggled.

"Is there a reason you keep falling asleep in my class, Mr. Ketchum?" the blonde haired teacher whispered, slanting her eyes. Ash gulped and slid off his chair, deciding to crawl slowly to the door.

Well, scratch that. Ash zipped back up to his chair, almost knocking the girl, Tally, from her seat. He smiled, innocently, "Yes Miss Avery?"

Miss Avery rose her eyebrows, staring at the fourteen-year-old for a few seconds, before turning back to her class, "Now, as I was saying," she started, "Tomorrow will be 'Bring Your Parents To School Day'." A collective groan rose up from the class and Ash almost fell off the chair in shock, "Now, you only need to bring in one parent, and for most of you, the choice will to do so will be entirely your choice, but for others-" at this, she glared at Ash who sunk down in his chair again, "I will need to be talking to your parents so I'm afraid you will have to bring at least one."

Tally snickered,

Tally sunk down in her chair beside Ash,

"I really put my foot in that one, didn't I?" Tally giggled, psychotically,

Ash put his head in his hands and groaned, miserably.

Ash and Tally dropped their bags on the coffee table, sat down, put their feet up and Ash turned on the television. They both sighed. Of course, Tally was the first one to speak - "Bring your parents to school?"

Ash shuddered, "Yeah, well you don't have it as bad as I do."

"Oh yeah." Tally grinned at Ash, "Your mom's on holiday."

"And I don't think Professor Oak would be considered as a parent." Ash dug through the freezer until he found what he was looking for - the chocolate ice-cream. He sat down beside Tally and sighed.

Tally snapped her fingers, "Why don't you call your dad." Ash dropped the ice-cream in shock causing a cry of outrage from Tally, "DON'T TREAT THE ICE-CREAM LIKE THAT!" But Ash didn't hear her. He was pacing around the room, nervously, muttering something about zombies and ghosts. Tally looked at her dark haired friend, curiously, "Uh, Ash? I know you live in different cities, but seriously! He IS your father, and there's nothing wrong with simply asking him to come to school with you for one day."

Ash groaned and sat down, "Just wait till you meet him..."

Another thirty minutes passed as they helped themselves to ice-cream and watched Yu-Gi-Oh. Tally screamed with delight while Ash stared at her, one eyebrow raised as he seriously questioned her sanity. There had always been something seriously wrong with Tally - although no-one really knew what the hell it was. Ash still stuck to his belief that the girl was on a permanent sugar-high.

Oh well - at least she wasn't as screwed up as HIS family. Ash was seriously dreading calling his father. The last time he'd done that, his father had ended up offering him a whole city if Ash would just leave him alone. And that was just for a friendly father-son chat that had been innocently suggested by his mother. Delia had ended up regretting it when the key to Vermillion City had come through the post covered in a substance that - well - definitely wasn't ketchup. Delia had ended up sending the thing back to Vermillion while Ash had been traumatized by the whole ordeal.

An hour after Yu-Gi-Oh, Ash was looking into thin-air while Tally bounced around the house like a mad-woman. Professor Oak had come to check if everything was alright, returned Pikachu (who had badly needed a check up) and left again. Pikachu had proceeded to go crazy with Tally.

The phone rang and Ash sighed, hauling himself from the chair he was sitting in and picked up the phone just as it rang the seventh time. Tally's mother appeared on the other side, smiling at Ash,

"Hello Ash. Is Tally there?"

"Yes."

"Can you send her home?"

"TALLY!" Ash shrieked, "YOUR MOM WANTS YOU HOME!"

"Okay!" Tally appeared at the bottom of the stairs, a ruffled Pikachu in her hands. Ash took his dizzy Pokémon from the hyperactive girl who rushed off to the living room, grabbed her school bag and left, skipping as she went.

Ash blinked. Pikachu blinked. They both sweat-dropped.

"Has she gone?" came a muffled voice,

Ash sighed, "Yes, Tracy. She's gone."

Tracy got up from under the table, sighing.

"Thanks Ash. I really couldn't deal with her today - tell me, how come you made friends with that psycho?"

Ash narrowed his eyes at Tracy who back off. He sighed and sat down, "Well, she was the only one who wanted to be friends after Gary spread all those rumours about me."

"Oh yeah." Tracy said, grinning and sitting next to Ash. He squinted his eyes at the boy, "So, I guess it's not true that a herd of Tauros tried to kill when you were five years old, then."

Ash stared at other boy, "WHO SAID THAT?"

"Oh, it wasn't Gary. Just something I heard."

"It was ONE Tauros and I was seven at the time!"

Tracy just stared at Ash.

At 6:30 precisely, Tracy left to go back to Professor Oak's lab and Ash went to the phone, prepared to call his father, the infamous leader of Team Rocket, Giovanni.

Giovanni laughed evilly as the Team Rocket executives around him just grinned,

"It's a perfect plan, boss!" one of them called, applauding,

"Absolutely brilliant!" a woman said, jumping to her feet,

"No-one will dare undermine the Rockets anymore!" another one called,

"Ladies and gentlemen!" Giovanni rose his glass, "A toast!"

They all followed suit.

"To the greatest plan ever-" Giovanni started,

"Boss?" came a weak cry from the back of the room.

Giovanni turned to look at who had called him, "I said," he whispered, dangerously, "that we are in the middle of something here."

The man shuddered, took the last breath he thought he could take and then said, "But boss, your son is on the phone."

Giovanni's expression changed. He blinked and then groaned, "For the love of f- Ash!"

His son's face appeared on the huge screen, "Hi dad!"

"Ash, is there a reason you are calling me?" Giovanni tapped his foot impatiently, the glass of wine still clutched in his hand, "I'm kind of busy at the moment if you haven't noticed."

"Ahh!" Ash smiled, "A meeting! So, what's your plan for world domination this time?"

"Ash-"

"Mutant Pokémon?"

"Ash-"

"Crazy Robots?"

"Crazy Mutant Pokémon Robots?"

Giovanni snapped, "ASH!"

"Hm? Yes, dad? What is it?"

"Oh yeah, mom's away on holiday and there's this thing in school. Is your timetable free?"

Giovanni rummaged in his pockets, taking out random miscellaneous things as he did so, "Hm... nope." a paperclip, "That's not it." a pencil, "How long has that been there?" an old piece of gum that was going green. The executives blanched. Giovanni took out a small black book and flipped through the pages, "Meeting. Meeting. Meeting. Ooooo! Golf!"

An executive suddenly stood up, waving a golf club that seemed to have come out of nowhere, "I'm gonna kick your ass, boss!"

Giovanni ignored this outburst and continued to look through the book, "Meeting. Meeting. Bail Butch and Cassidy out of jail. Aha! I'm free in six months. I'll see you then."

"WHAT? Dad, this thing is tomorrow!"

"I am busy tomorrow."

"Daaaaaaaaaaaaad!" Ash whined,

"No."

Ash started sniffling. Giovanni's left eye twitched, involuntarily. The executives just blinked, stupidly.

"Ash, I am too busy-"

"But you've gotta come!" Ash cried, tears forming at his eyes, "You're my daddy! I-If I don't bring you then-then I'll got expelled an-and I'll never be able to train Pokémon again! You're a lousy father!"

"WHAT DID YOU CALL ME?" Giovanni shrieked, he threw the glass and shards went everywhere,

"If you were a real father, like Tally's-"

"Who the HELL is Tally?"

"SEE? This is exactly what I'm talking about!"

"I have no idea what you're talking about!"

"Tally's my friend - not like you'd know. You're never around!"

"ALRIGHT, I'LL COME!" Giovanni screeched, clenching his fists.

Immediately, the tears disappeared. Ash smiled, "Thanks dad! Oh and try to wear something that would be deemed as normal. Bye! See you tomorrow!"

The screen went off. There was silence. Someone coughed. Giovanni glared at the executives, just daring for one of them to make a move. A light was switched on.

"So, is this meeting over?"

The executives started tripping over each other in an attempt to get away from the enraged Team Rocket leader. One of the executives smiled, "Nice son ya got, boss." Giovanni twitched.

From somewhere outside of Viridian City gym, people could hear random shots of gunfire and screaming.

Next chapter: Friday (a.k.a 'Bring Your Parents To School Day')

Ash is horrified at his father's clothes:
"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU WEARING?"
"You said normal. I wear these clothes all the time."
"Well, yeah, that's the problem."

Giovanni meets Tally's father:
"Hello, you must be Ash's father!"
"And you must be completely insane."

Giovanni doesn't get along with Miss Avery:
"You must be Mr. Ketchum."
"Rocketto."
"What?"
"My son and I have different surnames."
"Oooookay then."

Giovanni insults everyone he can find:
"You're fat, you're completely drunk, I'm not even going to start on you!"
"Oh God, this is not happening. La la la la la la la la la!"

And a fight breaks out between Giovanni and Ash's headmaster:
"YOU CALLED MY SON A WHAT?"