Note: Alright. I decided to change the region to better suit my purposes. It simply makes it easier. Nothing much has really changed, just the region, and therefore the starters and professor. As always, enjoy!!

Chapter 2

The young boy tore down through the hallways with his feet narrowly staying under his body as he slid around a corner, dodging the students that had come flowing out of the classrooms. He silently thanked the builders for putting the sixth graders at the other side of the school, practically the farthest from the selecting room. He almost slammed face-first into the door, but managed to collect himself in time. The door was thrown wide open and Dmitri burst inside, much to the confusion of the Professor.

"Why hello there! Your class isn't due for another five minutes, is there something wrong?"

"No Professor Rowan, I just needed to ask a question," Dmitri said, letting the door fall closed behind him, scuffling his feet across the tile.

"Well? Go ahead."

The boy looked up and gave a slight smile, and started speaking. "I've never really wanted one of the starter pokemon, so I was wondering if it would be okay. . . if I got one of my own starter pokemon. . ." he finished. His mouth fell open slightly as he replayed the words in his mind, noticing how terrible and uncouth they sounded. Dmitri's pleading eyes turned towards the Professor, who seemed to be considering the child's pleas. A smile alighted upon his face, and Dmitri rose an eyebrow in confusion.

"I always look forward to occasions like these. Choosing a starter pokemon on your own, is what I'd really like students to do, but of course I can't go around saying that! So uh. . . Dmitri. . . You can actually go home now, since the day is done after this, and come back tomorrow with your pokemon. I would be fascinated to see which one has caught your interest." Professor Rowan explained, spirits lifted just by seeing the boy's face light up.

Dmitri barely managed to squeak out a short thank you before he turned and ran back out of the room, heading for the front door of the school. He also burst through these doors, streaming down the steps and quite surprised to find that the rain had stopped, although the dark gray clouds still rumbled with thunder. As he rounded the corner of the stairs, he stopped abruptly, catching the movement of a tawny shape out of the corner of his eye.

"Jenga!" Dmitri exclaimed as he bent down to hug the neck of the ninetails, who in turn nuzzled the boy's cheek affectionately. He went on to explain to the pokemon why he was out early and the overall situation, while walking towards the Pokemon Center that his father helped out in, one of the most high-tech in the town. He continued to chatter to the ninetails as they walked; even as the path thinned out to nothing more than dirt, and the woods closed in cutting off the small amount of light that came from the dark clouds above. Suddenly Dmitri grew silent as Jenga's nose went into the air, twitching and scenting.

"What is it?" the boy asked fearfully, knowing that the pokemon had never before done this on this stretch of road. Jenga had been picking him up at school ever since the day his mother had passed away. A terrible rustling noise came through the brush, and a black and blue pokemon burst onto the path, panting and looking at the two. The ninetails' ears went back and a growl erupted from her throat; but before she had any chance to do anything, the pokemon bent onto its knees, and was out cold.

Dmitri stood shocked for a moment before he rushed forward and picked up the pokemon, dashing along the dirt path and uttering a cry for the tawny pokemon to follow him. He soon arrived at the pokemon center and ran through the doors, calling out for his dad. The latter immediately came through a set of swinging double doors, a look of annoyance on his face until he saw the limp form in his son's arms.

"Dmitri! What happened?" he exclaimed, taking the pokemon gently from his son's arms and leading him through the doors. Dmitri quietly told Jenga to stay in the reception area while he followed his dad.

"I have no idea! We were walking through the forest and Jenga smelled something, and then that thing just popped out of the bushes, and passed out!" The young boy explained, talking fast enough that the father had to slow him down, but to no avail.

"Nurse Joy?"

At his call, a young woman with red hair and a nurse's outfit came into sight, her face not expressing too much shock as she saw what was in the man's arms.

"This one looks pretty bad. I'll take it, thank you." She said, gently pulling the pokemon into her arms and walking through another set of doors, which Dmitri and his father followed through. There were various pokemon lying in beds, most in their own little glass room, and Nurse Joy led the two towards a room that looked exactly like all of the others, and set the pokemon on the bed gently, and began hooking up a series of wires to the still-asleep body.

"So what exactly is it?" Dmitri asked his father from outside the glass as they looked in.

"It's a Riolu, but it's in a pretty bad shape as far as I can tell. Apparently Nurse Joy thinks so to, because we're standing in the Emergency Room. Although you probably already knew that." His father said with a slight smile, and then brought up a different subject. "Hey, which pokemon did you choose?"

At this a slight rose tinge crept up to the boy's cheeks. "Um. . . I didn't really choose one. Professor Rowan said I could bring one of my choice in tomorrow. . . to make sure that it's alright."

Dmitri's father looked shocked for a moment, and stated something that brought a smile to the boy's face. "I didn't know you were allowed to do that. I suppose you really do learn new things every day, even if you're not in school." The father put an arm around the boy's back and gently steered him out of the ward as assistants swarmed into the glass room; and headed towards the waiting room, which stood empty save for the lone ninetails that looked up with glee at the entry of the two.

The two sat in silence for over an hour, until teeming with boredom, Dmitri fell asleep with his head resting on his father's shoulder.