Master's Degree
Chapter 1:
A Failing Grade

The sound of rushed footfalls echoed loudly down the almost empty corridor of Saffron University's History department. Doors swung open and banged shut as the panicked footsteps got closer and closer, before frantically ascending the stairs of the second floor. A young woman with chocolate brown hair breathlessly threw herself through another set of doors and started sprinting down another set of corridors, the folds of her royal blue dress billowing wildly around her legs as she ran.

"I'm not gonna make it in time!" she thought in horror, as she cursed the maze-like structure of the building.

Pushing herself to her utmost limit, her footsteps sounding like the gallops of Rapidash, she finally reached the History Department Office, almost bowling over another student with a Pokeball backpack in the process. Panting heavily, her chest heaving, she fumbled with the sheets of paper she was clutching, hastily stapling them together with a stapler. Scribbling her name down on the front cover, she double-checked her watch. Three minutes to five. Gasping, she lunged forward, slotting her essay through into the collection bin. She let out a fervent sigh of relief as she heard the familiar dunt of the paper hitting the bottom of the bin. Collapsing against the wall for a brief moment to catch her breath, she smoothed down the pleats of her blue dress, pulled the folds off her grey cardigan further around her, ran a hand through her brown hair and slowly started to walk back towards the university main building.

Threading herself expertly through the throngs of students on their way to and from classes, Ivy let out a long sigh as the sounds of giggling and shouting reached almost deafening levels. She pushed past a group of first year girls congregating in front of their lecture theatre, and was then faced with an onslaught of incoming students. Interlocked slabs of colour met her eyes, and the students droned and buzzed like incessant insects. Sighing, she slipped her skinny body between the small gaps available and eventually broke out into the main university building.

The familiar mingling smells and sounds of university life hit her like a punch in the face as she half walked, half jogged up to the library. She stopped to wave at a former flatmate as she paused to hand in the books she had borrowed.

"Name?" the woman at the booth asked, almost lazily, not even looking the young woman in the eye.

"Ivy McKenzie,"

"Student number?"

"Hang on," Ivy delved into her purse for her student card and reeled off the six digit number on the back of the card. The woman raised her eyebrows slightly. She very rarely saw a second year student who still struggled to remember the number they had to use on every single piece of work they submitted…

With that, Ivy handed over the stack of History books she'd used to write her last essay, grateful to get the heavy tomes off her hands, thanked the woman and left.

It took her only a few moments to spot the figure of her best friend, Jack Hartman, sitting idly, legs crossed, at the social study part of the university library. Dodging through the various other seats and students hard at work, she collapsed into the seat opposite her best friend. Jack didn't even acknowledge her as she sat down heavily. Instead he nonchalantly turned another page of the book he was reading.

"Did you get it handed in on time, then?" he asked, still not looking up.

"Just about!" she said with a relieved sigh. "Three minutes to five I think!"

He let out a sigh, taking a slow sip from his can of lemonade, but still not looking up from his book. "Ivy, you really have to learn to use your time better. Maybe then you won't panic so much,"

"I can't help it," she wailed. "I try to do everything before the deadline, but I always lose track of time and then… then it just doesn't seem to work…"

"No kiddin'," Jack deadpanned.

"All right, shut up Mr Teacher-in-Training," Ivy said, giving Jack's skinny arm a quick shake. "Being punctual is part of your job."

"Will be part of my job," he corrected, flipping over another page. "But if you still insist on bothering me when I'm trying to read and do work, I'm gonna end up being a failure and not having a job" He paused, as if for dramatic effect. "At least then you'll have company… You know, when you fail."

"Aww!" she whimpered, knowing full well her friend was only teasing, but still feeling a quick stab of apprehension to her chest. "You're so mean to me, Jack!"

"I do try, darling." He said dryly, eventually setting the book down and fixing his deep blue eyes on Ivy's hazel ones. "How was your essay anyway?"

"I think it's pretty decent," Ivy said lightly, crossing her legs and relaxing in her seat. "Well, it better be. It's the last essay of the semester. If I don't pass, I'm pretty..." she trailed off, searching for an appropriate word to describe the situation.

"Screwed?"

"More-or-less…" She said, managing to muster up a smile.

"Uhh…should you really be smiling?" he asked, picking up his book again. "Shouldn't you be worried?"

"I should be," she said, still attempting to mask her apprehension and worry with a thinly stretched smile. "But… I guess I can't really do anything about it now. It's handed in, it's done, it's finished with."

Jack shook his head despairingly. "Only you could leave an essay worth 60% of your grade till practically the night before and almost hand it in late. You're a marvel, Ivy McKenzie."

Almost immediately cheered up, Ivy managed a genuine smile. "Why, thank you, Mr Hartman!" she trilled, reaching across to ruffle Jack's spiky blonde hair. Jack grimaced and pulled away from her outreached arms, looking a little annoyed. "Aww!" Ivy faked being upset. "You're so serious for a teacher-to-be, Jack."

"And you're so loud and ditzy for a History student," Jack said, peering over his book. "And you can't remember dates. Or names. Are you sure you're in the right degree choice?"

Ivy pouted.

"Wait, wait, wait, let me guess…" Jack set his book down, a wicked smile spreading across his face. "It was either this or Pokemon training, right?"

"Hey, come on!" Ivy looked offended. "I'm pretty sure even I can do better than having to do Pokemon training for a living,"

"Hey, just cos you don't like it doesn't mean it's all bad." Jack said lightly. "Besides, aren't your sisters into Pokemon and all that stuff?"

"Well, Lily-Mae did it for a few years, but she never really went anywhere with it," Ivy said with a quick shrug, remembering her older sister's two year absence from home. "She didn't even capture that many Pokemon or get any badges. I think the only Pokemon she still has from back then is her Pikachu,"

"Figures," Jack deadpanned. "Girls and cute Pokemon…"

Ivy sniggered. "Yeah, that is true."

"What about your other sister?"

"Oh, Michaela? She's just left on her journey, she's got huge ambitions. Wants to be a Gym Leader, an Elite Four member, a Pokemon master, a co-ordinator, a Breeder, everything."

Jack looked amused. "Typical ambitions for a ten year old, huh?"

Ivy looked a little confused. "What? Michaela's fifteen."

A hint of a frown adorned Jack's face, before he snickered softly. "Oh dear…"

"Exactly what I said," Ivy said with a quick shrug. "The thing is, I kinda feel sorry for Michaela… she's not really cut out to be a trainer. She's too… soft and sweet to battle Pokemon, I think…"

They were distracted momentarily as a gaggle of students ran past them, talking and chattering loudly, brandishing laptop bags and thick pads of paper, heading for the only spare table in the social library. Unfortunately, the only spare table in the social library was right next to Jack and Ivy. Both friends grimaced as the group of students started bursting open crisp packets and pre-packaged sandwiches, before ripping out pens and papers and laptops, before beginning to talk very loudly and obnoxiously. Jack rolled his deep blue eyes. "First years…" he hissed under his breath.

Ivy cast him a sympathetic look.

"Well," Jack said with a sigh, trying to bring the conversation back on-topic. "You just better make sure you do pass your degree, then. Otherwise you may well end up having to resort to Pokemon training as a career,"

"Not on my life," Ivy said, leaning forward in her chair. "Let's face it; have you seen the people in my family? Lily Mae's stuck in a dead end job; Michaela's jaunting around Kanto like a madwoman, and Lewis? Well, he's not exactly a "model student" either. I'm pretty much the family's only hope for a properly educated woman."

"And not a good hope at that, judging from your results last semester…"

Ivy cringed inwardly as she remembered her less than impressive results from the previous semester. She hated to admit it, but the impending feeling of doom regarding her university career was growing stronger with every passing day. She had to pull something out of the bag soon if she wanted to gain access to her third year and hope to someday graduate with honours. But Jack was right… she was already teetering on the edge between passing and failing…

"Jaaack, do you have to be so mean all the time?" Ivy recoiled, wounded.

"You just know I'm right."

Ivy frowned.

"Relax, darling, I'm teasing." He shot her a quick smile.

"I just don't wanna faaaaaail!" she whined, slamming her head into the table. However, she put more force behind it than she expected, and the resounding thump vibrated throughout the entire table. "Ow." She said thickly.

"You idiot," Jack said, gently hitting the top of her head with his book. "Don't worry, you won't fail. Next time, just prepare better."

"Hmph…"

"Come on," Jack ruffled his best friend's chocolate brown hair, making it stick up in odd quiffs. "Fancy dinner?"

"Why, are you buying?" she shot her head up immediately, a red welt comically forming in the centre of her forehead, a grin spreading across her face.

"No," he said at once, flicking her in the forehead with his long, pale fingers.

"You're so mean," she stuck her tongue out at him.

"Like I said, I do try," he said, getting up and pulling his best friend to her feet. "Let's go to the student union, okay? I fancy something horrifically fatty and greasy,"

"Ohh, you're a man after my own heart!"

"You're barking up the wrong tree, love." He said, but still grasped his best friend's hand in his. He then effortlessly dumped the book he had been reading into Ivy's spare hand, who frowned at the copy of "Learning to Teach in the Primary School".

Ivy glanced it, looking as if it was some alien object. "What am I holding this for?"

"Just because," he said with a shrug.

"Hmm…" Ivy grumbled, flicking through the thick book and frowning again at some of the chapter titles. ""Learning and Learners in Education"? "Challenges and Trends in Education"? "The Nature and Goals of Teaching"?Oh my God, Jack, this all looks so complicated!"

"Naturally," Jack said with a smile. "You are in the company of a highly intelligent man, after all."

"Cheeky!" Ivy snapped the book shut and hit Jack playfully with it.

Jack grinned, who was enjoying his role as "Chief-Ivy-tormentor" far too much, and couldn't resist getting in one final cheap dig. "Just remember this when you're a university drop out, having to train Pokemon for a living,"

"Remember what?" Ivy asked, her face both twisted in annoyance and confusion.

"What it's like to be in the company of actual intelligent people who don't scream at total strangers wanting to show you their balls!" Jack snorted.

"Shut up!" Ivy beat her fists against Jack's skinny arms, and had to fight to resist the urge to stamp her feet like a little child. "I am not going to fail university! I am not going to fail my degree, and I am certainly not going to have to become a Pokemon trainer to make money! Okay?"

"Okay," Jack said with a grin, spreading his arms wide in the picture of feigned innocence. "But don't say I didn't warn you…"

"Jack, have a little faith." Ivy said offhandedly, cocking her head to one side and crossing her arms firmly. "I am not going to be a university drop-out. Trust me. Okay?"

Jack smiled and shook his head after his friend. "Okay."

"Hmphf!" Ivy said, nodding her head with finality, whilst privately thinking "Please… Ivy McKenzie, a Pokemon trainer? Yeah right… there's a snowball's chance in hell of that happening…"

"I… I've failed?"

"Yes, Miss McKenzie…" the elderly History tutor said in an almost bored manner as he surveyed the young woman sitting in front of him. In her blue plaid dress, black slip-on shoes and her hair pulled back into a messy, thick plait, he felt like he was talking to a little schoolgirl and not a young woman in her second year of university. "You didn't meet the necessary module requirements."

"B…bu…but…!" Ivy's bottom lip was quivering ominously, her hazel eyes looking as if they were in danger of spilling over any second now. "I passed the exam…"

"Which was only worth 40% of the overall grade." The tutor stated bluntly, a deep set frown slowly eroding his already wrinkled face. "Unfortunately, your combined exam result and rather… unsatisfactory essay wasn't enough to meet the necessary requirements."

"Well… well what can I do?" Ivy asked desperately. "Can I re-sit the exam?"

"Well, no. You passed the exam. You failed on grounds of the essay."

"Can I re-submit the essay then?"

The tutor was beginning to look annoyed, and mopped at his brow with a thick embroidered handkerchief, which he then stored in the pocket of his overcoat. His deep, cultured voice held traces of badly-concealed irritation. "I'm afraid not, Miss McKenzie…"

"Then what can I do?"

"Very little, I'm afraid. You've failed this semester's module."

"Am I going to fail my degree?" Ivy cried hysterically.

"Not necessarily," the tutor walked slowly around to sit at the mahogany desk in his small office. He idly opened a book, seemed to read a page at random, and then snapped it shut again. The loud noise echoed in the tightly-packed room, making Ivy jump inadvertently. "You could re-sit the module," The tutor eventually surmised. "Once the next academic year comes around."

"No!" Ivy protested at once, horror setting in immediately. "I won't be able to! I need to gain all the credits from this module so I can even get in to third year to re-sit!"

The tutor raised one thick, greying eyebrow in the girl's direction.

"I… I mean…" Ivy lowered her voice and strung her hands together. "Without the credits from this module, I can't get into third year to do any re-sits!"

"I understand that, Miss McKenzie."

Ivy jerked her head up, surprised. A momentary flash of hope struck her, and she clung to it immediately. "You… you do?"

"Indeed. This is why Saffron University offers summer study programs."

Ivy blinked. "Huh? Summer study…?"

"Yes. I'm sure you're familiar with the concept?"

"Uhh!" Ivy flustered for a moment. "Y…yes! Of course! I just didn't realise this university offered it. I mean, I knew that Celadon University and… and Goldenrod University and… uhh… Oh! Castelia City University too! I know they all offer summer study. N…not that our university is worse than those other universities, not at all! Oh even though we haven't been doing as well in the polls recently… But that's not to say our university isn't good! I really love being here but—"

"Miss McKenzie." The tutor interrupted Ivy's ramblings with a firm voice, silencing her immediately.

"Sorry…" she whispered, a faint blush tingeing her cheeks. She had an unpleasant and embarrassing trait that Jack had fondly nicknamed "foot-in-mouth disease", in which her mouth tended to engage before her brain did. It made for a lot of awkward situations…

"Yes, well. Summer study." The tutor cleared his throat loudly, still looking as if this was the last situation he wanted to be in. "It's a three month programme over the course of the summer. Completing any of the offered courses will give you the exact number of credits you need to return to university to re-sit your failed module."

Ivy's heart plummeted to somewhere in her stomach. Three month study course? That would mean she would be working throughout the entire summer! She began to panic inwardly. Her family weren't that financially stable, and Ivy relied on student loans to pay for tuition and student accommodation, as well as a part time job at weekends for money for extra necessities. Summers and winters were perfect opportunities for her to work, unobstructed by a university timetable, and earn money for the following year. Her hands clenched around the folds of her plaid dress. This was going to be financially crushing for her. But what choice did she have? It was either this course, or fail the degree…

"What… What courses are available?" she said in a barely audible whisper.

"Here you are," the history tutor passed over a leaflet that had been sitting on his desk for quite some time. "Any of these courses will give you the required credits you need."

Ivy glanced over the sheet, her heart sinking with every sentence she read.

"Data Skills; a module to build confidence in handling numbers and formulae in either a statistical or a mathematical context.

Classics of World Cinema; a module to study a wide variety of film classics from both well-known and under-represented regions in world cinema, within their socio-political, historical and cultural contexts.

Marketing in a Johto Context; a module to study some of the key concepts in marketing with the additional benefit of thinking about them in the context of the Johto region."

Ivy swallowed deeply, feeling the threat of tears again. It was a noticeable struggle this time around to bite them back. "Is this… all that's available?"

"You don't like the sound of the courses, Miss McKenzie?"

"Oh no, it's not that…" She said sadly, letting the slip of paper fall to her knees. "It's just… these courses look super hard. I mean, I can't work with numbers to save my life, and the concept of money just… confuses me. I don't get recessions! I mean, if they're so short on money why can't they just print more?"

"Miss McKenzie…" the tutor said seriously, a fierce frown eroding his face.

"Sorry, sorry," she said helplessly, biting her lip furiously to keep herself composed.

"Well, what about the Classics of World Cinema?"

"Mmm…" Ivy frowned. "It's a lot of old black and white films from "under-represented" countries, right? No offence, but I think films are for watching… not for dissecting to pieces…"

The tutor grunted angrily.

Sensing she was skating on thin ice, Ivy refocused herself. "So… so there really isn't anything else? Anything at all?"

"Well, there is one further option. However, I must warn you, it is an excessively difficult course to pass, and generally is unsuitable for many of our… academic students. I must also warn you that this course has a very small pass rate. If you're still interested, the details are on the other side of that leaflet."

Ivy whimpered, but obediently turned the sheet of paper over and found another paragraph of writing.

"The Art of Training and Raising Pokemon in a Practical Setting;

In correlation with the newly established Pokemon Training department of Saffron University, students will be set a three month long challenge of capturing, raising and training Pokemon throughout the duration of the summer. Students will be provided with one pack of Pokeballs ONLY and expected to capture their own Pokemon and be responsible for their own training.

Students will be given a list of commonly found Pokemon around the Kanto region and expected to capture each one on the list to present at the end of the three month course. At the end of the program, students will be assessed on the strength and condition of their captured Pokemon, and merit will be given for any additional Pokemon captured and any badges obtained.

Students will be assessed on a pass or fail basis."

"Oh my God…" Ivy whispered, having no other words for what she had just read. She looked up at her tutor, wide-eyed and pale.

"Does that one appeal to you?" there was a hint of a smile on the tutor's face as if he was enjoying the discomfort the young girl in front of him was experiencing. Of course the idea of the course didn't appeal to her. Most of the students at university went to university because they didn't want to become Pokemon trainers. Maybe they had more ambition than that, maybe they were forced into gaining a degree, or maybe they just flat-out weren't interested in Pokemon, the general consensus remained the same.

University students weren't cut out for Pokemon training. And they knew it.

Flummoxed at the choices she had, Ivy let the paper fall to the ground. "I… I…" she faltered, unable to spit out any coherent sentences.

"Miss McKenzie, I need a decision."

"What, now!" Ivy gasped in horror.

"Yes. I need to file in the request today if you want to be accepted onto the course for the beginning of the summer."

"Oh no…" Ivy groaned.

"So, which is it Miss McKenzie?" the tutor said, barely able to mask his glee at his perpetually ditzy, frankly fairly annoying student's predicament.

Ivy let out a further long, tortured groan before sinking her head into the sieve of her hands. Panicked thoughts raced through her head, and a horrible feeling of dread and anticipation was rising in her chest, making it difficult for her to draw breath.

"I'm screwed. I'm seriously screwed! All those others modules sound so boring and so difficult! I can't do them! I'll fail before I even set foot in the class! There's no way I can hope to pass any of them! I… I don't have a choice here, do I?" the realisation hit her like she'd just ran into a brick wall. "There's no other choice here! If it means I can still keep going with my degree, I'll do anything. Even… even that."

Ivy couldn't help but think back to the time barely even a month ago when she had proudly declared to Jack that there was no way she was ever going to have to resort to Pokemon training by failing a degree. She forced herself to chuckle out loud, but it came out humourless and cheap. She knew if she didn't laugh, she had a nasty suspicion she was going to end up in tears instead. She felt so horribly disappointed in herself, and she gripped her legs firmly, her fingernails digging deep into her flesh. Her parents were going to be so disappointed in her, Jack was going to be so disappointed, everyone was going to be so disappointed in her. Her family had gone through so many hardships and difficulties to get her into university; she was the first in her family to be able to attain a higher level of education, she could not let that opportunity go to waste, and she could not let down her family. She couldn't let them down and that was it.

Sniffing sharply, she straightened herself up and raised her head to look her tutor square in his heavily lidded eyes. Letting out a sigh, she resigned herself to the hard decision she would have to make. Oddly enough, only one thought was circling through her head as she stated her decision to her tutor.

"Oh boy, Jack is sure gonna love hearing about this…"

Author's Note

Hello :) OceanSpiral here with a brand new Pokemon fic!

I hope you can enjoy this new fic of mine, and if you do, take a look at my other Pokemon fics :)

Thanks so much to the lovely Sunbean and the members of her forum for the help and encouragement with the fic, especially with the title :)

Please read, and don't be shy in dropping a review :)