The bell rings out over the schoolyard. The students all head for the doors to continue classes, except two boys. Alex calls back the manectric and calls out to Logan across the arena, "Its time to head on it. Guess we'll have to call it a draw." Logan calls back with a grin, "What are they gonna do? We leave tomorrow, lets finish the battle. I mean we can't leave our last schoolyard battle like this."
Alex runs his hand through his light brown hair and calls Manectric from his ball. "Lets at least make it quick, okay?" "When have I ever dragged out a battle?" was Logan's response. With Manectric back on the field Nidoking prepares himself for the battle to continue.
"You know Alex, Manectric is at a disadvantage here. Too bad the kingler you used earlier isn't still able to battle. Nidoking, EARTH POWER!" Manectric felt the ground trembling and leapt to the side just in time. "Type isn't everything Logan. Manectric, quick attack." Manectric bolted at Nidoking in a blur of blue and yellow. "Nidoking, double kick." Nidoking swept his leg at the speeding manectric. Manectric jumped over Nidoking's leg and hit him square in the chest. Nidoking lost his balance and fell to the ground. "Get up and use megahorn!" Nidoking started pushing himself to his feet when Alex called out, "Manectric use swift." Stars circled Manectric's head and launched towards Nidoking. The battle was over.
"Okay, now lets get back to class. Its our last day and all, they'll probably be going over the selection process. I just happen to know that you haven't looked over anything in preparation, Logan, so you could probably use the lecture.
"I've been preparing for tomorrow since I was old enough to walk. You're the one that needs help Alex. You'll probably walk away with a magikarp." Logan laughed at the thought of his friend training a magikarp.
"Like you'll come away any better, bud. I mean you probably still believe that you'll be coming out with a charmander. You do know how many times people have come across charmanders in the Reserve, don't ya?"
"Hey if my dad could do it, then so can I. Just watch, I'm getting a charmander I just know it, then you'll be standing there jealous with your magikarp."
The boys reached the steps into the building. They stopped off at the rental room to return the pokemon they used during break. The clerk looked at the boys and said, "You two had better hurry, they're about to close the doors. You wouldn't want to miss orientation and not get your bus pass would you?"
Alex and Logan looked at each other, both realizing they had completely forget they had to get the pass for the bus tomorrow from orientation. They took off running down the halls. They turned the corner and saw their homeroom teacher closing the auditorium doors. Just as the door was almost closed, the teacher reopened them and called out to the boys, "You're lucky I saw you boys." She gave them a smile as they slipped through the door without a breath left.
They found two empty seats near the back and tried to catch their breath as Professor Osage took the stage. She was wearing the classic white professor's coat. Her long blonde hair hung to her waist in a thick braid with two thin braids flowing down her front over her shoulder. Logan and Alex knew the professor well, just the same as the other kids. Through their school years all the kids meet with Professor Osage a great number of times, especially in the year leading up to Selection.
"Welcome to Orientation, who's excited about tomorrow?" The auditorium roars in cheers. "Well I'm not big on speeches, so here's a choice. We can either sit here for a couple hours going over stuff you all know, or we can sit here for a couple minutes before going home. So everyone be quiet real quick." Silence falls over the crowd at the professor's request. "Now if anybody wants me to go over EVERYTHING, and I mean everything, speak up now." She cupped a hand to her ear and leaned to the crowd. She was met with silence. "Good, then I'll go over a few things and you can all go home to prep for tomorrow." The silence broke in a roar of thunderous applause. "So remember to pack plenty of clothes, food, water, and all the necessities. 'Cause a week doesn't sound like much right now but if you don't prep correctly it will feel like an eternity by day 4. And please remember Selection isn't about you picking a pokemon, its about building a relationship. How many of you plan on returning home before setting out after Selection is over?" About half the crowd rose their hands, but Logan and Alex kept their hands down. "Well that's not a surprise seeing as how close we are to the Reservation, but those of you setting out immediately should take that into account when you pack. I think that's it, have fun on your adventures. If anybody has any questions for me I'll be in the main office for a while, everybody else is free to go home and get ready for tomorrow. Don't forget your bus pass as your leaving the auditorium, you wouldn't want to not be able to get on the bus would you?" She winked at the crowd and exited the stage.
The boys stopped by the ticket booth to get their passes before leaving the auditorium and heading back to Logan's house. Logan lived outside of town on a farm with his sister Clair. About halfway there, Logan noticed something off about his bus pass. "Hey Alex, our school is zone 22, isn't it?"
"Yea, come on you know that, bud."
"My pass is marked zone 23. Do you think its a typo?"
Alex pulled out his pass to double check, but his was marked for zone 22. "You do live kinda far outta town, maybe you're technically in the next zone over, bud. What zone was Clair in, do ya remember?"
It had been 8 years since his sister had left for Selection. He could barely remember any of it between being 8 himself and the events that followed her return home. "No, I don't remember. I guess we can ask when we get out there."
"Hey on the bright side, if you get to start at zone 23, you'll have a head start on me." Alex smiled at his friend, trying to relieve Logan's distress about starting in zone 23. Although they were closer than most to the Arena, it was still a good 2 hour trip and everyone Logan knew would be heading to zone 22.
Logan looked up from his pass, gave Alex a thumbs up and declared, "I'll beat you to Seattle, just like I'll beat you in the tournament." Later in the year, a tournament was being hosted in Seattle open to all with 5 badges. The boys had decided that the Seattle Open would be a good first goal.
Alex looked down at his watch, "What would ya know, we'd better hurry if we want to catch the show, bud. Erin is supposed to have a challenger today at 1. I know how ya like to catch her battles." Alex gave Logan a nudge and took off running towards the house. Logan put up his pass and took off after Alex.
As he was running, the idea of zone 23 pushed up through his thoughts. He reassured himself that it would be fine, it wasn't as if he was traveling with anybody from school anyways. The only person he would've thought about traveling with was Alex, but he wanted to go different ways and decided on traveling solo instead of compromising.
The two boys reached Logan's house completely out of breath. Logan could feel the sweat dampening his dark black hair. He wiped his forehead and entered the house behind Alex. Upon entering the kitchen they found Clair preparing lunch. "Howdy boys, did Osage skimp out on the speech again?" She spun around with three dishes in hand. "Luckily, I foresaw that and made enough lunch for everybody." She set down the plates and swept the hanging red hair from her face. She gave the boys a big smile and said, "But you'd better hurry if you're planning on catching Erin's match. I heard that challenger isn't too hot so it'll probably be short."
The boys scarfed down their lunches and turned for the living room. Logan paused and turned to his sister, "Hey Clair, which zone did you go to for Selection?"
Clair gave a big grin, "Are you trying to say you don't remember? I'm hurt bro, to think you would forget something like that." She turned to the magby that jumped onto the counter. "You hear this Maggs? Little Logan doesn't remember what zone I went to." Maggs covered her mouth in an expression of surprise as Clair feigned a feinting motion.
Logan couldn't help but laugh at Clair and Maggs. "You know I'm sorry and all, but I'm just so forgetful. Silly me forgetting something from when I was 8 and more interested in the other aspects of your Selection than your zone number. Now, if your highnesses would forgive me for my lapse in memory, I was just wondering cause my pass is marked 23 instead of 22. We didn't realize till we were almost here so I couldn't ask Osage."
"Yea bro, our house is just on the other side of the dividing line. You'll be going to zone 23. You're gonna be the only person from here on that bus. I at least had the Plasic twins with me, although it might've been better without 'em. You hadn't made plans to leave with Alex from zone 22 did you?"
"Nah surprisingly we decided to leave different ways even when we thought we could easily leave together. Just kinda lucky there huh?"
"Get in here, bud, the show's starting."
Logan left through the living room door and heard the tv. "Its Gymania, the number one rated Gym broadcast around. Todays first event comes from a secluded little Gym that doesn't get much action. Its the Heattle Gym with Dark type Leader Erin. Its promising to be quite a show, just as it always is when we get to hear from the little town of Heattle."