The day for the camp dawned bright and early and while the children who applied for the camp in Pallet town gathered at the lab, the kids from other cities and towns had to take the bus. The bus that was hired by the camp for summer was filled with excited chatter and laughter of children. The bus stopped outside the lab and the Professor and his Charizard welcomed them to the summer camp.
Samuel, "Welcome children and teachers to the Oak summer camp. I am Professor Oak and this is my oldest friend and starter Charizard. I hope your travels were without any trouble."
Charizard roared in welcome getting looks of awe from the children.
Mrs Gina from Cerulean answered, "Thank you Professor and Charizard for the warm welcome. Do not worry, we reached here without any problems."
Samuel nodded his head, "Good! Good! Come kids, let's get this camp started."
The Professor got a loud cheer as an answer to his question from the kids and he led them towards an open field. There was a role call before the Professor gave them a welcome speech and told them the plans for the first day of the camp. The first day they would focus on how to camp out in the wild the proper way so that they don't get caught in sudden rain or storm. That got a bit of complaints from some of the children in the group.
An orange head, "Awwww!"
A red head boy, "I wanted to see Pokemon."
Samuel, "Now! Now! Misty and Ritchie was it? You need to learn the basics first."
Leaf snickered at the pouting faces, she had acted the same way but watching others act that way she couldn't help but laugh. It was funny to watch them pout and whine and a little mortifying to realize that was how you act. Green nudged her hand pointing towards the camping equipment meant for them, it was a tent for two people. Next to them was the orange head girl, Misty and a girl with blue hair sharing a tent. Gary and Ash were sharing one tent on the other side of the field and were working on setting it up.
Green, "Come on we need to set up our tent."
Leaf grinned, "Let's do it quickly. How hard could it be? It's just a tent."
Turns out setting up a tent was not as simple as it looked, they had to mind the ground where they were setting the camp. They had to make sure there were no pebbles or sharp rocks there or while sleeping it could become uncomfortable for them. They were also lectured on the different types of environment and situations around the region and the world that could affect them while camping outside. The kids were very hungry by the time they finished setting up their tents and it was late in the afternoon.
Red who was wearing a volunteer tag got there attention, "Lunch time everyone!"
Gary gave a sigh before grinning, "Alright, I'm starving."
Ash laughed, "Me too! Let's grab a large table, we can have lunch with Leaf and Green too."
Gary turned to the two boys besides them, "Do you want to join us for lunch?"
Ritchie looked up and smiled, "I would love that. What about you Zoey?"
Zoey, a brown haired boy smiled, "I don't mind. Mom told me to make friends during camp so."
Ash smiled, "Great, the more the merrier!"
Red smiled as he helped the servers during lunch, 'Looks like I was worried for nothing. They already made new friends.'
Gary led the way to the largest table once they grabbed the food and waved the girls over, "Hey Leaf, Green! Join us!"
Green, "Coming!"
Leaf, "Awesome this table is big enough for all of us."
Green pointed at the two girls beside her, "Anyway these two ladies here are our new friends."
Misty, "Hello, I'm Misty and I love water Pokemon."
Duplica, "Hi! I'm Duplica and I want to be a Ditto Master."
Ash smiled brightly at them, "Nice to meet you, I'm Ash and I love Pokemon too."
Gary, "The names Gary and I'm going to become the Kanto champion."
Ritchie, "My names Ritchie and I want to become a Champion too."
Zoey, "I'm Zoey and I love Grass Pokemon."
Once the introductions were done, the group of friends talked about what they had learned earlier. Misty and Ritchie had sulked a bit when they realized they probably won't be able to search for Pokemon in the first day but had perked up meeting and making new friends. Gary had taken to telling them about the Pokemon present in the ranch that his grandpa took care of getting a squawk from Duplica.
Duplica, "Wait, the Professor is your Grandfather?"
Gary looked at her, "Uuuuuh! Yeah? Didn't I mention it earlier?"
Misty, "No, you did not!"
Gary rubbed his head, "Ooops! I forgot outside of Pallet town, not everyone knows."
Ritchie sweatdropped, "Yup!"
Zoey laughed, "Well now we know!"
Green however snickered at their expressions getting a nudge from Leaf who was trying not to laugh as well. Ash was giggling at the interactions, Misty and Duplica were really open about expressing themselves and they made some really funny faces. After the late lunch, the Professor called them together for a treat.
Samuel, "Gather around kids, I know today has been an exciting day for everyone. Now it's a little late to go Pokemon watching."
That got a lot of awwwws from the kids making the Professor grin but he continued, "However that doesn't mean we can't enjoy interacting with Pokemon at all. Now allow me to introduce you to some friends."
At the Professor's que, the assistants moved to the front and introduced themselves before releasing their Pokemon. They were Rapidash, Starmie, Vileplume, Cloyster, Ninetales, Wigglytuff, Butterfree and Drowzee. The assistants explained that they would be explaining about the Pokemon and Pokemon care and they the kids would be helping them in brushing and caring for them. Some of the kids were nervous while others brightened up at the idea of being able to interact with Pokemon. The Professor nodded his head watching the kids helping and care for the Pokemon as they were guided on how to brush or preen them.
[A. N.: I'll be honest I ended up using some of my experience during camping as a base for this chapter, except for the Pokemon part of course.]